My Daily Driver is Showing its Age

RedVR6 · 09-13-03, 12:53

Hi all...have not been in here in ages. More or less been lurking more than anything....

6 years of my own ownership of this rig...it is finally showing its age (8.5 years and 130K miles). The car lives outside so I am not overly shocked that the car is getting weathered. Here are some pics of what I recent found on the car (well, not really)....

Rust bubbles on passenger side wheel well...

Flaking clearcoat on A-Pillar. Door must have been repainted...is doing this on this door by the window too.

Clearcoat bubbles on Passenger Fender....

Driver door along B-Pillar

A Poor Gratuitous Full Image.

So...I am not sure what I am going to do here. Have been tossing the idea in the air of getting the car repainted down the road assuming I am going to keep it for a few more years, which I would really like to do since I really love this car.

I am really annoyed by this though. I have another rust spot on the rear deck where the JettaIII tag was....but it is so small would be tough to get a good image of it. The flaking clear though...I think the car was banged up a little before I bought it and repainted, based on the flakes and the lousy paint job in some areas of the passenger side front door.

Just thought I would share these findings and see what you guys think about repairing these blemishes.

CRXSi90 · 09-14-03, 11:22

Yep, tough to see a car go like that...I'm still mourning the deterioration of the also-red GMC Jimmy that I was brought home from the hospital as a new-born in. You could experiment with bodywork yourself if that kind of think strikes you as interesting, as it does me, or you could get it professionally repainted. Heck, if your job didn't work out, you aren't out much and could give it to a pro to do.

It does look like you care about the car, but I don't know if it would be worth a repaint. You probably wouldn't make up the difference if and when you sold the car. If it would make you that much happier to have it done, have it painted...otherwise just look the other way.

Scottwax · 09-15-03, 05:37

I've got some thin spots in the clearcoat on the roof of my car, but it has sat outside during the daytime (at least) it's whole life and the person I bought it from waxed it only 2-3 times in the 5 years he had it.

Oh well, the car is almost 14 years old and just past 264,000 miles. With the hail damage from late April, I'm not really going to invest $4,000-5000 to fix the dents and repaint the car. I'll just get something else this spring. My car just isn't worth spending that kind of money on and I doubt a 1990 Accord will ever have any collector value.

Jngrbrdman · 09-15-03, 06:33

Repainting won't fix all those problems. those areas where it is bubbling out are places where there is major rust. Its rusting from the inside out right there. Its more than paint that it needs. It needs some body work too.

Lowejackson · 09-16-03, 12:03

The only real way to fix that rust is to cut out the metal. It is a shame because you have a nice looking car. It is up to you if it is worth the effort of either sanding back and repainting as a short term fix or time to replace either the metal or panels.

IndigoGTI · 09-16-03, 01:57

You should really check with a VW dealer, I know the A4 Golf/GTI/Jettas, B5&5.5 Passats and newer come with a 12 year/ulimited mileage rust perforation warranty. If some of that rust is on unrepaired parts of the car, and it is in fact covered by that warranty, you could be in luck. I don't know about the A3 cars, but it is worth a look. Beautiful car BTW.

RedVR6 · 09-16-03, 02:26

Thanks Chris! I try to keep it clean...but living outside makes it real tough.

You guys have me thinking though. I appreciate the comments and will have to ponder it all and see how the car holds up after the winter then determine what to do about it. Very frustrating though.