I know this has probably been talked about before but I'm new so I have to ask... I got a 2000 XJ and both front doors have rust on the inside of the lower edge that is now bubbling through the outside. I have been to a coup,e of body shops but they want lots o money and aren't too confident that it will last. I thought about trying to find a southern doner Jeep but don't have the money.
Any ideas?

 

I used to live in New England where that was a very common problem on all vehicles. If you don't get on it soon, it will only get a lot worse quickly - then you'll be looking for new doors for sure. I'd take a wire brush or wire wheel on a grinder and get it all down to bare metal. Go outside the visible rust until you start removing good paint just to make sure you don't miss anything hiding under paint around the edges. Make sure you have goggles or something on because from the looks of it there will be metal flying at you. Then clean it real well and dry it thoroughly. Then put a few coats of rust-eating primer on there and sand it down. Then apply either paint or some kind of top coat like bedliner or rubberized undercoating spray. I always just did the whole lower part of my doors and rockers with rustoleum primer then black rustoleum enamel both in spray cans. It held up and stopped the rot pretty well, but that was before I had found the rubberized undercoating spray. I put a good layer of that in my wheel wells last fall and so far it's holding up nicely and will likely be more durable than regular paint. The key is getting rid of all the rust before you put any primer/paint on, otherwise it's a total waste of time and will be rusting again within months.

It's tough when it's exposed to salt, ice, sand, gravel and all that so the more layers you get on there the longer the fix will last! If you've got major holes that you can't live with after removing all the rust and you don't want to get into body work, then you'd be better off replacing the doors. While you're at it, if those are rusting it's probably rusting out the rockers, floors and wheel wells also... so probably worth a thorough look-over if you want to catch it early. The XJ I had when I lived in VT had holes in the floor behind the front wheels, holes in the rockers in front of the rear wheels and rot in the wheel wells; and the bottoms of the doors looked like yours only worse. I sold that one and got a clean one when I moved away from the salt-belt!

 

Thanks!!

 

There is a product called Rust Mort that you should apply first. stops the rusting process.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydep...FQUGnQodIxkA1Q

 

Follow potatowalker's advice - I've done the same thing on multiple vehicles. The only other thing I could add to his good advice is that, instead of primer, maybe you could try one of the rust-converting-type products after the wire wheel treatment. I suspect that's what the product is that cruiser54 recommends.

 

Good point about the rust converter stuff before priming. It's been a while since I battled the demon, so I forgot all about that. I think I used a very similar product made by Permatex that came in a spray can IIRC. It converted any rust I didn't get with the grinder (like the little pits that go deeper into good metal) to a sandable primer-like surface and chemically ended the rusting process. Good call!

 

I am wondering if I should do the same thing, or just try to source some new doors. I found these the other night and have been wondering if anyone has any experience with them?

http://www.quadratec.com/products/72608_8400_07.htm

 

Yes. Listen to belvedere. He's a good speller!! LOL.

 

Thanks, cruiser!

 

Let's not forget his impeccable use of the apostrophe and contraction too.

 

How does that stuff compare to POR-15? I read a lot of people use that stuff too.

I have the same problem that will be address when I Herculine my interior when it gets warmer out.

Rust = #1 enemy!!!

 

You should check out monstaliner. I herculined the inside of my jeep and I would have rather used monstaliner. My uncle did his jeep with it and its a lot nicer. its also UV protectant so if you put it on the outside it wont fade unlike herculiner.

I plan to do the bottom outside of my doors with monstaliner. then hit the bottom insides with chassis saver. It seems like its better than POR 15.

But I would really consider looking into monstaliner.


http://monstaliner.com/
http://monstaliner.com/monstaliner_how_to_stop_rust.htm

 

Thanks! I have heard about the monstaliner, i will definitely check that out.

 

Works great. I used it on a fender on my Alfa Romeo about 9 years ago. Rust never appeared again.

 

How can there be rust in az?