wheel well rust

ugh.

https://goo.gl/photos/1xzrNhHrYq4QuDzT6

Notice it's all buried under where the flashing and cover goes?

I'm sure this won't be the only time allot of people on this forum have seen this sort of thing. Until I took the whole shroud and mud flap off I couldn't see anything was wrong in the area.

What's the recommendation for avoiding this? Take it all off once a year and rinse and inspect? Is this common or did I get unlucky?

My plan at this point is to remove all the rust (I may bring it in for a sandblasting)... Primer it... Maybe some foam to fill the cavity after a couple coats of primer and paint... Then bondo / fiberglass and reinstall flashing etc...

I'll also be taking all the flashing off the other wheel wells to inspect in the near future. I know the rear wheel wells are going to suck. I thought the front's were ok

edit:
* I'll probably try to NOT reinstall the exterior plastic flashing. I think that's why my truck is rotting out. It just catches water :(

Holy crap! It'll likely be cheaper just get a new fender when compared to hiring a body shop to complete the repair.

I might be inclined to just wire-wheel off the rust, then paint the exposed/bare metal with POR-15, then re-install the fender flare. You could do all of the fenders that way. POR-15 is awesome paint - for rust control.

https://www.google.com/search?q=por-...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Quote:

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Originally Posted by More Power

Holy crap! It'll likely be cheaper just get a new fender when compared to hiring a body shop to complete the repair.

I might be inclined to just wire-wheel off the rust, then paint the exposed/bare metal with POR-15, then re-install the fender flare. You could do all of the fenders that way. POR-15 is awesome paint - for rust control.

https://www.google.com/search?q=por-...hrome&ie=UTF-8

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Still thinking about it. Thanks for the reply, that got me thinking. I was just assuming I'd need to weld it for a fender replacement, but that doesn't look like it's the case. A new fender isn't that expensive...

So options are:
1) Try to fix it, grind out the rust... por 15 / prep paint... Fill it in with a bit of foam and bondo it up...
2) Replace it.

I suspect it'll be the same amount of time to do either and the costs won't be that far off. I'll probably look at yanking that fender off in the nearish future. I'll be taking the fender flares off the whole truck soon to see what I've got myself into. I'll probably go hit it with some rust converter after that just to make sure it doesn't get any worse.

Here's a link to a story we did a few years ago about this rusting problem. May be something here to help you.

http://www.thedieselpage.com/features/andrewprincec.htm

Thanks MorePower, I'm going to spray the underside this coming weekend.

In the meantime I ordered myself a shiny new aftermarket fender... I prepped and painted it a couple weeks ago:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/18yAwJYJjEoUuxN72

So it should go on this weekend!

I'm shocked at how nice the finish came out looking. The rest of the truck is going to look pretty bad now!

Gary

Hi Gary
Your new fender looks different than the old one.The flare looks different.
I have a set of flares that are rubber off of a 2002 pickup.I assumed that they were all rubber then you show a pic of one that is rusted away.Now i am going to have to check the trucks i have to see what is on them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yukon6.2

Hi Gary
Your new fender looks different than the old one.The flare looks different.
I have a set of flares that are rubber off of a 2002 pickup.I assumed that they were all rubber then you show a pic of one that is rusted away.Now i am going to have to check the trucks i have to see what is on them.

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Not sure I follow, there's the fender which is steel and bolts on with 8 bolts.

The fender flare is plastic, it goes on with clips.

That picture is of the fender, the fender flare I won't be putting back. I suspect that if the flare's hadn't been there I wouldn't be replacing the fender (I think the flare trapped water and crap which is why it rusted out).

IE there's no flare installed on this fender (and there won't be :D)

Almost done:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DZp27FpfnwbkHQ4R2

The finish is pretty far off. Not sure what I'll do about that, if I can do anything at all.

Still it's a huge improvement over the rotted out mess that was there before.

G