Rust :(

[m12aak]

Hi all,

 

Hope everyone's keeping well.

 

Yesterday I discovered that my Supra has quite bad rust behind the passenger side air duct after I was attempting to have a look and treat some surface rust on the driver's sill (also worse than I thought). Luckily I took all of the trim off both sides just to check otherwise I may have missed this. I was quite surprised to find the rust behind the passenger duct, as the driver's duct (which I removed first and gave me false confidence) was rust free. Now I'm sure everyone else's Supra's are in a much better condition than mine so this needn't be a worry but it may be a worthwhile place to check if you haven't recently.

 

Drivers sill rust:

 

Passenger duct rust:

Inside view:

 

Hockey stick rust:

 

I'm not too sure how it has managed to get this bad, but to provide some background on the car, it is a 1996 SZ hardtop that was imported in 2003 and now has 90k miles. I imagine that it was undersealed when it entered the country and hadn't been re-cavity waxed since, and probably hasn't been kept in a garage since import either (I, unfortunately, do not have one myself - Yet!). I bought the car in Feb 2018 and I have only been touching up the driver's sill as it was the only visible area of rust (excluding the hatch) until a small bubble appeared on the passenger rear hockey stick a few months ago, which prompted me to get my arse in gear and attempt to sort it. Obviously, in hindsight I should have had this sorted as soon as I got the car, a mistake I will (not!!!) be making again.

 

Nevertheless, I now need to get this properly welded/sorted whatever the cost will be (once we're all allowed back out again of course!), as this is definitely a forever car. By my reckoning, it needs a new driver's side outer sill and new metal putting in on the passenger side duct. However, as the driver's sill is this bad it is likely the passenger sill is also on its way out, so it might be best to get both done at the same time? I'd much rather stump up now and get it all done properly rather than have to do further repairs down the line.

 

The car is already booked into JR Classics for a full underseal on 19th June so I was going to ask them for a quote to get this sorted at the same time (if they're open). I was just wondering if anyone else has had this come up on their own car and how they went about getting it fixed, as I know you can still get whole outer sill panels from Toyota, or if getting it patched is a better bet, and where you got it done (based in East Mids). Being from Leicester, I know Keron quite well so I am also going to give him a bell and see what his thoughts are re. the best plan of action.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Izaak

[mc92]

I had issues under all the plastic mouldings as well. Seems like a common area to get muck and moisture trapped. One side of my rear hockey sticks looked worse than yours (but my outer sills weren't as bad). My bodyshop made a piece and welded that in instead of replacing panels. The bottom corner of my front wings have got manky as well so worth checking there too. I used these guys but they're quite far from you.

[m12aak]

I had issues under all the plastic mouldings as well. Seems like a common area to get muck and moisture trapped. One side of my rear hockey sticks looked worse than yours (but my outer sills weren't as bad). My bodyshop made a piece and welded that in instead of replacing panels. The bottom corner of my front wings have got manky as well so worth checking there too. I used these guys but they're quite far from you.

 

Okay, thanks for the info, I’ll definitely have a look under the wings, and thanks for the link to where you got yours done. I’ll definitely bear them in mind if I can’t find anyone else. [emoji1417]

Edited April 16, 2020 by m12aak
Grammatical error (see edit history)