Don't know what to do with rust on wheel arches.

[Velocette]

So it seems really if you are getting them replaced it has to be merc sprinter ones or the transit mk6 ones. I'm holding off on this for a while yet I think but hopefully doing it next year.

Going back to the temporary solution, years ago Canon made a rubber trim which was a flattened lower case e shape in section which completely sealed the flanges of the inner and outer arch and finished on the outside of the body covering about 5mm only, tapered to a fine edge... if that makes sense. I used them on my Maestro after treating minor rust with Trustram and Finnegans No. 1 and although the inner and outer flanges had blown in places they were effective in keeping moisture and salt out for years and also gave a bit of light impact protection. These were very heavy duty items and not cheap. Unfortunately Canon no longer list them but someone somewhere might do something similar. I would fit them if I could get hold of some. I had my Maestro for 14 years and the wheel arches were starting to rust at four years old.

[Fordfreda]

I have been thinking about this for so long that I am going to get it sorted before I go mad and the van turns to dust.

I have sourced some transit rear arches in Hilsea (part of Portsmouth) and I have found a crash repair specialist who will be able to do the complete job. It is looking like around £700 all in. The only possible issue is that the inner arches may have rusted through but this should be okay on the basis that I had all that work done for the MOT recently.

Fingers-crossed for a good job. I will put some pictures on once it is all done.

[mikeonb4c]

Yes I think it will, though it sort of buys you time in terms of appearance. I also feel that with a bit of intelligence, the underlying problem could be contained (provided the rust hasn't extended beyond ar earea the spats will cover) by cutting out the rusted through bits, using the holes to access the interior of the wing and thoroughly treating everything (its this lack of access which makes stopping the problem from starting so tricky), and then putting the spats on (with suitable care to prevent water ingress by using sealant or mastic). Just possibly, you could arrange for the spats to be easily removable in order to inspect and re-treat the area (I think vaseline is a very under-rated product for inhibiting rust, sealing, and still keeping things removeable). And the spats would hide the missing metal.

Not sure about the vaseline Mike! , i've seen this a few times recently with cars that have disaster areas for back ends, the backs are just being cut off and 'boxed', seme principle for the wheel arches, the rust originates from just above the vertical outter most panel where the inner and outer meet and the condensation etc sits, so you can cut out some and 'box' it, similar has to be done when new arches are put in anyway as the inners have to persuaded to meet the new outer lol, the problem with spats is fixing them to the (now missing) body after you've cut out the arch!

Julian

Just thought I'd bump this. The repair I've done on my wheel arches is holding up very well. No sign of further blistering since I did it. Just to recap, I had rust coming through in a few places, given away by small paint blisters. I ground off the paint with one of those paint grinding wheels, poked a hole through the suspicious areas using a bradawl, cleaned up all flaking rust I could in and around the holes, sprayed WD40 inside liberally through the holes, P38 filled the holes (knowing WD40 wouldn't help the P38 get a good key but reckoning the P38 would bulge inside to a 'rivet head' and lock the repair in anyway, which it did, and then removing any WD40 that sweated through the repair), then sprayed up (I masked the wheel arch along the natural flare line and also used cardboard mask to produce a soft line that I moved back from primer->opcoat->lacquer so there was no sharp paint line).

The vaseline I smeared 6 months ago on the remaining bit of paintwork (n/s rear arch forwardmost section) that was sweating a bit of rust seems to have completely stopped any more rust forming. I can only repeat that I think vaseline is very under-acknowledged as a 2 minute job if you need to slow things down until you can get round to doing a proper job. And the cheap chrome on my spotlights has been prevented from rust spotting for 5 years now simply by smearing vaseline on them after cleaning. OK so you don't get that gleaming chrome finish, but its better than gleaming rust finish