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hello, my car is rust free, except for one place, and that would be at the jack points. i guess the little jack pads trap moisture in them. poor design. what would be the best way to deal with this? i don't want it to get any worse.
here's a picture:
IMG_20170823_170936.jpg
thanks!
Member
It that on front or rear side of the car ?
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if i remember correctly, on the rear. all four jack pads have at least a bit of rust. that one is the worst. here's the other one in the rear, less bad: IMG_20170515_200706.jpg
Member
It is more safely to put jack on diff or parts rear gear.
OR close to factory jack points where is no rust.
Last edited by Elvir; 10-22-2017 at 04:16 AM.
Member
Drill the pads to drain, clean off all the sealer and rust ASAP and wire brush up and hope it doesn't go through. peeling sealer traps moisture and accelerates rust.Originally Posted by badcosmad
Weld where necessary.
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BMW say not to jack there in case of causing damage. We all do but people should be aware of the risk, additionally lifting and safelt supporting to work under are two different things
Even with rust the factory jacking point has another thick layer and supported internals, the rest of the sill does not. You can lift if you spread the load but will likely cause dents or scratches leading to more rust. Bad idea unless no other choice and does not solve the OPs problem
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Careful op. If the rust is bad enough the Jack will punch thru the floor and the car will fall on you. Ask me how I know
Member
Safety first is a good point. I tend to slide wheels under the sills regardless so if a car ever comes off stands I have a survival space.
Obviously the car won't be supported on the jacking point to work on the jacking point. On a car where the jacking point and internals have punched through on lifting the car can still easily be lifted on 18" of 3x3 spreading the weight over the solid sill either side, in my experience. Obviously you have to check you have solid sill either side.
Last edited by E36328Coupe; 10-22-2017 at 01:53 PM.
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Ha that's not bad at all.
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It doesn't look like the steels integrity is compromised. My car didn't come with jack pads and other have stated it's better to not have them so no water gets trapped in there.
Get a cheap inspection camera off ebay, look inside for more rust, treat the internal rust with something like POR15. The external rust can be removed and then properly sealed.
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A paint stripper wheel can make quick work of it, it's not metal but a hard composite.
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Mine is worse, lot's of bent stuff. The factory jack point on the left front has broken loose. I bought one of those jack adapters from ECS and even with it pounded into the opening (not far enough) the tube broke loose and the car fell. I'm considering welding the jack pads together with some modified angle iron.
Gave away my BMWs, driving a VW and an Audi now.
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I've seen pics of people cutting open the sides and fully fixing all those issues, takes some body work skills but nothing crazy.
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Those are in easily salvageable shape. As the guys said, get them cleaned up and resealed before they get any worse.
-James
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I don't have much experience in body work, lol. How should one go about remove the external rust and then sealing it? Thank you.
Member
Get a paint stripper wheel like this one at harbor freight. Then use a quality self etching primer, like this duplicolor one. Remove all the rust, examine it carefully to get all of it, you will see shinny bare metal. Mask off the area to prevent over spray on the car body above and shake the can the like crazy for 2-3 min. Put one heavy coat and let it dry for a week. You shouldn't do this job in cold or wet weather, so wait till the weather is nice again unless you have a heated garage with a lot of ventilation. I guess raising the car up is going to be the hard part, the area you want to paint is also the area that you would normally put the jack stand. After the primer is fully cured you can put a few coats of an epoxy paint, first lightly sand the primer with 400 grit sand paper. Follow the instructions on the paint cans. After that's all done and cured, get a cheap USB inspection camera off ebay ~$20 and look inside the rails to see if rust is inside.
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WEar eye protection.
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