I have rust under my car below my driver side door, you can't see it unless you jack it up but its the size of a fist, you can literally stick your fingers inside.

I'm just wondering if this is really a threat to my car or something I should just ignore?

 

ignore? no. rust = car cancer.

the rust will spread and spread and spread until the chassis is unrecoverable.

then again you may not plan on keeping the car that long.

a picture would be more helpful.

from the way you describe it you will probably have to cut that section of the metal out and weld in new metal. hopefully it isnt somewhere important (like the frame rail).

 

A picture would help. If the hole is pretty big then I'd start looking around for any other problem spots. Rust like that in one area usually means more rust elsewhere.

 

yeah a pic would help, trying to think of where you're talking about. rust is just something no one wants to see on a car, or under, best bet is to treat it with naval jelly, but sounds like you already have a hole, so maybe triming the rest of the rust off and have a patch panel welded back in is the best thing to do.

 

yeah rust is bad it can only get worse, then one day severl yrs down the road, you go to get in your car and you end up putting your foot threw the floor board!!!!!

 

thanks guys, I'll try to get a picture, I just hope it doesn't spread or new ones end up forming because that would be depressing as heck. Our cars are pretty much like old people rotting from the inside even though its still sexy on the outside.

 

here's the pics

 

well thats not good, if you plan on keeping the car for a while id have that area cut out and a new piece welded in, you also might wanna check and see if your having any area where watter is leaking into the car, like bad door seals, or somethign...

 

yeah that really needs to go, almost looks like it's under the cross member for which the front of the seat bolts to. my advice would to cut the section out and weld.

 

How much would this cost? *sigh* I already need to get a new exhaust pipe.

 

depends on how much structual support was effected, also how large of an area, and how much you can do before having a shop take over, ie metal fab, welding, cutting and grinding, sealing....

 

Yea thats how mine was. Well NOT like that, thats bad! But mine was about 2 inches but I had about 3 2inch sections. I cut the metal out and grind the undercoating off of the surrounding area and welded metal in. That wasn't hard to do. I then fiberglassed it and undercoated the the section and it was good as new. I did this to both sides of the car. Top and bottom. Then I proceeded to srtip the car in a search for rust. It was great. but well worth it. I even removed the gas tank. I completely rust proofed the car from the firewall near the engine bay all the way back to bumper. The spare tire well wasn't that bad inside but, outside was a little worse. I fixed all that ****. I rust proofed everything. Undercoating the car underneatch was a bitch!! I then put in some sound proofing in the interior all over. Then new carpet and so on.

 

ouch, Clean it up then fix it. I undercoated mine then put a layer of that truck bed plastic coating under my car. Again I dont have any rust on mine and then its stored every winter.

 

if you want to cheap out............at the very least put some freakin metal in there.........its your rocker panel man!!!! structural integrity!!!!

rivet some sheet metal over top if you want the cheap way out

edit: BTW - I wouldn't necessairily be putting a jack stand on the rocker in the first place let alone when its rotted completely through the pinch weld........SAFTEY MAN

 

yargh! How do you guys cut off your rust? Can i just get a new sheet of metal and screw it over the rusted areas after i remove the rust?