16 replies to this topic

[mohammed]

Hi everyone,

I am in need of your advice, i have some rust on the mini (i think its surface rust, well i hope it is), anyway i want to have a go on repairing it (but i cant weld).

My plan is to:

1) grind the paint back to metal
2) apply rust treatment
3) filler it, sand it
4) primer (can spray)
5) colour paint (can spray)
6) poilsh the whole car

This the list correct, im i missing anything to do or not to do.

also will the mini look a patch work if i use a can spray and only spray the bits im working on which are fairly small??

thank you for your help and advice

mohammed

[mymini007]

Depends where it is?

If its structural it will need to be welded, not fillered!

[jaydee]

Filler traps water, and rust will appear again. Apply etch primer or something similar on metal.

[Andrew O]

Filler does not trap water if treated correctly.

[mini_in_progress]

Filler does not trap water if treated correctly.

thats very true, but it still isnt a substitute for metal in a structural area

[mohammed]

Depends where it is?

If its structural it will need to be welded, not fillered!

the rust are under headlights and around the side(wing) mirror and under window.

is my plan good or what should i do instead?

mohammed

[mymini007]

Filler orund the headlights will look crappy, Is it holey?
When you say window, do you mean windscreen or door?
Get some pics up so we can see

Edited by mymini007, 30 April 2012 - 02:12 PM.

[mohammed]

Filler orund the headlights will look crappy, Is it holey?
When you say window, do you mean windscreen or door?
Get some pics up so we can see

same pic of where the rust is. and its the door window.

[mymini007]

That wont need filling, mine was 5 times worse, and I just used high build primer after the rust treatment

[mohammed]

That wont need filling, mine was 5 times worse, and I just used high build primer after the rust treatment

when i paint it with a spray can will it look patchy

[AVV IT]

Rule No 1: The rust that you can see on a mini is almost always just the "tip of the iceberg" and is usually just a symptom of a bigger problem underneath/behind or elsewhere!!

That sort of rust under you head lights is usually caused by moisture and dirt in the seams that has built up from behind the panel and spread through to the front. If you just remove the rust you can see on the front of the panel and fill/paint over, you will potentially make matters worse, as the underlying problem will still be there only you will have now sealed it in with paint and filler. You would be best advised to leave it alone for now and concentrate your efforts on treating and protecting the underside of the wings and behind the headlights to stop matters getting worse, and ideally fit a pair of plastic wheel arch liners too, in order to keep further dirt & moisture away from those areas. Only when you have done all that and sorted the underlying problem, should you consider treating the rust you can see on the outer side of the panel. Otherwise the rust will just start to come back with a vengeance, a few weeks after the next down pour.

I'm not entirely sure what has caused the corrosion to the middle of your door skin in that way though. Although you have some of the usual blistering caused by moisture getting trapped beneath the chrome rail beneath the window, in my experience door skins tend to corrode from the bottom upwards and in order for it to have reached the middle of the panel in that way, I would have expected the bottom of the skin to be completely rotten as well. I suspect that it may be down to a poor accident repair in the past, so you probably would be best to take the door card off and try and have a look at what is going on on the other side of the panel, before deciding on what to do about it.

Edited by AVV IT, 30 April 2012 - 03:30 PM.

[Andrew O]

AVV IT - Do you wright a paragraph for everything ?
Not a dig just an observation

[AVV IT]

AVV IT - Do you wright a paragraph for everything ?
Not a dig just an observation

Yup, Pretty Much!!..... It has been remarked upon here before (mostly by Max & Paddy though to be fair!!)


EDIT: ahhhh I just noticed that I managed to answer your question there without using an entire paragraph!! (although to be fair a normal person would probably have used just one word!! )

Edited by AVV IT, 30 April 2012 - 03:50 PM.

[mohammed]

thanks everyone..

[Alex_B]

Yeah If you cant weld i wouldnt go near it as it will be one of those" why did i start this job" jobs, can of worms and then some! if a panel has rust bubbles, then you have a very high chance rust is elsewhere so it would be another " a quick weekend project" that turns into months and lots of new shiny bits.

Lets face it, we cant just put a mini back together it has to have new shiny bits