My wife's car (55 plate) has some paint blisters appearing on the rear arches - verdict from couple of bodyshops is that even though treated and painted, they will reappear. One shop suggested 'repair/cover' arches but no knowledge of these or if they would work - I assume this would involve cuting out the rear arch lip and welding in new metal!! Any views or advice on these or other options.?

 

Yes the rear arches have a deep lip which holds large amounts of road dirt which stays damp and slowly eats the car from the inside out, the bubble under the paint finally telling you the rust has eaten all the way through.
Most body shops will only do a quickie job to a standard good enough to sell a car to an unsuspecting new owner, grinding the rust, filling the holes and paint it, and after the next winter the rust is back. A good body shop will completely remove the rusted section and replace with new metal welded in place. With proper treatment and sealing on the inside, and quality finishing the problem will be gone, but remember to keep those wheel arch lips clean and under sealed.

 

Hi there. Steve is correct. If you have the dreaded rust bubble, that's the tip of the iceberg. The rust has penetrated the metal and a bubble has formed under the paint. The paintwork is acting like a plastic bag with water under it. Two ways forward. Both really a body shop job. 1: get them to clean up the rust. Fill the the rust holes with body filler and paint. That will last for hours. 2: Cut out the rusty metal. Weld in new. Fill and paint and treat as best as you can with wax oils and sealers. That should a lot longer. Unfortunately these vehicle can suffer with this problem. Its a Merc.

 

Thanks for the advice - my wife has had the car for about a year and one of the bodyshops suspected they had been done just before she bought it. First time I cleaned it I certainly took a lot of mud out from under the lip. She absolutely loves the car otherwise - as do I when I manage to prise the keys out of her hand! so looks like we'll have to bite the bullet and get it done properly as I don't think she'll part with it just yet. On another subject, when we have been using the aircon recently and the car has been sitting for a while after stopping the screen mists up - I have heard that this may be a problem with the aircon filter??

 

Not sure about that. I've know of problems with misted screens when the heater matrixs has been leaking. May be some else will know more.

Good luck Jon

 

got misting probs here too - someone on here suggested replacing the cabin filter did make a tiny difference but still happens and can be very very quick to mist up, esp in damp weather. Not an ideal solution but tried running with aircon on all the time, seemed to help too. No doubt there are better solutions out there - i hope.