Body corrosion , common location?

[jeffcoslacker]

Dammit, I just noticed when i washed it. Below the fuel cap door, about 1/2" up from the top of the bumper cover...a small line of tiny rust blisters, one of which has broken through the paint...they are in a direct front to back orientation, and looking closer I noticed that the surface of the panel is buckled outward slightly in about a 5" long line right where it's happening...this tells me there's either a weld seam or the edge of an old body repair under there that's starting to go... ...and shoving it outward under pressure from the corrosion beneath...it's probably a big mess under there...don't wanna look...

I changed the contrast on this pic to highlight the high spot I'm talking about...that dark area around the pinholes shows the off the bulging part....



Anyone seen this in that location on their's? I hate doing body work...

[maxwedge]

Jeff up here in northern NYS very common, dirt and sand gets packed up in that ledge area, above the cover and stays there nice and wet and salty.

[gw84]

bummer, man. I just noticed some [more] paint issues with my '93 tonight also. I've only owned luminas, so I don't know if other makes/models have the same issue with holding dirt/debris. I think MaxWedge is right. These cars have so many places to hold dirt, sand, salt, etc. that it's hard to remove all of it...leading to problems such as yours. I know my '93 has LOTS of hiding places. In the wheel well for instance, dirt gets flung up on the small ledge and won't leave on its own. Also the inside door jambs seem to collect lots of dirt. Whenever I wash the luminator, I always open the doors to find some nice mud on the rocker panels...umm umm NOT GOOD. I guess the "draining system" on that car isn't too good. After a wash there is also a lot of water inside the mirrors as well as around the hinges of the doors/trunk. I always have to go through and dry the inside as well. It's a lot of extra work, but you gotta try. Good luck man in whatever you do! BTW. Just noticed that it's below the fuel door. Do you think that gas overflow (from filling) could be the culprit?

[Blue Bowtie]

Same here. That's the main reason (that, and clearcoat issues) i did a little refinishing on my Blumina:





The rear bumper cover is fairly easy to remove, and exposes all the damage at the joint. I had it on both sides, and a couple spots on the rockers from neglected stone chips. About $150 of paint, catalyst, and urethane clearcoat later (plus some DA discs, masking tape, etc.) and it was back in good condition. I also applied some deflection on the back side of the bumper cover to keep the road spray from the area. Salt is fun, isn't it?

[jeffcoslacker]

I'll do some exploratory surgery this weekend, at least take the cover off and see what's happening, if there a pocket of moist crud up there I'll remove it, do a little wire wheeling from behind and smack it with some Extend or something to stop it...not gonna deal with it yet, as I was considering having my GM Dealer painter bud do the whole car this coming spring...

Aggravating, because I am beyond anal when it comes to exterior cleaning, whenever there's snow and salt down, the car never goes over 48 hours without a wash with fenderwell and underside clean-outs....I guess like you guys said, there's a ledge up there where stuff is getting packed, and can't flush out...I'll try to devise a deflector shield or something to prevent it...the other side is perfect...must have something to do with the fuel filler recess intruding into the space inside that makes stuff accumulate there...I'll say it again. Dammit.

Well, I guess for a daily driver, with 130,000 miles and never seen the inside of a garage, it's held up very well...

[Blue Bowtie]

...smack it with some Extend or something to stop it...

That's EXACTLY what I did before the prime, final sand, and topcoats. I friggin' HATE rust, and I'll kill it any time I can.

Instead of a ledge, the seam between the urethane bumper cover and the stamped quarterpanel acts like a wick to hold the moisture. The car isn't here right now (kid's out driving it) so I can't get a photo, but if you promise not to laugh too much, I'll tell you what I did to try to solve it.

After killing the corrosion with Extend, prime, paint, clear coat, and reassembly, I split a piece of 1/4" or 5/16" vacuum hose (can't really remember) lengthwise. I used a length adequate to cover the length of the joint back to where it gets about impossible in the rear corner. I used 3M Fast-Tack adhesive on the cleaned surface and bonded the half cross section of hose to the TOP of the joint (to the quarterpanel only), and let the curvature of the hose cover the gap. I chose not to bond the bottom half, but just let the hose curve over the joint. Right or wrong, the theory was that if any water does get in the seam it will still be able to drain out. Anything slung off the rear wheels will not reach the seam except by dripping back down over it from above, instead of spraying directly at it. Time will tell if it's any better than before, but the factory did nothing, and I see a lot of Luminas rusting in the same area.

[gw84]

Originally Posted by Blue Bowtie

Same here. That's the main reason (that, and clearcoat issues) i did a little refinishing on my Blumina:
The rear bumper cover is fairly easy to remove, and exposes all the damage at the joint. I had it on both sides, and a couple spots on the rockers from neglected stone chips. About $150 of paint, catalyst, and urethane clearcoat later (plus some DA discs, masking tape, etc.) and it was back in good condition. I also applied some deflection on the back side of the bumper cover to keep the road spray from the area. Salt is fun, isn't it?

How hard is it to remove the FRONT bumper cover? I am definately gonna take that thing off and have it repainted.
It looks okay from a distance, but get up close and you see......... AHHHHHHH

[Blue Bowtie]

The two side marker lamps should be removed and unplugged. There are several plastic push-pin rivets holding the bumper cover from above and below - Pull the center pin outward then remove the entire plastic rivet. The grille may need to be removed to get reasonable access to a couple of them. After that, there are a few small hex head screws in the front edges of the wheel openings, and the whole thing can be slid forward and off the hooks/pins locking it to the fenders.

[jeffcoslacker]

Originally Posted by Blue Bowtie

That's EXACTLY what I did before the prime, final sand, and topcoats. I friggin' HATE rust, and I'll kill it any time I can.

Instead of a ledge, the seam between the urethane bumper cover and the stamped quarterpanel acts like a wick to hold the moisture. The car isn't here right now (kid's out driving it) so I can't get a photo, but if you promise not to laugh too much, I'll tell you what I did to try to solve it.

After killing the corrosion with Extend, prime, paint, clear coat, and reassembly, I split a piece of 1/4" or 5/16" vacuum hose (can't really remember) lengthwise. I used a length adequate to cover the length of the joint back to where it gets about impossible in the rear corner. I used 3M Fast-Tack adhesive on the cleaned surface and bonded the half cross section of hose to the TOP of the joint (to the quarterpanel only), and let the curvature of the hose cover the gap. I chose not to bond the bottom half, but just let the hose curve over the joint. Right or wrong, the theory was that if any water does get in the seam it will still be able to drain out. Anything slung off the rear wheels will not reach the seam except by dripping back down over it from above, instead of spraying directly at it. Time will tell if it's any better than before, but the factory did nothing, and I see a lot of Luminas rusting in the same area.

Interesting solution...I'll keep it in mind when I open 'er up