How to keep DREADED HONDA rear fender RUST at bay?

[shortlid]

I always take a close look at the rear most part of the rear fender wells on my girls '99 EX sedan for signs of rust. Every Honda in New England over 10 years old or with more than 90k on it has RUST HOLES on BOTH sides in that spot!!

Well when I ran my finger along the inside of the pass side rear fender well, when I did SMALL flakes of paint came off!!

How do I treat this before winter and it gets bad??

 

[King Bob]

sand it down and paint it with some rino liner its a tough rubber like stuff that they put on truck beds. you can get it at most hard ware/auto part stores.

 

[supadupat]

I always take a close look at the rear most part of the rear fender wells on my girls '99 EX sedan for signs of rust. Every Honda in New England over 10 years old or with more than 90k on it has RUST HOLES on BOTH sides in that spot!!

Well when I ran my finger along the inside of the pass side rear fender well, when I did SMALL flakes of paint came off!!

How do I treat this before winter and it gets bad??

I'll try to explain what i did...

Every honda i've had, i tore out the stupid rubber fender trim because it usually collects water and dirt.. It usually rusts right where the end top end bumper and the end of the fender well meets (there should be a clip and screw to secure the bumper).. Honda uses two sheet metals and it comes together and then down to the rear fender well lip (if you peel off the rubber fender trim, and feel your fingers on the under fender lining lip you could feel that there are two layer of metal kind of glued together) and in between the layers (if you split them apart, i had to because rust was forming in there) are some sort of rubber sealing inside (my 91 prelude and 97 hatch and 00 civic all had it)... moisture usually seeks through the two layer of metal and thats how rusts forms and burst out.. What I do is peel the rubber fender trim off and throw it away.. clean off the dirt and grime.. if there are signs of rusts.. sand it down to metal.. (it'll be a tight space to sand).. wash away the dust.. dry .. then for areas you cannot reach try using small chizzles to dig out the rust and some of that rubber and spray with rust converter.. let dry... spray it with sealer (epoxy primer) or some etching primer on all the sanded areas.. and then spray several layers of rubberized undercoating on everything and make it thick to prevent rock chips and to seal the two ends of the layer that moisture seeks into.. then tape and spray with basecoat to match if also spraying outter lip of rear fender well..

Another reason to throw that rubber fender trim away is because inside the rubber is metal, and at the ends of the rubber trim where it is cut at the factory, the metal is exposed... and when it rusts the rust usually seeks onto your car rear fenders.. in my old prelude.. it was big and bulky because the metal inside the rubber was already rusted and it felt like the rubber trim was about to blow.. so i just peeled it off and threw it away

It's a bit confusing..but i'll try to get some pictures up..

 

[shortlid]

Thanks I will!

supadupat, great info!! So there is a rubber filler INBETWEEN the two ROLLED layers of sheet metel that make the rear fender. the moisture gets IN there and rusts from INSIDE out!!

I will get a mech. mirror to try and get a better look at what is going on back there. PICS WOULD BE GREAT!!!

 

[shortlid]

sand it down and paint it with some rino liner its a tough rubber like stuff that they put on truck beds. you can get it at most hard ware/auto part stores.

Is Rino Liner tougher than regular rubberized under coating??

 

[supadupat]

supadupat, great info!! So there is a rubber filler INBETWEEN the two ROLLED layers of sheet metel that make the rear fender. the moisture gets IN there and rusts from INSIDE out!!

I will get a mech. mirror to try and get a better look at what is going on back there. PICS WOULD BE GREAT!!!

Yeah.. I don't know why honda doesn't seal it up or anything.. maybe because they want the cars to rusts so we go buy their new ones

I don't know why they put rubber there.. but its between like un-protected un-coated metal..it's just all bare metal inside there so if moisture ever gets through.. it's going to suck .. so if you don't see any rusts yet..just do a good job of covering up the entrance of it.. then you should be fine for awhile.. .. and dont' forget to clean the gas filling area..there is a small pocket lining that you can see (you could tell because Honda used some sealer to seal the quaterpanel with it.. and then painted over) where water / gasoline collects.. besides the plastic collecter that is right below the gas cap.. (i'm thinking about spraying a few layers of rubber coating on the lining pocket area because gasoline can break through the paint and seeks moisture right into the metal if you don't clean it often..or everytime you gas up) if moisture/water/gas seeks into the paint and down to the metal IT ALL MEETS with the bottom layers and the stupid rubber thing inside it.. the water is going to sit there on top of the rubber and BOOM.. it's all over.. you won't see it until it comes out .. it'll just be another rusty honda..

 

[supadupat]

Is Rino Liner tougher than regular rubberized under coating??

Rino Liner i'm sure is tougher and harder but the rubberized coating is more flexiable.. i'm not sure but if you use Rino Liner on sensative areas it might crack open?

 

[King Bob]

no its not supossed to crack its pretty flexible, I know some guys that fish alot down here use it under their trucks to keep the salt water from rusting out their s**t from launching the boats.

 

[ReggieSD]

move to texas??? lol! j/k!

 

[supadupat]

no its not supossed to crack its pretty flexible, I know some guys that fish alot down here use it under their trucks to keep the salt water from rusting out their s**t from launching the boats.

ahhh cool!.. il'll have to look into that stuff too

move to texas??? lol! j/k!

hahaha.. back in the day.. we use to always talk about going down south to pick up some rust free cars.. especially older hondas.. ... it's going to snow in a few days and the salting trucks are ready to roll.. oh no... ..hopefully i covered what i needed to cover to protect against them rusts.. i'm an anti-rust freak..but i can't stop them all.. oh well.. there is no such thing as a rust-free daily driven car...not that i know off..

 

[King Bob]

just dont go to far south, think about it down here ( and I mean way down here I live 50 miles south of new orleans) we have an average of 90% humidity and that humid air is full of salt.

 

[Kihun_Cha]

ok i brought this thread back up ..... my car has like da biggest fukin cancer ever.. do i gotta take it to the shop?

 

[Beelzebubba]

Rust?

What is this "rust" you speak of?

 

[shortlid]

What is the temp outside?

ok i brought this thread back up ..... my car has like da biggest fukin cancer ever.. do i gotta take it to the shop?

If it is too cold for painting out side you will have to have a garage or a shop do it. Can you weld, do you have a welder? ?

 

[Kihun_Cha]

naw but i think i have to cut rear fender from good condition body civic and put it on mine or something.. or is dat how it works? its like Really really bad......... how much do u think shop can do it for?

 

[shortlid]

Get it done soon.

In NJ it is prob. like $400 a side for bigger rust spots. But, it will only get worse over teh winterif you leave it!

 

[bizoneoeh]

Bring on the rust, it'll just make my car lighter

 

[all go no show]

Winter is a hungry little monster that likes to peep through the window when my little car is sleeping... mmm delicious paint.. get that rust fixed, then store the b***h in winter, otherwise itll keep coming back

 

[shortlid]

It's a Civic!!

I mean I love imports don't get me wrong but this is NOT a RWD British sports car!! A Civic is a daily driver and always will be even if you drop 30k into it!

 

[supadupat]

I mean I love imports don't get me wrong but this is NOT a RWD British sports car!! A Civic is a daily driver and always will be even if you drop 30k into it!

haha.. very true.. you can never stop the rusts.. it'll keep on spreading.. and coming and coming back *especially the frames* ..i have put up my white flag..