e34 Door Rust Experts

[shadowpuck]

Can I solicit some opinions, please?

Thoughts on our e34 here? I took a couple of quick photos of the driver's door. So far, I think its the only one doing this. I think this looks like classic e34 door rust. Next steps?

Car is horribly dirty right now.....

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/28892-1/IMG_3711.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/28896-1/IMG_3712.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/28899-1/IMG_3713.JPG

Thank you for your time and opinions!

[zuzuk212]

I have the same on all 4 :( and have been wondering what to do myself other than getting new doors and a repaint.

Ken

[632 Regal]

for starters I would remove the bottom weather strip so more salt and moisture dont get in there. Cant tell whats under there anyways so there is no clue of the current damage.

[Kibokojoe]

I have started using rust bullet. It takes about three coats and you don't want to get any of this stuff on you but so far the rust has not come back. Two years and counting. Yes my doors had the same rust problems. Rust bullet is pretty amazing stuff.

http://www.rustbullet.com/html/ASTM_B117.htm

[shadowpuck]

kiboko - i'm familiar with por15, never tried rustbullet. did you put a topcoat on it to match the car color? if so, how did that turn out?

any tricks to removing the weather seal at the bottom of the door? isn't it just pulled off to remove?

thanks again!

[Kibokojoe]

On my 89 535i you can just pull the weather seals right off. I have heard of por15 but never used it. I don't think you can paint on por-15 but you can on rustbullet. I repaired a 94 Honda accord with fender rust and this paint job came out pretty nice. I must stress that nothing on the market is 100% but this is the best stuff I have ever tried. I coated my doors two years ago and then again last year after a little of the rust returned. So far I have not seen any of the rust returning. My first job with rustbullet was on the Honda and I don't think I coated it enough or didn't get a smooth enough coat to cover all of the pin holes anyway I can see a little rust returning. I will coat it again this year. I will be doing it this year with my sons 735i. I have looked at the doors and only one door shows any rust. But I will coat all four doors anyway. BTW its Kiboko it means hippo in Swahili :-) My African name

[shadowpuck]

thanks, kiboko for the information! if the weather cooperates next weekend, i'll take the seal off and report back with what i find......

[Kibokojoe]

If you have a digital camera with a flash you can hold it in the door and can get some good pics of the rust. I did this to see how bad it was in my doors. A mirror and a flash light works wonder also

[Bo525i]

I´m getting 4 new doors, as mine have rusted beyond salvage this winter :(

[Kibokojoe]

Ouch man big bucks

[paanta]

POR-15 comes in a lot of different flavors and I think they'll all take paint. They make one clear version, one with metal filler, etc. You can get a six pack of any combination you like for $50...

I love the little cans 'cause any open can dries out fast, and it's nice to have on hand when you uncover a hidden surprise when you've got a wheel well cover off or something...

Less of a problem now that my E28 and Mk GTI are gone, though. ;)

http://www.por15.com/SIX-PACK-MIXED/productinfo/SPM/

[Bo525i]

Ouch man big bucks

Well, both yes and no.. With new I don´t mean new from the stealer but from salvage companies in Germany! Somewhere around 130$ a piece without trims and stuff! ;)

[Kibokojoe]

Hmmm not as expensive as I thought

[Dave M]

kiboko - i'm familiar with por15, never tried rustbullet. did you put a topcoat on it to match the car color? if so, how did that turn out?

any tricks to removing the weather seal at the bottom of the door? isn't it just pulled off to remove?

thanks again!

The corrosion doesn't look 'that' bad from the photos. I had similar rust on all my doors when I bought the car in 2002 and was able to clean it up with sandpaper, rust munching products and some generic black paint that you have to stare at pretty hard to be critical. I don't recall whether I used POR-15 for this particular project, but I highly recommend it. Remember that most of your sanding/painting will be covered up by the new weatherstripping you'll install when you're done (unless you go without).

It looks like you've also got a bit of work to do on your rocker panels. Same deal.

EDIT: Oh, forget about being carefull removing the weeatherstripping. It has a metal insert (rusted to $hit) that will bend or break. It will hurt removing the strips as years worth of rotted door will be along for the ride (just to make you feel great :D )

Good luck with it,

Dave

[Kibokojoe]

Question??? New weatherstrips don't have these metal clips....correct?

[Bo525i]

My new ones (last year) didn´t seem to have the metal!

[Dave M]

Question??? New weatherstrips don't have these metal clips....correct?


No clips involved with the weatherstrips/lower trim, whatever you want to call them. They press fit onto the door bottom.

Dave

[shadowpuck]

thanks everyone for the info.....
dave - your sig always makes me laugh! thanks too for the information. yeah, there's a bit on the rocker panel too.

i hope to report back this weekend with more photos when i get a moment to look at it. my work schedule right now doesn't allow much car time.....:(

[shadowpuck]

well, a long overdue update to this issue.

i finally got enough time to pull off the weatherstripping on the driver's door.

that was really easy. a pair of pliers and a little bit of work and it popped right off. surprisingly, the bottom of the door didn't come with it. which, makes me hopeful that the rust isn't that bad....

here's a few more photos. i'm thinking i can sandpaper/grind this stuff, hit it with por15, then cover it with body color and top coat.....

i'm thinking i can paint the sideskirts at the same time.......
i've done some painting before, but only schwarz II - which is pretty hard to mess up!! :) i've never tried to colormatch/blend a light color like granitsilbur....

anyway, here's the photos.....thoughts?

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33473-1/IMG_4442.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33476-1/IMG_4443.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33479-1/IMG_4444.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33482-1/IMG_4446.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33485-1/IMG_4447.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33488-1/IMG_4448.JPG

[Mr._Graybeard]

That doesn't look bad at all, no perforation.

There's a bead of caulk on the seam just above the lower lip of the door (inside surface). Scrape as much of it off as you can, as it holds moisture inside the seam. If you use POR-15 or another rust encapsulating paint, it should wick into the seam and seal it better than caulk. POR-15 is on the thin side so it does that particularly well.

If you use a chemical rust dissolver like Naval Jelly or Oxy-Solv, you can extend its effective working time by applying the chemical and covering it with a sheet of Saran wrap to keep it moist. I prefer Naval Jelly because you can slather it on fairly thick and seal it up with the plastic, then let it work overnight.

I bought a cheap airbrush to do the primer -- It allowed for very accurate application. You'll probably end up shooting several primer coats and maybe using some filler putty to fill in any corrosion pits on visible surfaces.

A body shop supply store can sell you matching paint and put it into aerosol cans for you. They might have a minimum sale quantity, like a quart, so you may end up with a couple extra cans.

[Russell]

That doesn't look bad at all, no perforation.

There's a bead of caulk on the seam just above the lower lip of the door (inside surface). Scrape as much of it off as you can, as it holds moisture inside the seam. If you use POR-15 or another rust encapsulating paint, it should wick into the seam and seal it better than caulk. POR-15 is on the thin side so it does that particularly well.

If you use a chemical rust dissolver like Naval Jelly or Oxy-Solv, you can extend its effective working time by applying the chemical and covering it with a sheet of Saran wrap to keep it moist. I prefer Naval Jelly because you can slather it on fairly thick and seal it up with the plastic, then let it work overnight.

I bought a cheap airbrush to do the primer -- It allowed for very accurate application. You'll probably end up shooting several primer coats and maybe using some filler putty to fill in any corrosion pits on visible surfaces.

A body shop supply store can sell you matching paint and put it into aerosol cans for you. They might have a minimum sale quantity, like a quart, so you may end up with a couple extra cans.

excellent information

BTW, while the 95 door trim stips are paintable to match body color, do they attach differently? Are they all plastic? My factory strips have mettal inside which is starting to rust in a couple of places on my front doors.

[Scott C]

excellent information

BTW, while the 95 door trim stips are paintable to match body color, do they attach differently? Are they all plastic? My factory strips have mettal inside which is starting to rust in a couple of places on my front doors.

The 95 attach via friction - they are painful to push on - i used blocks of wood and tapped them on. I will say I used POR to fix my front doors (after grinding down to bare metal), then epoxy primer then base/clear. The darn rust is back I hate to say so will have to grind more this summer. I am going to fill the gaps with a seam sealer of sort and then paint because I don't intend to do this job again on this car ;) It is a rather poor design in that it collects water at the bottom lip.

Scott

[BennyM]

My doors were just a little worse when I bit the bullet and paid a shop to sand, repaint, and in some cases weld new metal in the bottoms of the doors. I just knew from previous E34 rust experience that rust festers in those doors long before you see the effects on the outside and it's basically a never ending battle if you don't eliminate all of it. However, I live at ground zero for winter rust, so maybe it's easier to control for others. Take care of it NOW and maybe you'll save your self from having to take the extreme measures I did.

And yeah, that weatherstripping is evil. I feel as though BMW expected people to replace those every two years or something.


well, a long overdue update to this issue.

i finally got enough time to pull off the weatherstripping on the driver's door.

that was really easy. a pair of pliers and a little bit of work and it popped right off. surprisingly, the bottom of the door didn't come with it. which, makes me hopeful that the rust isn't that bad....

here's a few more photos. i'm thinking i can sandpaper/grind this stuff, hit it with por15, then cover it with body color and top coat.....

i'm thinking i can paint the sideskirts at the same time.......
i've done some painting before, but only schwarz II - which is pretty hard to mess up!! :) i've never tried to colormatch/blend a light color like granitsilbur....

anyway, here's the photos.....thoughts?

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33473-1/IMG_4442.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33476-1/IMG_4443.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33479-1/IMG_4444.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33482-1/IMG_4446.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33485-1/IMG_4447.JPG

http://www.kcbmwclub.com/gallery/d/33488-1/IMG_4448.JPG

[Derek A.]

The 95 attach via friction - they are painful to push on - i used blocks of wood and tapped them on. I will say I used POR to fix my front doors (after grinding down to bare metal), then epoxy primer then base/clear. The darn rust is back I hate to say so will have to grind more this summer. I am going to fill the gaps with a seam sealer of sort and then paint because I don't intend to do this job again on this car ;) It is a rather poor design in that it collects water at the bottom lip.

Scott

What type of epoxy primer did you use? Did you acid wash it before?

I have been talking to a shop that makes polymers for auto restoration. He recommended not using an acid wash. Just doing a sand blast, then coating in epoxy primer.

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/homepage.htm

I am going to address the door rust and paint the whole car this summer. Have a thousand other projects - but its getting to the point it needs some serious attention

http://www.opus45.com/pics/e34_727_2.jpg.

[mzarifkar]

keep us posted, I have a similar problem

[Scott C]

What type of epoxy primer did you use? Did you acid wash it before?

I have been talking to a shop that makes polymers for auto restoration. He recommended not using an acid wash. Just doing a sand blast, then coating in epoxy primer.



I am going to address the door rust and paint the whole car this summer. Have a thousand other projects - but its getting to the point it needs some serious attention
.

I used a PPG product - now that i checked, it was urethane PPG K36. I did use an acid wash (phosphoric acid) then rinse with water, then painted with primer. I used PPG DBC and DCU2042 clear with an LVLP cheapo gun. As a result of fixing the trunklid and doors on the BMW, I ended up painting the Rx-7 I have attached - driveway painting no less ;)