my vx is rusting...
 

I bought a nice looking vx with 140,000 miles. All things considered its in great condition. Except I see rust bubbles under the paint all of the sudden... in typical spot over rear wheels. I truly love this car. I want to fix this asap. I know how, I just don't have the tools. I can even do a bit of welding! Anyone near virgina have access to a welding machine, grinder and cutter? I can pay you a bit for the trouble. I'm not a Honda punk. I'm a student studying sustainability and engineering. This car is my lifestyle. My dog and gear go in the back. We go out to the world. And as little gas as possible goes into the tank. I would love to take this baby past the 500k mile mark!
Anyway, figured I'd ask around the community.
Thanks everyone.
PS. Other spots look fine so i know it isn't too late.

What exactly is a Honda punk lol

But if its just surface rust most shops can soda blast it and paint it for not to much or do it your self with a rust converter a little sanding you can buy a harbor freight paint gun and paint it your self

You should be able to just get some sanding sponges and a wire wheel and clean it up enough to maybe put a skim coat of filler on it and repaint. If the paint has just recently started bubbling, and the rust didn't start from the inside, there's a good chance it hasn't started rotting yet.

Before you get too jumpy about it, get yourself a good can of primer and try to clean it up. If you find that there are rotted spots, clean 'em out really nice down to bare metal, and you can remove the panels in the trunk, put duct tape over the holes from the inside and use body filler in that way, too.

If the holes are more than quarter sized, it's best to tack in new metal, then skim coat it and paint it up.

If you do end up using bondo or other filler, never put it over rust or on to bare steel! it has to be over primed or pained steel, bondo can hold water and is like putting a wet sponge on the bare steel, same with any kind of fiberglass resin.
Grind away the rust, clean it, prime it then fill it, or just paint it so you can tell right away if it's rusting again.

Pull the 1/4 panel interior trim so you can get to the inside of the rusted areas. Remove every speck of the existing rust. Use Marine Tex for a filler, it's waterproof. Then go around the wheel arch on the inside and use a good sealer to seal off the area from future rust. Never use bondo to fix rust, it's not meant for that purpose.

I used to weld up and repair rust like you are describing, and I have fixed a heck of a lot worse that that including structural repairs, but I am old and sold my shop and gave my MIG welder to my friend to use in his shop.

regards
Mech

Hey thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it tons! This all sounds like my best choice for now. If I sand and scrub, then find excessive rust I'll have to let everyone check out the pics. I think as a short term fix I could find a cutter and adhesive the 1/4 panel on there until I find a welder.
And the Honda punk thing was just a gag meaning, I'm not "that guy" with the loud car that speeds through your neighborhood and is just looking for a freebie without the work involved. Or something of that nature.
Thank you all! My next day off will be spent accessing those panels from inside and out. I'll check the rocker panels too (i think thats what they are called)

If your not able to get to the tools you need right away a cheep rust converting primer like Rust Destroyer Rust007 - Rust Destroyer sold at hardware stores will buy you some time and when you do go to do all the bodywork for real, treating all the rust spots that you end up filling with a good rust converter from an autobody supply will help to keep this from happening again.

In San Diego there's a program that teaches occupational skills at night in the high school shop classes; its called ROP (Regional Occupational Program). I spent three years in their autobody class and this is the best place I've found to work on my cars; they have all the latest tools/equipment/industry knowledge and its all free. If you have something like this in your area I'd highly recommend looking into it.

Also, how'd it go finding the stock intake for your car? I know what you mean by "honda punk." Nothing but trouble.

Yea I purchased something similar to the rust destroyer. With mine u give the area a light sand then spray it on. It stops rust and applies a 2 in 1 flat black paint primer as well. I used it under the doors above the door sills where rust was forming as a result of rubbing. I also used it for some random bolts, nuts n brackets under the hood.

I think when i sand down the rear panels I'm gonna also use that. Then primer. Then seal. Then paint.

In regards to the intake. My friendhas a dx that is getting a full cold air intake. He's gonna hand over the stock dx. I'm hoping it'll b better for some low rpm power at least over the advanced auto intake. If not, the filter box should b damn close, so i thought about getting dimensions of vx tube and making one from PVC to attach to intake box.

My '97 Civic had the rust at the quarter panel joint by the left rear wheel. I started sanding away the rust, ended up with a hole in the steel. Just FYI, I think there's a good chance that's what you'll find. Once you clean away all the rust you can paint + Bondo, or you can weld it.

I like the advice to clean from the inside also by removing the interior panel. BUT I think at least in my '97 Civic it's a "chamber", you can't get to it from the other side. Yours is the generation before mine, maybe you can get to the back side of it.

FYI- Most Civics have an issue with the above mentioned by brucepick, not sure if it is the same issue but, it could be caused by the drain behind the gas fill door. If it gets clogged, you get rust, (usually starts close to the fill door) so make sure that drain stays clear. Just a heads up, as I've seen this more than once on your model.
Sorry no help on the equip as I am nowhere near you, nor do I have those tools.

I had a '93 VX with similar but more extensive rust problems. The quarter panels can be done with virtually no power equipment if you have a cordless drill (and sander). I did both sides but am showing just the left so I don't flood the thread.

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You can see quite a bit of the rockers if you cut out the quarter panel area and take off even just the small interior trim piece (where a speaker would go). I saw a lot more than I wanted to see. Oh you need to remove the exterior rocker panel trim piece too.

I did the work in basically an unpowered garage (I used a small generator so I could use a sander, drill, and a couple lights). If I had a cordless drill and matching cordless orbital sander then I could have done the whole thing with no power plugs nearby.

Other than the quarters I bought virtually everything from Eastwood - panel repair it, all-metal filler, metal snips to cut, and various rust convert / zinc / rustoleum primer / etc sprays to cover rust and prime. At first I used bodywork specific sanding stuff but later went to the orbital palm sander.

I had more extensive damage than what I initially saw - the rocker panels were going and the wheelwells were starting to rust through. I figured it'd be okay for a winter beater car and it was really fun car to drive (and yes I did put a fart can on it but only because it was cheaper than OEM replacement stuff).

Then we had our son so I sold the car (and its summer counterpart, a 350Z, which, without engine off coasting or other radical techniques, normally got 28-30 mpg up to 35-36 mpg steady highway stuff @ 65 mph avg speeds; this prevented me from selling the car for a while because it got "good" mileage and was fun/fast) and replaced both with a Golf TDi. I got the VX from a friend who bought it new. I got it with 246k on it, sold it with 283k.

I hope this helps give you an idea of what you need/want to do and how to do it. I'm no expert at bodywork although I think in a different world I'd be hammering panels for a living. The job was definitely second rate but it was fun and I enjoyed doing it. If I had more time I'd have done more, even recruiting a welding friend, but I wouldn't put my kid in this car and it was taking up space, eating up insurance premiums, property tax (in CT), etc, so I sold it.

There isn't a Honda in Ohio that doesn't have rusty wheel wells. Rockers optional on my cx. All the advice is good they rust from the inside out. So take off the interior trim and be prepared to be sad. Also take off the rocker trim and be sad. You can also take off the door panels and I've use heavy spay lube like a red grease in a aerosal can and coated the inside of doors to prevent rust or to halt it. No air no rust. good luck either fix fast or live with it. If you saw my cx you would laugh. Spay foam holding the rear wheel wells on but the belly pan and all suspension points are rock solid.

sprinter nice job on that. thoses look like the same panels ive used and have sitting here waiting to get installed. we got some adhesive we just bought to be used instead of welding or riveting. its supposed to be super strong and you wont get the warping you do with welding.

Sivx, post some pics of the rust to see how bad it is. easier to give advice if we see how bad it is.

i hate the reputation that honda has aquired. mostly because of idiots who dont know what they are doing and have seen the fast and the furious too many times. i do like some of the drag cars though. clean ones.

My car's name is Tetanus. Rust doesn't scare me.

If the panel isn't rusted through it can usually be saved. If not the only option is replacement of the rusted area. By the way body filler can be applied to bare metal. In fact Bondo brand filler's instructions indicate you put in on bare metal.