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Rust under weatherstripping???


the nightfly
09-14-2009, 01:43 PM
Yesterday, I noticed a few tiny rust stains on the trunk weatherstripping of my newly-acquired 1999 Accord LX, just to the left of the trunk latch. O.K. -- I assume there must be some surface rust on the underside of the trunk lid. Having lived in New England for a time, I know the drill for dealing with rust: sand, apply Extend or a similar rust neutralizer, touch up with topcoat. Except, this time, I can't find any chipped paint with rust forming on the trunk.

I then look at the weatherstripping more carefully and realize that, at each of the three rust spots, there is a miniscule (and I mean, at most, 0.5mm) cut in the weatherstripping itself. I am assuming that the cuts must have allowed moisture to get under the stripping and rust the metal lip underneath. From a quick "tap test," it sounds like the metal is still solid under there, with probably only a tiny bit of surface rust, but I can't find a way to get the weatherstripping up to get at the metal -- it's glued on solid on both sides of the lip.

So, is there any solution other than having to remove and replace the entire weatherstripping to get to the metal? At the moment, the only thing I could think of would be to get a needle (or, better yet, a hypodermic, if I knew where to find one) and get some Extend into each of the tiny holes and hope that I put in enough to get the rust spots, then use silicone adhesive to seal up the cuts in the weatherstripping. Does anyone else have a better idea?

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