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[conalnugent]

Anyway the new estate td elite. Been lovin it and getting alot of tidy up jobs done. She was in rather good nick but just a few wee fiddly bits needed doing. Pretty much want to leave her everything working as it should, looking the part and no rattled. (Have 2 annoying as hell rattles one from under dash at idle and other the door pin)

Anyways my last td I'd spent a small fortune on paint to tidy up a few bits when I'd 1st got it. Spoiler painted, front and back bumper had a couple of scuffs and ofcourse the arches. I told the guy take as much time as he needed and money no object as long as the job was done right.  But 6 months later the rust came back on the arches no joking about 700 percent worse than before they were painted.

Anyways I've resided myself with the fact that maybe the only way to sort out crusty rusty arches is to cut out rust and weld in new metal then paint.

Question is this will future proof the arches won't it? I intend keeping this car 4 or 5 years minimum. Also where can I get new arches out of to weld in? Watching wheeler dealer is the only thing I know about this so is a copy part going to be alright of must it be a genuine part? Also any ideas of costs for both? Thanks

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Check any car restoration thread on any forum and they'll tell you the only way to do it is cut out and weld in fresh new metal. End of, sadly. It's the only surefire way, and even then you have things against you such as, as you weld, on the other side (the side you can't see) there's a great big fresh weld of bare steel, so when you do things like sills, you ideally have to have a way of getting inside the sill to paint this fresh steel, otherwise it's rusting from the day the work is done.

You're still within a shot of finding a good, low mileage Omega which you could nab the panels off, though I appreciate this may be excessive faff when you still see new repair panels about. Yes, you're right, pattern parts tend to be thinner, and there should still be decent GM ones around if you look.

Your best place will probably be a car restoration place, as they will have the skills for welding in new panels. A bodyshop which tends to do newer cars/accident repair centre, though will often give an excellent paint finish, won't have the experience or know-how to work on rusty older cars. 

[conalnugent]

Take it it would be a pretty big job replacing both entire rear wings??  I assume you can buy both the complete panels then what would be repair sections?

[Diamond Black Geezer]

We're lucky in that most panels on Vauxhall have always been bolt-on, doors, of course, but front wings, too, massively helping repair bills. However, as you say, rear wings are welded. That said, you'd have two options, a quality bodywork/car restorer can and will be able to install a repair panel of almost any shape and size into a rear wing, even just the lip, if needs be. If you went to Vauxhall after an accident, for example, then the entire panel would be chopped out and replaced.

The largest cost will be the labour of course, that said there's no reason why you couldn't save a few quid here and there by finding the panels at the right price.


here's a link to the theory. It's beyond my abilities, but something I'd like to have a go at one day 

http://www.totalvauxhall.co.uk/files/2010/10/82REARARCHES.pdf

[05omegav6]

Rear quarters are/were £380 each plus vat... not sure if they're still available though, and even done cheaply, budget about £600-750 a side in labour

[Nick W]

Rear quarters are/were £380 each plus vat... not sure if they're still available though, and even done cheaply, budget about £600-750 a side in labour

Making an arch repair panel is about 30minutes work, and another hour to fit. Don't forget that you'll also need to repair the inner arch.0

Fitting an entire quarter panel(a major undertaking) for a rusty wheel arch is daft.

[omega2018]

clean back to  expose all rust, remove as much as possible, treat with fertan clean thoroughly then paint with jotun jotamastic epoxy, paint designed for steel boat hulls in salt water.  you can probably even skip the fertan step with that paint.

[TheBoy]

Mine is going in to have the arches cut out and replaced. Was supposed to have happened a couple of months back, but that's the downside of mates rates.

[iansoutham]

Little tip for anyone doing arches, sills, etc.... When joining any panels, use an overlap joint and use the VW panel adhesive as it can be welded through and prevents the air getting to the weld. I did the whole of my other halfs 2000e like this in 2007 and when I sold it in July this year, it was still as good as the day it was done.

[Nick W]

clean back to expose all rust, remove as much as possible, treat with fertan clean thoroughly then paint with jotun jotamastic epoxy, paint designed for steel boat hulls in salt water.  you can probably even skip the fertan step with that paint.

Unfortunately this usually makes a hole, which means material must be added to make good.


I recently made a start on the drivers side arch on mine, and was expecting to just remove the flaky paint off the arch return and tidy up the dent. But the area behind the bumper was mainly still attached by the sealant between the inner and outer arches. This required a patch that took about 10 minutes to make with a card template, snips, body hammer and a pair of glaziers pliers. I have some pics if I can figure out how to post them.


If the bodyshop you choose isn't capable of doing this sort of job they're unlikely to be in business long!

[tunnie]

Arches on the 3.2 are perfect, 2.2 is going a little bit on one side. Also bottom corner of the doors too, but this stage it's just small bubbling.

Professional costs are just too high, going on just some minor fix quotes I've had. 

[Diamond Black Geezer]

have emailed a place that does arch repair sections, we'll see what they come back with.

As I suspected, the costs for panels is extreme, so shopping around, and checking the alternate sources, even gumtree etc can be well worth it. (for example my B&Q Castrol ATF for £1 a bottle)

Labour, however, is always the killer. Luckily mine aren't too bad, however, 'too bad' on the outside will still reveal much more underneath. Depends what level of job each respective OOFer wants, really.

[minifreek]

The arches on mine got repaired by the remove the flaky paint and treat with rust treatment then repaint....

That lasted well for about 3 months before the rust startd to come through again...

What I did this time was get a HD cutting disc on my Dremel, removed the part of the arch that was repaired/going rusty again, replaced with good new metal cut to shaped and MIG welded in. Then grind flush, skim of filler and then followed by rub down of entire rear panel and repaint.... Been repaired now for about 6-7 months and nothing is showing through...

The inner arch was repaired/extended to meet with the outer skin and also Tigerselaed into place to 'glue' the 2 panels together, then welded together also

HTH

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Yup, sadly the rust killers just don't do it.

Went hell for leather on a mate's arches on his fiesta, nabbing the Uni's spray booth for a couple of hours and did a decent spray job over them. The idea to then sell the car. He hept it and 2 months later, rust pinging up all over. 1 year later it was as if nothing had been done. It's the nature of it, it just comes back. It is an example of the power of nature. Steel wants to turn back into ironore. And nothing will stop it forever 

[Terbs]

Yes...no use faffing about...if its rusty, cut it out. Loads of ways of filling the holes..fibreglass, zinc, ally, steel,
etc, etc. Providing you cut out all the crap metal, so you only have good metal to work to, it should last for yonks.
As said, most 'rust killers' don't kill, they put it in a coma for a while