Bodywork Blisters - what to do?

[Rusty Moskvitch]

I am in need of good advice regarding the repair of two bodywork blisters in order to make them look right and also prevent recurrence. I have uploaded a picture. Its the same on both sides of the car - at the lower rear edge of the rear wheel arches where the rear bumper attaches. Small blisters have appeared, about the size of a small finger nail. I have asked a few people in the trade but there appears no easy answer. If I dig off the blister and remove rust and touch it in it will look awful. I could have the panel treated by a body shop and re-sprayed but that means both rear wings and the roof, which would not be cheap and may well fade differently to the rest of the car. One possibility is to use Chips Away but I have no experience of them. Above all, I am keen to eliminate the cause of the problem to prevent any recurrence. Can anyone who has faced similar problems please advise?

 

[conaero]

Well, this is clearly rust from either a water trap or stones have worn away the underside of the arch and it rotting through or the bumper has rubbed the seam away where it joins the wing.

This is a very typical place for these cars to go, normally seen at the front of the rear arches, low down by the sills. This is from stones again, wearing away the paint.

The problem is, is the rust bubble that is showing will be 20% of the affected rust area when you clear off the paint.

Any 'touch up' will simply rust back through if not done properly.

So I would say you have 2 options:

1. strip and re paint the entire back end.
2. slacken the bumper and treat with rust remedy in an attempt to halt its progress and live with the result.

 

[Contigo]

We had this but worse higher up the arches central to the rear quarter and the solution was to buzz it all back and repaint full rear end. It's how far back it goes that is the worry!

 

[chad5k1]

Chips away would look good, be cheap enough, but also be a temporary solution, I'd guess 18months, maybe a bit more.

 

[Rusty Moskvitch]

Thanks folks. That rear end respray scares me a bit but looking at the filler it clearly needed to be done. I won't be driving mine after December until spring so I'll take a deep breath then and see what I need to do.