Thread: So how bad is this really?

This is my rear driver side strut tower. This is the only one that's rusty and from other pictures I've seen of peoples I don't think it looks all that bad. Now compared to other peoples it might not be bad but how bad is it really? I'm not a body work guy so I'm not sure how much work this will be and how much it'll cost to have done. What all would be involved in repairing this? I'm hoping this is the source of a bad clunking I have coming from the back too so once it's fixed that will go away.

wire brush it, and paint it with por. do the out side too. same deal just brush off any loose rust, and paint right over the rust.

that still looks rather solid. you can poke it with a screw driver to see if its rotted to thin. like stab the rust area with it.

That rust starts from the bottom remember

I agree with the other guys. But that seam is all rust at this point, its just a matter of if there are still any welds holding. If you could set the parking brake and rock the car while watching that spot, that might reveal whether structural integrity has been lost resulting in a noise. Poke at it with something pointy. Get a good look from the bottom and check it there too. Coatings might slow down the corrosion or speed it up, but new metal and paint are needed to keep it from going downhill.

Thats nothing. You shoulda seen the ones on my 98 GTP. They where rotted as hell. Lol.

That there is probably better than most people on this forum have. At least anyone with 97-99 or 00. When they started putting plastic inner fenders in the rear wheel wells it helped with the rust a ton. I can't remember when they started putting the fender liners in. I think it was 2000 or 2001

That isn't bad at all. Nothing like my old 97 GTP. Just wire brush it get rid of all the rust and then POR15 it and it will be good for many more years.

One more reason to get a southern or south western state car.

I think my 02 has the liners, have so see what they look like.

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Thanks guys. I knew it was junk-the-car bad but wanted to see what peoples opinions and solutions would be. I'll be doing struts soon so I'll see what I can do about it then. I will try the rocking the car and poking at it tomorrow and see what happens.

When you do the struts is a good time to sand it down and blast it with rust converter or paint.

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naval jelly

Yeah the 02's definitely have it, I've seen mine. When I did, and will do the struts I brush off any rust/dirt and put grease all over it, it won't rust after that. I still had almost 100% of the paint there.

My 01 has them... No rust in there whatsoever. The rockers on the other hand... well, they're not THAT bad


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Rockers are overrated anyway

Yeah, at work we never lift older w-bodies by the rockers lol. It's just common practice. Unfortunately they're one of the few cars that come in that ever have excessive rocker rust.

See, this is a 98 GP like mine except 2 door, NOTHING left of the driver side rocker panel. But floorboards were 100%. And see I put the lift on the inner part of the uni body frame, front and rear.

So the strut tower seemed pretty solid rocking the car. I'm gonna do the scrape the rust off then either grease it or paint it. As far as rockers go for being a 98 they're not terrible but definitely on their way out.

My 01 has the inner liners as well and has zero rust in the rear wheel wells. My rockers are in awesome shape too. Por 15 really is a wonderful can of stuff.

Originally Posted by SomeDudeAtHome

So the strut tower seemed pretty solid rocking the car. I'm gonna do the scrape the rust off then either grease it or paint it. As far as rockers go for being a 98 they're not terrible but definitely on their way out.

If you scrape out the rusty looking foam stuff and brush some rust converter in there then spray paint over that, she might last. A few shots of undercoating inside the top of the wheelwell would help seal out moisture on that side. You might have caught it in time to actually save it from further rot. The grease idea I'm not so big on, petroleum products can hurt paint. Probably an effective measure but messy and real dirty before long if you do that!

You may also want to consider getting a set of rear inner fenders if you plan on keeping the car a while longer