Minor Cancer found, should I be concerned?

[CaliWagon83]

As immaculate as my wagon looks on the surface, it’s not without its flaws, and I found one the other day while installing the new rear glass struts. By the looks of things, it’s pretty superficial, and hopefully can be sanded & sealed. Anyone else seen something similar, and did it get worse?

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CaliWagon83’s 1983 Buick Regal Wagon Rear Corrosion

• CaliWagon83
• Jan 6, 2018

CaliWagon83’s 1983 Buick Regal Wagon Rear Corrosion

 

[fleming442]

Once rust starts, it WILL get worse. Personally, I'm a fan of POR15. I'd clean it up best as you can, and slather some on. Then, color match it. My local paint shop mixed the Lt. Sage in PPG Shopline for the Pig, and it was spot on.

 

[Texas82GP]

Where on the car is that?

 

[motorheadmike]

Ah, classic GM seam sealer rot. If it hasn't perforated the metal you can do as suggested: strip the rust, clean and treat the metal (ie a rust converter), seal and fill it, sand, primer, paint and move on.

Otherwise you are going to have to fix it with new metal.

 

[CaliWagon83]

Where on the car is that?

It’s up in the corner of the rear hatch.

 

[ed1948]

From my experience rust is like an iceberg. What you can see is only a small area. Obviously you'll need to work on the exterior but I would be concerned what you can't see. I would find a way to apply a greasy oil based product to the hidden enclosed areas either through screw holes or open sections.
I would remove the rubber seal and closely inspect the entire length of the welded seam. The same applies to all door opening seams - especially under the door sills. I try to apply heavy oil(gear oil) to the inside and visible exterior door opening seams. I use a brass wire brush to find any loose or cracking paint and sealer. I'm very anal on treating body rusting.

 

[pontiacgp]

If you haven't changed the body bushings yet I would do that job as soon as possible to see the condition the frame and the underside of the car.

 

[CaliWagon83]

A full body-off inspection, bushing replacement, and frame reinforcement is in the cards. I’m sure there are a lot of other little hidden surprises I’ll find. This is the only major rust I’ve found so far, but I know once you start removing trim, a lot more can be revealed.

 

[joesregalproject]

Sounds like you've got a good plan in place. I just found some rot on my BMW under the side skirts today so I know the feeling.

 

[ssn696]

I'd recommend masking off the area and doing a Rocketpowered treatment: get a composite abrasive wheel or cup and take the rust down to bare metal, with margin out into clean metal. Then treat the area with a phosphate treatment like POR15 Metal Ready, then top it with POR15. It does not have UV inhibitor, so you need to topcoat ( after scuffing with 320) any place that will see the sun. As mentioned earlier, you also need to get behind the cancer and treat the back side. Eastwoods makes a frame paint with a flexible wand for inaccessible areas - but be careful - this stuff goes far and could get into your interior pieces. I'd also start looking around the rear ends of your cargo area windows - my original wagon rotted pinholes from the inside out above and to the rear of the gas door.