Thread: Found Cancer (Rust) on my rear strut towers... Need advice

Here is my current approach to rusty metal and you might have caught yours in time. Yes trim away the bead of sealer with a snap knife or something.

First let me say that without removing the plate from the tower, you can't reach the heart of the problem. Also it is possible that you may be able to modify the plate so it could bolt into place rather than weld. That would be up to you to figure out but welding is likely to be not very avoidable.

To address what you have access to, yes start with the wire wheel and finish with some kind of paint. But between those two steps, use an acid based rust dissolver or converter type product. Do multiple applications of wetting, scrubbing with wire wheel and or scuff pad and wiping it off before it dries. How many passes it takes to scrub down to clean metal varies by product. Use gloves. It helps if I throw a bit of blasting media down while I scrub. Maroon scuff pads work great for cleaning beyond wire brush on rough stuff. Anyway, do that as much as you can tolerate then make a big final effort to sand the residue off and clean with water then solvent based cleaner and paint or prime the area with something for bare metal. Epoxy primer is best on the metal but some rattle can etch primer followed with glossy paint should do inside the trunk. You would get best results on the outside using catalyzed body shop type stuff.

You would be wise to get rid of what rust you can now and perhaps add a rear STB for added rigidity. From the pics it looks like early stages but, and this is important, go first thing and try to poke holes in it with a sharp metal tool. That will help determine the urgency factor. If I were you I would treat what's in the pics real soon then plan to go deeper from the outside when time allows dropping the struts to get in there. Anything you do will be a pain in the neck, access-wise.