zmz3
04-17-2012, 02:17 AM
So I have been reading about rust in wheel wells and it seems that the Mazda3 is not the only car that gets that type of rust. Other compacts, sedans, trucks, suvs also are prone to rust in wheel wells, which so far seems to be the most common area of rust on our beloved MZ3 :)
I have come across a possible permanent solution to this (hopefully).
This solution will probably be a good idea for people who recently started to notice rust forming on their car, or recently had their rust repaired by Mazda...
Anyway, so it seems there are products that can be used to prevent rust or 'lock it in' ... Not sure how the latter works, but seems interesting.
The most common product seems to be POR 15 and/or KBS coating(s). I didn't seem to find a commercial sized bottle for single use, so a group buy might be a good idea if enough people are interested.
The tricky part here is separating the two metal pieces in the wheel well lip. The inner layer is on the inside and can be separated with enough care and precaution. Once that happens, one can just clean the area (high pressure wash, sanding down existing surface rust) and apply either products and that should protect the metal from further degradation... Pushing it back into place will be important as well.
Here's a simple (hopefully understandable) illustration of the parts involved. The curved line refers to the inner metal ( separated/individual back-2-back with outer).
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa371/zmz3/rust_005sized.jpg
I am no expert on this issue, but instead of complaining about it and letting the rust expand, a solution might be out there...
It would be interesting if we can get a body shop to quote the such a job as well, but that is for future.
NOTE: This is not a TESTED/VERIFIED solution yet! There might be some hope with some discussion between fellow TM3ers.
Discuss away!
I have come across a possible permanent solution to this (hopefully).
This solution will probably be a good idea for people who recently started to notice rust forming on their car, or recently had their rust repaired by Mazda...
Anyway, so it seems there are products that can be used to prevent rust or 'lock it in' ... Not sure how the latter works, but seems interesting.
The most common product seems to be POR 15 and/or KBS coating(s). I didn't seem to find a commercial sized bottle for single use, so a group buy might be a good idea if enough people are interested.
The tricky part here is separating the two metal pieces in the wheel well lip. The inner layer is on the inside and can be separated with enough care and precaution. Once that happens, one can just clean the area (high pressure wash, sanding down existing surface rust) and apply either products and that should protect the metal from further degradation... Pushing it back into place will be important as well.
Here's a simple (hopefully understandable) illustration of the parts involved. The curved line refers to the inner metal ( separated/individual back-2-back with outer).
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa371/zmz3/rust_005sized.jpg
I am no expert on this issue, but instead of complaining about it and letting the rust expand, a solution might be out there...
It would be interesting if we can get a body shop to quote the such a job as well, but that is for future.
NOTE: This is not a TESTED/VERIFIED solution yet! There might be some hope with some discussion between fellow TM3ers.
Discuss away!