I have a water leak around the bottom of my HVAC blower that's letting water seep under the carpet on the passenger side. I'm in the process of fixing the leak and dealing with the rust (no holes so far) before I put the carpet back in. Before I take a wire brush and/or wheel to the rust, should I remove this silver-colored sound-deadening material? It appears to be aluminum with an adhesive backing (butyl, maybe?). I'm wondering how much of a PITA it'll be to remove, but I want to be sure to deal with any rust that might be underneath it.

Any insight?

 

I think you answered your own question.
Rip it out

 

Heh, pretty much. I'm hoping it's not a huge mess of black sticky stuff once I pull it off.

 

Don't hesitate to rip out old stuff that might be hiding rust. They sell butyl-adhesive sound-deadening mats generically on Amazon. Heck buy a whole box and line the doors. Get that solid luxury car feeling.

 

I pulled if off (or started to) last night. With a heat gun and plastic scraper, I was able to get most of the butyl off, and now I need to try mineral spirits for the rest. Fortunately, it appears the metal under the mat is all minty fresh, though I did discover a few small holes nearby I think I can fix.

 

Why bother scraping off stuff that is just going to be hidden under carpet and floor mats?

 

I wanted to see if there was any rust under it (there wasn't), and I mostly wanted to get everything cleaned up so I could prep, seal and paint the whole area.

Here's what it looks like as of yesterday.