Need Help With Side Mirror Rust Asap

[mattye]

So I looked at another Stagea today RS Four S and its got the rust under the side mirrors. I don't mind buying it and fixing it but i need to know as soon as possible:

A) How much will it cost too fix?

B) How much work is involved?

C) Will it be a straight forward job?

D) Have any of the Brizzy Boys got this done?

If so who did they get to do it?

And were they happy?

Edited March 6, 2009 by mattye

[910trx]

ive had a bit of a look into this.

A) around $400 i was quoted roughly

B) Pretty easy fix relatively speaking (not highly structural and usually small and surface) - best to do it asap

C) most cases, a qualified professional will consider it to be an "easy task"

D) not in brizzy

panel shop will do it if it is not too bad, alot of places dont deal with rust because they are mostly insurance mobs.

providing it is not too deep, it can be rubbed back, treated, bogged and sprayed rather easily.

put some kill rust or fish oil on it in the mean time to stop it getting far worse.

it is hard to find a stagea recently imported free of rust in this location, every one i saw had it, some worse than others.

ensure there is limited rust elsewhere and in non structural locations.

mine has rust but the rest of the car is perfect!

[KiwiRS4T]

So I looked at another Stagea today RS Four S and its got the rust under the side mirrors. I don't mind buying it and fixing it but i need to know as soon as possible:

A) How much will it cost too fix?

B) How much work is involved?

C) Will it be a straight forward job?

D) Have any of the Brizzy Boys got this done?

If so who did they get to do it?

And were they happy?

It is a design fault. Fix asap. Remove door cards, mirror, piece of foam that collects water and makes it rust. Preferably weld in steel to fix hole. Replace foam with stuff treated with a waxy water resistant product. Had to do it to both my Stageas about $400 for two doors. Get a few quotes from panel and paint shops because some of them don't like doing small non-insurance jobs like this and will quote very high. Will be better than new when finished.

[RBPOWA-(TJ)]

anyone had the rusty look from the strut towers in the engine bay. ?

bit worried about mine. got bubbles there and a strain around the welding.

[mattye]

Thanks heaps guys. Yeh there is only rust here and theres a bit under the seal for the hatch. Their all not realy too bad. Otherwise its good. Its a pearlesant white one, will they be fine colour matching? In essence its so small a spot that you probs wouldn't notice if it wasn't a perfect match.

It is a design fault. Fix asap. Remove door cards, mirror, piece of foam that collects water and makes it rust. Preferably weld in steel to fix hole. Replace foam with stuff treated with a waxy water resistant product. Had to do it to both my Stageas about $400 for two doors. Get a few quotes from panel and paint shops because some of them don't like doing small non-insurance jobs like this and will quote very high. Will be better than new when finished.

Where would I get the new foam from?

Would the pannel shop organise that? (if i ask them to)

[rb26stagea]

RBPOWA: Yes, I have the strut tower rust as well: apparently it's cosmetic, but I will be getting it sorted asap nonetheless...

mattye: I recently had the rust from my mirrors fixed: I had to buy a replacement drivers door skin, and they only fixed the passenger door because the doorskin was proving too difficult to source. My car is also Silky Snow (pearl white), and I would challenge anyone to pick where the paint was blended: you cannot tell the difference between original and resprayed, so you should have nothing to worry about, so long as you use a competent spray shop...

[BensDR30]

Some time this year, I'm planning on replacing both doors with new ones - the price is higher than the repair/respray route, but I'm hoping that it will last better in the local climate.

The price was around $650 each for new ones.

[KiwiRS4T]

Some time this year, I'm planning on replacing both doors with new ones - the price is higher than the repair/respray route, but I'm hoping that it will last better in the local climate.

The price was around $650 each for new ones.

They will rust just the same as the old ones because of the way water gets trapped in them. If you get yours repaired properly i.e. steel welded in and the foam replaced with stuff treated with the waxy anti -water stuff (sorry don't know the technical term for it) they will be better than new for 1/4 of the price.

[mattye]

mattye: I recently had the rust from my mirrors fixed: I had to buy a replacement drivers door skin, and they only fixed the passenger door because the doorskin was proving too difficult to source. My car is also Silky Snow (pearl white), and I would challenge anyone to pick where the paint was blended: you cannot tell the difference between original and resprayed, so you should have nothing to worry about, so long as you use a competent spray shop...

Why did you have to replace the door skin? I assume you mean the inside trim. Whats one worth?

[BensDR30]

They will rust just the same as the old ones because of the way water gets trapped in them. If you get yours repaired properly i.e. steel welded in and the foam replaced with stuff treated with the waxy anti -water stuff (sorry don't know the technical term for it) they will be better than new for 1/4 of the price.

I hear what you're saying, my concern is that the drivers' door has flaky rust on the inside a good 50mm lower than the 'shelf' that the mirror fits into. The repair shop that I went to were quite honest in saying that they wouldn't be able to fix it to the standard that they'd like. The passengers' door isn't as bad, so a repair there may work just fine.

(I'm also going to get the roof resprayed, as it has some rusty stone chips on it)

I'm still considering my options, but either way the door hardware will get modified to significantly reduce the likelihood of it recurring in the future. That in conjunction with the fact that it never bloody rains here anymore should do the trick!

[chef_stagea]

theres a little sponge behind the rust, if you pull it apart you can see it and when it rains or gets washed it fills up... im guna take mine out and spray it with a rust disolver for now, may get it looked at later... but thats if its worth it.... on my strut towers ive got like dots in a direct line, about 5mm wide circles, 10mm apart its really weird.

[RBPOWA-(TJ)]

yeah engine bay isnt consistant, here i used Cutters (cut and polish shit) to remover the brown stain for a show and shine, this is before look

[rb26stagea]

Why did you have to replace the door skin? I assume you mean the inside trim. Whats one worth?

I mean the outer door skin: the painted metal part that the outside door handle sits in. Harveys Smash in Nerang did mine, and guaranteed me that they won't rust again. Not sure what the cost was, because I repaired the other door, removed the roof rails, some badges, had aftermarket mirrors fitted, colour coded the side/bumper strips (s1 ones were silver), and got a 1/2 respray at the same time... I can tell you they're not cheap, but their work is faultless.

[mattye]

kk. I haven't heard of that geting done before. Did you just source the skin from Nissan?

[KiwiRS4T]

yeah engine bay isnt consistant, here i used Cutters (cut and polish shit) to remover the brown stain for a show and shine, this is before look

Engine bay looks good. I see you have cable ties to hold the snorkel. Mine came without the two black buttons as well ... i found it OK with only the bonnet to keep it in place.

[BensDR30]

Engine bay looks good. I see you have cable ties to hold the snorkel. Mine came without the two black buttons as well ... i found it OK with only the bonnet to keep it in place.

Lol, one of those plugs was broken on our car too - I used to give my wife grief about how fast she drove it as the plug would always end up on top of the air filter after she had the car for a drive.

(Or so I said!)

Adam, can you post pics of the rust in your engine bay - it sounds quite strange...

[rb26stagea]

kk. I haven't heard of that geting done before. Did you just source the skin from Nissan?

Absolutley no idea, sorry: I dropped the car off rough and picked it up 3 weeks later looking almost brand new...

[fat-lad]

washed the stag today and found a rust bubble on the pass side under the mirror, only small one, it wasnt there last weekend, ill be pulling the door card off 2moz and spray some rust stop in there to see if i can stop it getting worse. can i remove this spong/rubber peice and leave it out?

anyone got pics of inside the door to show what were all looking at, if not ill get some pics 2moz when i do it after work.

[BensDR30]

You'll need to remove the mirror as well. Then you'll see what all the fuss is about...

[fat-lad]

thanks man,