My arches are starting to show slight rust coming through on both sides, ideally I want to catch it as early as possible. I have bubbling one side that isnt showing any actual rust yet, but I'm guessing it will do soon, the other side has a small bit of bubbling, but this has a slight crack in the paint, so the rust is showing.

But I also have rusty bits underneath.

What do you guys do when this happens? I mean obviously you cant just scrap your car, but I've heard it can cost a bomb to repair? Have any of you had your arches repaired? If so what did it cost you? If you dont mind me asking you.

Or the other option is, leave it until it gets too bad, then re shell it around this time next year?

Any advice would be awesome.

 

Not worth re-shelling, just take it to a body shop - may cost £200-£500 depending on how bad it is.

 

as above, i think you will find that the arches are twin skinned and the water gets in between them.

body shop job, they chop out the rot and replace with new metal

 

One of mine has been repaired, crap job. I got a quote from a local body shop and it's around the £650. But, that includes both doors too as the rear door has been sprayed with the arch and to blend the colour the front door has to be done too.

 

I reshelled mine for that very reason

 

I'm thinking re shell next year, I like things to be perfect lol. My shell is not perfect.

I feel silly spending money on my engine, suspension, brakes etc, if my shell is crap.

I might re shell it into a RA shell sometime next year.

But then I guess I could get it repaired and it might stay looking nice.. Hmmmmm

 

LOL ... I did the same thing ..... got it running nice , sorted all the silly problems .. then looked for a shell

 

Yeah I think thats what I'm gonna do, Lol.

I know it would bother me forever having it repaired haha, I hate filler

 

bit late now but precautionary measures are re-underseal every couple of yrs and use some KRUST etc on any small minor rust areas before it penetrates the paint side of the shell,thats what ive done so far and fingers crossed,its working,just re-underselaed the rear arches ready for the winter,the last load i did was when it was imported 3 yrs ago and it had started to show signs of wearing off

 

Ra shell is no different to any other shell

 

Apart from the hole in the roof

 

Ra hasn`t got a hole in the roof. Only a Sti ra has.

 

theres a lot of classics being broken privately atm.... I doubt there.l be a better time to buy a good shell
Swiss Tony is breaking a real beaut

 

I have the same problem , my car had no rust in the arches or underside and have undersealed it , then i noticed a few weeks ago that the paint has started bubbling abit near the arch , what can you do to stop this , as the other side/underside it is mint with no rust , just like its rusting in between the two skins , is there anything you can do to stop this in the early stages apart form cut it out and weld a new piece in ?, cheers

 

I have had this problem with both my scoobys the rust wasnt too bad but I had problems with the rear bumper not holding up,

my last one paid a bodyshop £500 to sort rust was back within two months, on my latest scooby me and a friend cut all the bad metal out, replaced it. all it cost me was £20 and some time, admittley to the trained eye you can see where I have painted but I know the arches won't fall off before I get it resprayed.

 

Ah,learn something new everyday

 

op you say that bodyshops cost a bomb but surely a reshell would cost 4-5 bombs,lol.

 

You can pick up shells from 150 upwards for a decent shell.

 

How much time and labour to swop everything over?

 

I'd do it all myself. I enjoy working on my car, so would be fun.

 

I wouldnt know where to start! lol

 

I used to think that! Lol

Its not as hard as it looks, trust me .

I wouldnt try it with a shell that was completly bare, it would have to have fuel lines, tank, looms, glass etc there, other than that its not that hard.

 

get the underneath wax oiled they do it clear or black and is the only thing that is going to stop the rust,regarding the archs there need to be groung back and ectch primerd then painted as soon as you can best of luck

 

If I was to waxoil underneath, surely the rust would just continue to grow?

Think I'm just gonna re shell it, this shell is crap. Tatty.

 

i work in bodyshop so know a lot of the pitfalls with stripping and fitting and when a silly clip brakes that the dealer doesnt even know exists or takes 2 weeks to get it can be frustrating but doable-good luck.