Need some major help!

Jamil20 · 04-25-2007, 11:10 AM

Hey guys. This really sucks, but I just found a lot more rust on my car, and not the surface rust kind. I was trying to jack up my car, and did the front ok, but the rear driver side jack point was a problem. As I was jacking the car, the jack point just caved in and lifted a bit cause it's so rotten. I stopped then, but now I've got this hole under my car. The hole is just in the shroud that connects to the side skirts, but my main concern is what those jack points are connected to. I haven't been able to take the skirts off to see what it looks like underneath, but any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I've got the pictures here. One is of the hole, and the other is of all the dusty rust crap that came out when the hole was made.

Boots R · 04-25-2007, 11:20 AM

Holy shit! That's a big ****in hole.

Meegis · 04-25-2007, 11:22 AM

Thats what I said when I met your mom...

As for Jamil20, Id get the skirt off asap and make sure whatever else is in there isn't gone.

Jamil20 · 04-25-2007, 11:23 AM

That's about all the help I'm getting so far. I can see that it's a pretty big hole, but I made it bigger by picking at it to see what it looks like underneath.

Has anyone ever replaced their skirts? That metal shroud is part of the skirt. Do you have to take it off to replace them? And how?

carjoe · 04-25-2007, 11:45 AM

holy crap. You've got me worried now. Try lifting the carpet up behind the driver's seat. I'm not sure how hard it is to replace the side skirts but ou definitely want to take a look on moth sides.

I had to get a couple of rust patches fixed too. I have more to get fixed too but that comes much later.

Jamil20 · 04-25-2007, 12:22 PM

One easy way to tell, is take the caps on your skirt off. If they're completely rusted inside, you probably have the same crap as me.

ecuconnection · 04-25-2007, 02:32 PM

I hope your job pays well .... sorry to hear that and see that... I just spent 430 bucks on 2 new tires for my 19s so I know how your about too feel

PS your tires are in great shape though

Jamil20 · 04-25-2007, 05:01 PM

Did some digging. Doesn't look like you can even take the sideskirts off. Don't know how I'm going to take a look at this thing short of peeling all the sheet metal off.

jeffrie · 04-25-2007, 09:17 PM

I'd cut it out and replace it with fresh metal, hopefuly the frame rail is all in tact. Good part is it's under the car so the new metal patch won't have to look pretty when it's welded in.
Get @ the carpet and see how bad it really is from inside the car, if it's only what I see in the pic, I can easily cut a nice chunk of sheet metal for you with the plasma cutter and clean it up with some streighter lines to work with, then you can get someone to weld it in for you.

Jamil20 · 04-26-2007, 09:47 AM

That's very awesome of you, Jeffrie. But let me first figure out the extent of the damage, then I'll try enlisting your aid.

I can't take off the skirts, so I'm going to probably rip off all the existing metal and take out the carpet to see how it is from the other side. I doubt it's got through, otherwise my car would probably smell like rust every day.

bmdbley'sBro · 04-26-2007, 01:24 PM

im pretty sure on these cars it's not a 'sideskirt' it's the 'Rocker panel'
and it's part of the uni-body.

for the short term you could use a piece of wood larger then the hole for support if you still Need to jack up your car.
careful.

carjoe · 04-26-2007, 03:03 PM

If you had to lift the car, I'd go from the diff. Should still be solid there.

Check the carpet yet?

Man that's harsh. i'm afraid to go look at mine. Though I have lifted the carpet and it looked great.

Jamil20 · 04-26-2007, 06:11 PM

That's the funny thing. I was jacking it up with the BMW jack initially through the holes in the 'rocker panels' when it crumbled on me. After that, I got my floor jack out and lifted the rear from the diff.

chromius · 04-27-2007, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmdbley'sBro

im pretty sure on these cars it's not a 'sideskirt' it's the 'Rocker panel'
and it's part of the uni-body.

for the short term you could use a piece of wood larger then the hole for support if you still Need to jack up your car.
careful.

Yep, that's right. It's a structural member of the car. I once had a honda where the rockers rusted out real bad, no shops would touch it because they thought the car would break in half if they put it on a hoist.

Personally, I would figure out the extent of the rust before doing anything else, because it's probably not safe to drive the car if the rust is bad enough, and there would be no sense in patching the hole, because you would just be trying to weld to other rusty spots, which probably wouldn't work out too well.

Good luck man.