Corroded underneath car - can I fix this??

[Bluebell]

Hey guys,

I just had my MOT done and the bloke said that the underneath/suspension of my car is pretty corroded and he gives it another year or two until she'll become "unfixable". Now, I reckon cars are always fixable, it's just a matter of whether it's worth it or not, but money isn't an issue here - I'm completely obsessed with my car + will do ANYTHING to keep her

So the question is.... Is it possible to basically replace the entire underneath of my car??

Cheers m'dears

Laura

[johnny]

Just get it welded, the spring seat is a common place for rust

[rsi-dan]

As Jonny has said would be best if you got the corroded parts either cut out and re welded with fresh metal or have them grinded back to bare metal and rust protected

[Bluebell]

Thanks guys I've already had the front welded last year + the back done this year, so if I just carry on getting her welded every year then she'll be fine?? Lol

[johnny]

Get it undersealed and it will protect it from needing welding again

[coupe77]

it will be fine as long as its welded right

[andy w]

Ye mine was welded for last mot and got undersealed as well and its still good

[rsi-dan]

had mine all undersealed and still rust and rot free

[johnny]

Yeah the underseal should keep the underside rust free for near 10 year's as long as its not applied to rot

[pdrpaul]

as prev said pretty much anything can be fixed corrosion is cancer to cars as long as it gets fully cut out and replaced with proper gauge and type of steel and the repairer applys zinc rich primer esp in areas hidden away and the underseal on exposed areas the car will be solid;) im a panel beater and going to be sorting the rust on my b soon too lol very common at rear axle chassis legs spare wheel well fuel filler neck etc. good luck. try get some before and after pics up let us know how it goes;)

[odon]

I have a whole where this small hole is in the picture below. It's quite - is it fixable?



Rear Axle

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qa8aatdkeej64 ... 0.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctzzwg0uahag4 ... 3.jpg?dl=0

[johnny]

That steel is near 15mil thick, I've never seen it rot like that before, it's impressive tbh because I'm amazed the body is still there

Everything is fixable but it's probably more cost effective to replace the axle rather than repair it

[odon]

That steel is near 15mil thick, I've never seen it rot like that before, it's impressive tbh because I'm amazed the body is still there

Everything is fixable but it's probably more cost effective to replace the axle rather than repair it

I was going to add: would it fail it's MOT on that? I don't know how it got there, but I would have thought it would have been picked up during it's last MOT (last year) - if it was that bad at the time. I don't think it's happened in the last year. But I'll never know :/

I was hoping the response would be: "That's alright, no worries there, chap"

But yea, I kinda thought it might need replacing.
I've been buying the tools and figuring out how to do it myself (I'm a novice).
The quote I got was £525

[johnny]

It's not structural yet so it wouldn't have failed but before long it'll become structural and break the axle

It'll cost nowhere near that, I did mine recently and it only cost 30 quid for the axle even if you take in an hour of my time(40/ph) it's still cheap


There very easy to change

[taurus]

I run a 43 year old Vauxhall so I know all about rust - and you will never totally kill it dead. The best thing I've found so far is a 50/50 of clean 20W/50 engine oil and Waxoyl. Get it good and warm and spray on liberally.

Waxoyl doesn't penetrate into the metal enough on its own, it sits on top and rust forms underneath. Adding the engine oil allows it to seep into the metal which deprive rust of the oxygen it needs.

Underseal looks good but in my opinion rarely helps once corrosion is in the metal. It's fine to protect new metal, but once there is rust it eats away under the underseal and within a year or so the underseal has moisture underneath it which you can't see.