How to repair rust on the bottom of the door, what options do I have?

[mattyq17]

I have rust on the bottom of my drivers side door. It is where the door skin wraps underneath the bottom of the door and laps over on the inside of the door. It is not showing on the outside of the door just on the 1/2 in. or so that is on the inside. It looks like if I peel that lip back it is rusted underneath. What are my options to fix this? Can I bend the lip straight clean out the rust fill any holes and bend it back? Do I need a new door skin? The doors are going to be on in the winter and off in the summer and it will be used to cruise around and for hunting. It will have a maaco paint job but I dont want rust coming through in a year. What is the best way to deal with this situation?

Matt

 

[t.lay]

If you were building it super nice I'd say pull the skin off, cut the rust out, weld in new metal, etch prime, reskin it.... or you could scuff up the affected area and hit it with por 15 - inside the door and on the back side where the door skin folds over - the idea being to encapsulate the rust or hit it with some of the zinc/phosphate products. If it's encapsulated, should be good for a few years.

 

[mattyq17]

Here are some pictures of the rusted area.

Matt

 

[mattyq17]

a few more pics

 

[thegreatjustino]

Take a sharpie and a straight edge and draw a rectangle around the rust on the metal that's still good. Take a cutoff wheel and gently cut through the bent over piece. Don't cut into the piece underneath. Pry the top piece off and see what the damage to the door itself is. If it isn't all that bad, weld a new piece of metal in there to replace the piece you removed from the door skin. To me, that does not look all that bad. I would be surprised if the metal behind the door skin needed to be replaced in more than a couple of small areas.

 

[Smokeater11]

I vote for wire wheeling it down to the bare metal to remove all the rust you can see and treat it with POR 15. If you put some on the inside of the door at the seam it should soak down into the seam and encapsulate it. It shouldn't get any worse beacuse it won't have any oxygen or moisture. Use a flat wire wheel in a grinder and clean the joint out as good as you can. I don't know much about naval jelly but that might be an idea to treat it with prior to PORing it.

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

you call that rust????? sorry I'm from michigan, just wire wheel it and if it goes deeper do what justin said. as a god measure you should soak it with some POR15.

 

[mattyq17]

Take a sharpie and a straight edge and draw a rectangle around the rust on the metal that's still good. Take a cutoff wheel and gently cut through the bent over piece.

I think I am going to have to do that because you can see rust behind the whole length of the bent over piece it just isnt showing through on the whole thing just in spots like in the pictures. I will work on it this weekend and post some pics and see what you guys think. Thanks

Matt

 

[ep67bro]

THAT IS NOT RUST!!! I WOULD KILL TO HAVE A BRONCO WITH THAT KIND OF RUST!!! On the east coast a new car would have that rust on it in three years!!! Wire wheel it down and coat it in POR15 or some kind of rust paint then use a good seam sealer to seal it and finish paint over the top.

 

[Hal9000]

I would wire wheel it before cutting. You might be surprised how much metal is left and it would be a shame to replace it because you cut before you checked.

Also, It probably won't matter for this job, but as a general rule, sharpies are a bad item to use when you're making marks during body work... The solvent will make it penetrate all the way down through the primer sealer coats, and if you don't sand it all off, the paint solvents will draw it back up through any paint you put over it and you'll be able to see it through your nice new paint job forever. Use a pencil instead. It's a good habit to be in.

 

[Madgyver]

That's not rust to worry about.

Wire wheel it clean and treat it with Extend, inside the door and out....

I could show you pictures of door rust to think about.

Here is what I have to deal with in my area.