There have been rust bubbles on right-rear-wheel arch of my 1995 Nissan QX. The bubbles were first noticed 6 months ago, covering a surface area of 10mm x 10mm. Now the bubble is getting more pronounce and started to spread round the folded part of metal towards the side of the car. Paint is not cracked. No rust is showing. Mechanically, it is perfect.
It has done 125k and I am planning to use it until it either dies (probably at around 250k), or when I finish my training contract in 3 years time.
Is it worth getting it fixed? Will the bubbling spread more quickly from on now?
How much would a body-shop charge to do this?
Is this a small enough job for me to do it myself? If I do it myself, it will be summer 2004.
Any advice welcome.
Thanks,
Garrison
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it'l only get worse if left...get a small sharp screwdriver or similar and carefully scrape until you find silver metal
keep scaping until as much rust is gone as possible then use a rust inhibiting primer/paint or hammerite...then keep an eye on it and redo if it bubbles again...that should at least slow it down alot
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If you want a perfect (or at least near-perfect) repair then you will have to go to a body shop and they will probably charge you £100+ for this.
On the other hand its only a small spot and its a fairly old car, so personally I would DIY and accept that you'll have a bit of a blemish there.
Scrape off the bubbled paint and use some abrasive cloth to clean it to bare metal. Then treat with 'zinc primer' and let it cure for a day or so (in the dry). Then a bit of ordinary grey primer and then topcoat and clean laquer from a can. You'll see the repair, but it should hold the rust off for a while.
As regards the mechanical longevity of your car, I would think it has a lot of life in it yet. I've looked a quite a few US-based forums for these cars and have yet to see anyone posting with a real engine problem. Faulty starter motors seem common around 100k miles, and you get the odd faulty coil or injector, but the engines seem to go on forever. I don't think the autobox is quite as relaible though, I have seen reports of failures around 150k miles. I think an annual ATF change is probably well worth the cost (5 litres of DIII sells at £16 at my local factors).
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Aprilia:
Well, the thing is that it has not got bigger since last June when I first noticed it. It is not a normal rust bubble either. It looks (and feels) like the finishing at the sills of Mk3 Golf/Polo/Passat. A sandy finish rather than a polished finish. I am very busy at the moment (busy season in my field of work) and I need my car until April. I guess I would DIY it in late April - August.
With regards to the auto box, I am planning to have it changed every 30k (about once a year). My QX takes 9.6 litres according to the service CD. I had it done at the 100k service and the Mechanic charges my 25 pounds. I am guessing that the LSD also uses the ATF. Am I correct?
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If you wait until summer before remedying this it could look a lot worse. My experience of rust repair in the past was that I often ended up with something worse than I started out with! In terms of price all you can do is get a quote but most big outfits deal mainly with insurance jobs (you're paying for all their staff and their fancy premises). Probably worth trying a smaller local place....?
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