How bad is this wing rust ?

[EddySpaghetti]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum - currently looking to buy an S2 - although I occaisionally wonder about supercharging an early Lux....I digress....

I have been reading forums and doing loads of web research for about 9 months, and I have looked at 3 cars so far. Its been an intermittent search to be fair, mostly because the credit crunch has intervened.

I'm looking for an s2 in one of the darker grey colours, baltic blue, or black. having read the colours post i tihnk satin black is the berries, and I'd like to get a black or linen leather interior.

The question is, how bad does this rusty wing look - its on a low mileage s2 currently on autotrader which ticks most of the boxes above and is also quite close to home. I'm wondering if I should go take a look - For me I think the seller is optimistic when he calls that a 'Bubble' - But I'm very appreciative of any advice you have to offer.

Cheers,

Spaghetti

 

[Fen]

That's not too bad to be honest. The cause of that is grit blasting paint off and then corrosion getting a bit of a hold under the paint. Crucially it's from the outside so what you see is not far from as bad as it will be.

What you want to be careful of is a blister on the sill, or in the middle of the Wurth coating on the bottom of the sill as that indicates corrosion from the back through to the front.

 

[Diver944]

Yes, from the photograph it does look like simple blasting from the outside that can be easily halted with a rub down, reapplication of the thick stonechip paint and then black over the top. The beauty of that bobbly finish is the sprayer can mask off at the top and not have to blend into the wing.

 

[cococola]

Looks pretty straight forward to me and not gone too far to deal with.

 

[MarkK]

Don't want to be negative or the merchant of doom,but my front wings on my turbo were in a similar( a bit worse ) state to the above and when they were blasted came out like swiss cheese,i was absoloutley gutted,because i dilly dallied getting them redone it cost me two wings[&o]

 

[EddySpaghetti]

If this patch of rust is a bit worse than expected is it likely to be 'just' a wing repair or is there structural A pillar metal in there that could have tinworm too?

If its 'just' the wings I think they are bolt on (?), in which case could it potentially be a DIY job for the ambitious home mechanic to fix? - Anyone got any idea how much full new wings are?

Thanks for the quick responses!

 

[Lemon]

ORIGINAL: MarkK

Don't want to be negative or the merchant of doom,but my front wings on my turbo were in a similar( a bit worse ) state to the above and when they were blasted came out like swiss cheese,i was absoloutley gutted,because i dilly dallied getting them redone it cost me two wings[&o]

I have to say mine looked similair to that too and like Mark once taken back I too ended up getting new wings []

They do look nice and shiny now though []

 

[MarkK]

Wing prices[8|]i think they were around 400 quid each??Sorry to be so vague it was mixed in with other bits,Exeter OPC parts would i bet do a stonking deal,leicester OPC parts dept are very 944 freindly too.The beauty of a new wing on a turbo is the plastic trim bits mate up to them better/easier,and you know the tinworm won't be back for a long long time hopefully..they just bolt on.

 

[MarkK]

err sorry i'm getting old..... just re-read your original post and you were talking about S2s sorry i bleated on about turbos..

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: MarkK

Don't want to be negative or the merchant of doom,but my front wings on my turbo were in a similar( a bit worse ) state to the above and when they were blasted came out like swiss cheese,i was absoloutley gutted,because i dilly dallied getting them redone it cost me two wings[&o]

What MarkK said, except in my case I opted to have the rusty metal cut out and new metal welded in, 'cos I'm not as rich as MarkK....[8|][]

 

[Diver944]

If it is terminal they they 'can' be repaired by cutting out the infected section then fabricating a replacement piece. However there are very few genuine craftsmen around that can do this these days without it coming back a few years later. Morris944S2John on this forum learnt the skills at a local college and has done it properly with lead loading as can be seen in this post:

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=405151&mpage=1&key=lead&#405632

A proper repair is going to cost at least £200 if it is going to last so you have to weigh it up against £400 for a new wing plus paint and fitting which you know will last another 20 years (or it should)

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: Diver944

If it is terminal they they 'can' be repaired by cutting out the infected section then fabricating a replacement piece. However there are very few genuine craftsmen around that can do this these days without it coming back a few years later. Morris944S2John on this forum learnt the skills at a local college and has done it properly with lead loading as can be seen in this post:

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=405151&mpage=1&key=lead&#405632

A proper repair is going to cost at least £200 if it is going to last so you have to weigh it up against £400 for a new wing plus paint and fitting which you know will last another 20 years (or it should)

Good point Paul - the guys who did mine usually restore classic Jags, MGs etc and they lead loaded the repair sections, hence no filler used as such, but I would not entrust this type of repair to just any old bodyshop.

In an ideal world, it would be new wings every time, but for me at the time £800 plus vat for two new wings plus the labour, just could not be justified!

You pays your money....[]

 

[Fen]

Hmm. I've been spoiled as my car is mercifully (and surprisingly really) rust free, but I can see how it might be worse than it looks as described. In terms of new wings though I might counsel getting a fix and not disturbing the original wing fitment and paint along the inner wing join as it always looks different to factory.

I still stand by my original statement that it's not too bad anyway, relative to some you see, as the repair is just needed under the stone chip protection and only on the wing rather than the sill.

 

[TTM]

Mine looked far worse than this and would fall apart even when just being looked at. I eventually managed to source used units in excellent shape after a several month quest.
I would definitely have a look at the car from under before drawing any conclusion. You can never tell from a picture.

 

[Alpine]

Spaghetti

I agree, I don't think it looks too bad. It will probably rub down and you can paint over yourself. A dark colour is easier to patch up and hide.

Mine looked like that when I bought it 4 years ago. Within a couple of years though it had come through at the bottom of the wings in other places, and I've recently had new metal welded in and it repainted at a total cost of £400 plus vat. That's much cheaper than 2 new wings at £450 each plus fitting and painting.

If you buy, then you should remove the black plastic trim at the bottom of the wing (it just unbolts) and also remove the front wheel arch liners. This will enable you to remove the years of mud and crud that will be behind the wings, at the bottom. It is this muck that causes them ultimately to rust through. If you can remove this and waxoil behind, you should be ok for years to come. What you will probably not know is whether it is almost rusted through already behind the paint, but it has just not shown through on the outside as yet. This is a risk with any car though, unless it has recently been repaired. In which case budget to spent £400 in the next couple of years, but that is not too expensive I think.

Hope that helped.

 

[EddySpaghetti]

Thanks for all the helpful replies guys!

Sounds like a fixable problem even if a bit more lurks behind the wheel arch cover.

Now I only have all the other nasty trip-ups to look out for!

Car is sub 70k miles on an '89 G Plate - is that likely to mean problems from lack of use? From other threads I have read I think the timing chain and slipper is still likely to have a fair bit more life at that kind of mileage? So what is the next biggest problem to look for? - its probably about ready for clutch non?

I'm going to do a search on plate lift - don't understand that one yet.

Cheers!

Spaghetti

 

[Fen]

Not the Buchannan motors one?

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: Fen

Not the Buchannan motors one?

Seems to have broken it's gearbox and sank without trace.

 

[Fen]

The S2 as well? I know the Turbo S did, but didn't the chap then come back asking about a low miles (circa 79k) S2 in gold that was a Porsche launch show car or something that they had?

 

[Fen]

Actually duh! The car in the pic is clearly not gold (or it's very dirty). As you were.

Incidentally, can we just change the forum so it says "Sorry. You can't post consecutive messages within the same lunch hour" as that would be a more accurate reflection of what it means. My definition of a short time is about 1/4 that of the fourm's it would seem []