Rust! Help

[CGDoig]

I notices a couple small bubbles on either side of my trunk lid latch. I am in no way a body guy, I'm sort of afraid of it. What's the best way to go about fixing it? Sand paper grit suggestions, paint suggestions, anything really would be of great help. Thanks guys.

[SuperTy]

Re: Rust! Help

I beleive there is a 12 years rust warranty on that car, call a dealership and see what they will do for you...

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Rust! Help

I beleive there is a 12 years rust warranty on that car, call a dealership and see what they will do for you...

12 year rust PERFORATION warranty, they wont do anything unless it is actually through the metal.

You can try though.

[CGDoig]

Re: Rust! Help

Well it perforated my paint lol. Stefan said the same thing, worth a phone call for sure. Otherwise does anyone have experience fixing bubbles themselves?

[snipa_mini85]

Re: Rust! Help

Just called them because I had questions about what happens after my hail damage is repaired for the 12 year warranty but they couldn't answer my questions right away. In the meantime though! They say the 12 year is for rust that goes from the inside > out and not for surface rust.

I had taken my old Jetta in for rust bubbles at the bottom of the driver's door, it wasn't through the metal or anything too severe but they covered it anyways. Didn't take too long either.

[FlyBoy]

Re: Rust! Help

I had severe rust on the drivers rear quarter on my 2001 Jetta. Took it to the dealer, they snapped some pics and sent it off to the western Canada service rep. He looked at my car when he was out, used some kind of ultrasonic scanner to check the thickness of the paint and said there was filler between the paint and body so NO WARRANTY!! He also said they do repairs like that if they get banged up coming off the transport truck or boat to be delivered to the dealers, which they will not warranty because it has been repaired. What a scam!

So good luck with the hail repair, unless they can do paintless you will likely be SOL on warranty later.

[Geobmx4life]

Re: Rust! Help

I say approach them Cam...thegoodie got his fenders done on his 2001 2 dr TDI I was interested in...never hurts to try!!!

[stefan]

Re: Rust! Help

You can grind down, touch with etching primer, color then clear, with some wet sanding between coats. You can stop the rust this way, but the touch up spots will be far from invisible. I have done this for tiny spots and they stayed stable for several years after. Looks better than a bubble, but not great....

[Kor]

Re: Rust! Help

You can remove the bubble and rust - I'd use a dremel and keep the spot as small as possible. After that, hit it with rust inhibiting primer, use a tiny brush or pen. Let dry. Again keep the spot small.

Cover primer with either color, or an all-in-one touch up paint. If the spot is small, I wouldn't sand - you will mess up the surrounding paint and make the spot bigger and more noticeable. I'd use a polish instead, and an electric polisher. Do one coat, let dry, polish, do another coat, polish, and then wax over it. It won't look perfect, but better than rust.

Nice thing about minimizing the size of the spot is that you can always get it re-done professionally later, and you haven't sanded/ground down a huge area that they have to deal with. If you use a safe polish and don't go crazy with the polisher it's a lot harder to mess up your car.

Wet sanding with fine grit CAN work but I have also seen a fair number of botched jobs, where a basketball sized spot is suddenly all scratched, matte, and swirly.

[stefan]

Re: Rust! Help

I used dremmel too. Good tool for job.

[CGDoig]

Re: Rust! Help

Awesome tips guys. The only saving grace is location. It's only visible when the trunk is open and you look for it. Glad I noticed it now as another winter may prove catastrophic to where it is.