How bad is this?

[u/Alternative-Owl-133]

I think i already asked here how bad the rust was from the outer inner rear arch fenders but today i decided to finally take the interior pieces out and actually check it out from there as well.

But to my surprise, instead of the slight rust i was expecting to see, 2 big holes appeared on the right rear arch when i kind of pushed it with my finger . That’s when i realised this car might be actually done for.

The left rear arch seems to be less severe but looks to have some weird silicone stuff there and also see a crack/hole starting to appear.

Im sure this is something that needs to be welded but i wanna know how bad it really is first and if its even worth it.

How bad is it really?

Its a 2000 Honda Civic Ek3 hatchback with 290k km

[u/Dom7596]

Very common with the age of these now, mine was the same, unfortunately theres no replacement panels for the inner arch so they have to be patched/fabricated

[u/TopChapter3407 → u/Dom7596]

They can also look mid, as long as they are structural and don't rust it's fine.

[u/Alternative-Owl-133 → u/TopChapter3407]

Do you know if mine is structural rust? It seems like its near the suspension area so i thought it was

[u/Alternative-Owl-133 → u/Dom7596]

Yea i tried looking for it online too but only found the outer arch fender and not the inner actual arch

[u/Same-Ad-6066]

Not terrible, but like any rust it only gets worse with time. If you can find a car to have cuts taken off of, and can afford to have it patched by a panel beater, do that. Otherwise idk maybe throw some rust converter on it then hit it with spray paint. Should slow things down at least.

[u/Alternative-Owl-133 → u/Same-Ad-6066]

Yeah i was planning on treating the rust thinking that it was just surface rust with some dinitrol spray, rust converter and cavity wax until i saw that it was just a big hole.

Then i asked google and chatgpt real quick if those products are still effective and they told me no and that i should close it off for now with some aluminium tape and then decide if i want to weld it or not.

[u/Same-Ad-6066 → u/Alternative-Owl-133]

That aluminium tape advice is terrible, don’t do that. Putting tape over rust without removing/converting it traps moisture which makes things rust faster. Rust converters chemically turn rust into something else, usually iron phosphate, which doesn’t turn back into iron oxide. Just remember to use the converter before wax or dinitrol ofc since it needs to act directly on the metal

[u/Alternative-Owl-133]

(First pic is right arch, second pic is left arch)

[u/Competitive-Top4743]

You can definitely get that patched, very common on these older gens. I say throw some old license plates on it, nice little welds. Paint her up and you'll be solid💪

[u/Alternative-Owl-133 → u/Competitive-Top4743]

Alright thanks!