Door sill rust, how can I patch this?

[Dustin]

I have fixed a few things here and there on cars but when it comes to body work I have no idea where to begin. I’ve noticed over the course of a few months that some rust bubbles have been developing around the rear of my door sills on each side. Further inspection reveals that there was some Bondo work done at some point or another. I jacked my car up on one side (probably the wrong spot to jack it up or something) and a a small 1.5″ crack appeared in the sill (pictured below). I understand that there was probably some serious damage in there, but for now I just need to know if there is some kind of body filler putty that I can work into this crack and touch up with touch-up paint while I acquire funds to go to a professional.

[IMG]http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/6849/qsq7.jpg[/IMG]

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[Shaun Flichel]

It appears it has already been butchered with bondo, quick fix, sand it, get rid of the rust. Slap some fibreglass cloth over the hole. Fill, sand level, and paint. The real way is weld in a new rocker panel.

This should be moved to the body forum

[Jeff M.]

Never fix rust with bondo….smdh Shaun is right though,you have to sand all that crap out “ALL OF IT”,if you have any remaining it will just bubble back through again. You could use the cloth as he suggested,depending on how bad it’s rusted through you could spot weld the small holes {if you can weld} grind them down and proceed with a tiny amount of filler just to smooth it out,prime+paint+clear but if it’s as bad as I think it is that whole section may have to be removed and a new section added. It can be costly.

[Shaun Flichel]

just look at the corner of the door, and how wavy the top of that rocker is. I’m bettin most of that is fix in a can, and poorly done as well. fibreglass cloth, if sealed really well from the backside will prove a fairly good repair and will hold up for much longer than blobbing bondo into an open hole.

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