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Rusty Arches W211

David68

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
25
Location
Hertfordshire
Car
E500
Hi guys. I have a 2002 W211 with rust on the lips of both rear arches whichI want to catch early. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who has had it fixed and how long it lasted.

I can see where detrius collects behind the lip. I'm thinking pressure wash regularly to hopefully delay reoccurrence, but trying to gauge how long I can realistically hold it back for. I realise it'll mean painting the wings and going into the door so it'll cost me and no point doing it unless it'll not reoccur for a while...

Cheers, David
 
I take my arch liner's out and clean behind there
 
I had Mercedes do one of the arches , it lasted abt 3 years before showing up again.

over the winter I done both my arches, I still haven't got round to putting waxoyl behind them but there was nor rust behind it was all surface.

I wire brushed it down and sanded it to bare metal and put several coats of silver Hammerite which thankfully matched the 744 silver perfectly.

bought some rubber sleeving for the edges which I will fill with waxoyl and slip over the edges as its stoncehips on the edges that starts the corrosion.
 
Mine is going in later this month to have a couple of cracks in the rear bumper sorted. I noticed whilst I was there that the inner lips of the arches are just showing rust so they can sort that out too.
 
Thank you gentleman. Mr ALPS, your DIY method sounds interesting. I was thinking given that my rust looks surface that I could do it myself. But bodyshop says no as it simply can't be done. But I would have thought that a paint line doesn't matter given that this is a wheel arch lip. How does your finished product look? I'd be interested to see a photo when the rubber protector you mentioned is in place.

Cheers David
 
just tape it off and cover the outside with paper (the whole side of the car!), inside lip normally has stone protection sprayed so is not normally smooth.

oh, and choose a day with no wind!
 
I find the rubber protector a bad thing to use. They have it on the old Civic's between the years 96-00 and the majority have rear arch rust problems. The rubber protector traps water and dirty in the arches, whereas, without the rubber protector this allows the water and dirty to slide off.
 
I found similar beginnings of rear wheel arch rust on my S211.

I waited until we had a reasonable period of dry weather, took off both rear liners and sanded back to bare metal. Fortunately it was all confined to the lip and was quite superficial.
I applied Dinitrol RC900 rust converter to hopefully kill any remaining rust, this stuff self-primes. I followed up with Hammerite Smoothrite black, this matches the Obsidian black paint quite well. I then put a few coats of Hammerite waxoyl underseal on the inside of the arches and a little on the edge of the lip. The results can't be readily seen unless you really look.
Time will tell on how long it will last but hopefully it will have slowed the rusting process down a bit.
 
I find the rubber protector a bad thing to use. They have it on the old Civic's between the years 96-00 and the majority have rear arch rust problems. The rubber protector traps water and dirty in the arches, whereas, without the rubber protector this allows the water and dirty to slide off.

fill it with waxoyl and it should be fine!
 
fill it with waxoyl and it should be fine!

+1

Had Japanese cars in the past & my current winter runabout, a Subaru Legacy tourer has these arch lip protectors. As long as it's checked & Waxoyl'd or any rust preventative of your choice and it'll be fine. I've even just used multi-purpose grease.
 
Thanks gentlemen. This pretty much confirms what I thought - that a good DIY job is feasible if the rust is on the surface and hasn't gone beyond the lips of the arches. On one side of mine it has, so will need spraying but the other arch is very localised.

Body shop man said no way can a DIY repair work as the edge of the paint won't look good but I can't see why it matters if there's a masking line on the lip. But as you chaps have confirmed it can be done - thank you.
 
I have a2000 Reg slk with small rust spots on the rear heel arch I am going the rub them back and paint with several coats of hameritte sliver
 
If it's just surface rust on the lip - you can just sand back, spray with metal ready and paint with a coat or two of POR15. Paint over with a touch up stick in the correct colour.

This sounds like a total bodge but I did this to my OM's W202 years back and it hasn't returned and you would only notice it's been done if you really look closely. POR15 is super tough.
 
Thanks Pop and Horatio. I was thinking along the same lines and I agree a local repair with Hammerite or POR15 is not a bodge. If it works why not. I could have a bodyshop do a professional repair, painting into the next panel and it won't be any more rust proofed. I do need to have on wing done this way where it's gone to the wing but one is isolated on the lip.
 

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