scuttle rot

[gra325i]

how have people dealt with this? i didn't think mine was that bad till i started to poke at it with a screwdriver, then...





so can anyone tell me what is behind there (metal?) and will it be safe enough to cut the bad bit out and fill it?
cheers
G

[jcjdavis1]

I had similar prob. in last car.Got it cut out and piece welded in then filled and painted,worked a treat.

[BadDave]

Cut a section from the one your braking Gray and get it welded in there
no point just putting in filler mate
it's just going to be a problem that crops up again later on
Best to get it done right once, instead of bodging it several times

[wrobstar21]

How much are we looking at for a garage to do this! mines a bit bad too. I put loads of rust treatment on it which has hardened the worst of it.

[anisotropy]

I thought it was always the other side that went -for some reason.Mine is well gone on the passenger side, thought it was okay till my finger went through it. Is it expensive to have someone weld it??

[JONUK]

Fingers in ears, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA, Not listening . . . . . . . .

My car has no rust issues, my car has no rust issues. I know if I say it often enough it will be true.

In denial

[anisotropy]

Yes indeeeed my sills are fine too -as long as the bubbles don't burst it means there is no rust. Right?

[wrobstar21]

out of sight out of mind!!

[oakey]

DO NOT FILLER IT! it will end up like this:


It appears to only be a small area on yours and it doesnt look to have gone near the windscreen. It should be a cheap repair at the moment and only needs a small area cut out and replaced.

[bmwsport]

Who's is ^that^?

[320Touring]

Graham, think carefully...

rust is lighter than titanium

clean it up, patch it and paint it

[oakey]

Who's is ^that^?

Thats a 316i that I picked up for free. A friend of mine now has it but the door has been replaced so it doesnt look as bad. The rest of the car has very little rot, but where the bloke had fillered the scuttle it appears that it encouraged the rust to spread savagely! A scuttle repair panel from BMW is ver reasonably priced though so he'll be getting it done soon enough

[Spankie]

Apologies comming in late on this discussion but I had same problem, I took the plastic grills out and felt inside, theres loads of rubberised sealant and wax stuff and it appears that moisture takes a sneaky route via windscreen rubbers and then is held in place nice and damp behind all the bloody protection if left it'll rust rampent through bulhead and bottom of windscreen pillars so to just plate hole and paint will give you a false sense of achievement cos it'll soon get far worse out of sight!!!!! What I did after much cussing whas to dig out the sealant accessing through the grill holes really killed back of my hands but what came out is a real eye opener . I think I've caught mine just in time and having removed all the rubbery stuff have waxoiled it.
What a nightmare !!!

[Brianmoooore]

Apologies comming in late on this discussion but I had same problem, I took the plastic grills out and felt inside, theres loads of rubberised sealant and wax stuff and it appears that moisture takes a sneaky route via windscreen rubbers and then is held in place nice and damp behind all the bloody protection if left it'll rust rampent through bulhead and bottom of windscreen pillars so to just plate hole and paint will give you a false sense of achievement cos it'll soon get far worse out of sight!!!!! What I did after much cussing whas to dig out the sealant accessing through the grill holes really killed back of my hands but what came out is a real eye opener . I think I've caught mine just in time and having removed all the rubbery stuff have waxoiled it.
What a nightmare !!!

This is largely correct and the cause of the problem. The original sealant hardens and shrinks, leaving a small gap, which draws water into it.
After welding (and painting inside), I push large quantities of new sealant into place.

[devonboye30]

welding at a garage can be anything from £40 upwards

[beardymat]

that looks like it will only need a small localised patch but heed the advice of spankie and brian, remove that plastcic grille and feel round underneath and i think you will find it extending further than it looks up top. should still take a patch but itll want doing properly to get lasting results, make sure youre not just covering crap up cause out of sight, out of mind only lasts so long and then it comes back bigger than ever.

[gra325i]

cheers guys..i took off the plastic grill last night and removed some of the seam sealer in there..doesn't feel to bad in there, so i have slapped in a bit of "kurust" before i cut out the rot and weld in a new bit.

[kevin316i]

You're lucky that it's not too close to the windscreen. I had to get my windscreen taken out before the welding could be done. Got it done professionally and still fine after 2 years. Squirt plenty of waxoyl into the underside to prevent future rust.

Some B*stard had used filler in the past to repair it and only spotted this after I bought the car