This will be a long thread, so if you're interested keep reading if not then fair enough..
I've a 2005 Panda and its a fantastic car, I'd keep it forever if I could. But there's the reality of the UK moist weather and its seeming impossible that my car will ever last the years I want it to with my current situation, attached are some photos showing what I mean.
This is not the worst case of rust, I see cars day in day out, mostly original Focus's with rust all over them and owners who don't tend to care. That's fine, but I'm not one of them owners. It will get worst if left, how fast? Well anyone can speculate, but the weather isn't going to wait for me.
I've posted a few times, had some great advice, but the real hump I need to get over is everybody says "if you interfere by sanding it down you could make things much worse" due to rubbing away the galvanized layer etc, and I see their point. But at the same time, people tackle rust on their vehicles, fences etc and they can't all be unsuccessful. I've got no experience at this, even others I know with good mechanic knowledge don't feel too comfortable in actually engaging in this type of repair with me on my car, they worry we may make it worse.
I don't care how the finished thing will look, so long as I can be confident I've held back or even paralyzed the rust for the next few years enough to not worry about it.
Problem 1:
Inside the engine bay, on the chassis neck / crash supports there's what I believe to be surface rust. Hard to get to with the engine in place, and even with it out, god knows what lingers on the other side of these surfaces. As can be seen in the photos, I've tried Kurust on this. It turned black. Now it's starting to turn orange/brown slowly again. I was too scared to Waxoyl this, after all, sealing rust makes it worse?! How could I have been sure I got the areas I needed to.
Problem 2:
One of the rear wheel arches has some chipped off paint, and a still shiny metal surface still since Feb. I suspect the galvanized layer here is still intact, but the arch generally has rust bubbles still fully concealed by paint. This is on the actual car chassis too, so I cant simply replace a panel.
I'd keep this car forever, but things like this honestly don't go down well with my 'all or nothing' mentality :bang: . If it can be fixed, I'm willing to do it or pay to have it done. There's Fiat 500s from the 50's on this forum that have had work done to perfection.. sure, my car isnt a classic, but I honestly don't care for too many other cars that could replace it, and a brand new Fiat / nearly new one is many years away..
I'm going to take it to body shops as they're the only place I think that would be able to fix this 'for' me, albeit at a cost. I would love to give it a go, but so far haven't had the encouragement for what could be good reasons not to. I expect many "forget about it, it's just a Fiat and it'll do you for another year or two" :bang:
I would actually consider bringing the car to England if a FF member had enough experience to tackle this with me, but that's unlikely and an extreme idea.
Knowledgable, experienced Fiat Forum-ers, share your knowledge (and criticism) with me on this one
:worship:
I've a 2005 Panda and its a fantastic car, I'd keep it forever if I could. But there's the reality of the UK moist weather and its seeming impossible that my car will ever last the years I want it to with my current situation, attached are some photos showing what I mean.
This is not the worst case of rust, I see cars day in day out, mostly original Focus's with rust all over them and owners who don't tend to care. That's fine, but I'm not one of them owners. It will get worst if left, how fast? Well anyone can speculate, but the weather isn't going to wait for me.
I've posted a few times, had some great advice, but the real hump I need to get over is everybody says "if you interfere by sanding it down you could make things much worse" due to rubbing away the galvanized layer etc, and I see their point. But at the same time, people tackle rust on their vehicles, fences etc and they can't all be unsuccessful. I've got no experience at this, even others I know with good mechanic knowledge don't feel too comfortable in actually engaging in this type of repair with me on my car, they worry we may make it worse.
I don't care how the finished thing will look, so long as I can be confident I've held back or even paralyzed the rust for the next few years enough to not worry about it.
Problem 1:
Inside the engine bay, on the chassis neck / crash supports there's what I believe to be surface rust. Hard to get to with the engine in place, and even with it out, god knows what lingers on the other side of these surfaces. As can be seen in the photos, I've tried Kurust on this. It turned black. Now it's starting to turn orange/brown slowly again. I was too scared to Waxoyl this, after all, sealing rust makes it worse?! How could I have been sure I got the areas I needed to.
Problem 2:
One of the rear wheel arches has some chipped off paint, and a still shiny metal surface still since Feb. I suspect the galvanized layer here is still intact, but the arch generally has rust bubbles still fully concealed by paint. This is on the actual car chassis too, so I cant simply replace a panel.
I'd keep this car forever, but things like this honestly don't go down well with my 'all or nothing' mentality :bang: . If it can be fixed, I'm willing to do it or pay to have it done. There's Fiat 500s from the 50's on this forum that have had work done to perfection.. sure, my car isnt a classic, but I honestly don't care for too many other cars that could replace it, and a brand new Fiat / nearly new one is many years away..
I'm going to take it to body shops as they're the only place I think that would be able to fix this 'for' me, albeit at a cost. I would love to give it a go, but so far haven't had the encouragement for what could be good reasons not to. I expect many "forget about it, it's just a Fiat and it'll do you for another year or two" :bang:
I would actually consider bringing the car to England if a FF member had enough experience to tackle this with me, but that's unlikely and an extreme idea.
Knowledgable, experienced Fiat Forum-ers, share your knowledge (and criticism) with me on this one
:worship: