Rust patch inside of front wheel arch

Hi guys, As shown below, I have a small area of rust behind both of the front wheels, in the back of the wheel arch, mainly around the stonechip-proof paint. Seeing as it is happening on both sides of the car, I am hoping that this is a relatively common issue that I could get some advice on. I have called a couple of bodyshops and have been quoted around £600 if it is surface rust and in the 000s if it is worse. Any help would be appreciated! Kind regards, Atkinse

It could be corroding on the inside of the panel too, if that's what's going on it's a more extensive repair. It looks like road salt and once that's been down the window slots, inside the door skins and elsewhere it can be destructive over time. If it's just simple surface rust of course it can be touched up, your call who does it.

You'd better hope it's just surface rust because if it is rusting through, the rocker-panel needs to be removed to treat the rust. The rocker panel is welded into the rear quarter panel during assembly. So it would need to be cut out to get the rocker off.

That looks like paint that wore down to the metal… surface corrosion… clean it up and spray some high temp paint over it(carefully)… I’m from MN, that’s not rusted yet

That area gets sprayed with gravel, sand and road salt from the front wheels, so I'd say it's likely to be surface rust not coming from inside the rocker panel. Strip it down to remove the rust, treat it, paint it and protect it as best you can.

Thank you for all your help, can anyone point me towards a thread that shows how to treat rust? I know the basics, but if there is a step by step, that would be great

Also, is the screw below what should be used to replace the current rusty ones?

How much of a perfectionist are you? I'd clean it, rub it out with compound, evaluate and either brush touch the chips after cleaning it or Dr. Color chip it. Then see what it looks like in a year. If you start wet sanding it's going to be a bigger deal. For the best results find a shop you trust and know to be honest, be prepared to throw cash for the best deal and avail yourself to their schedule. Edit* If you want flawless fasteners then don't fix Porsche paint yourself, my two cents.

Probably it would work. There is nothing special about that screw. I would remove it and take it to a generic auto parts store and find one that looks like it. They might also have one made of plastic - which would be good. Or you could just clean it to remove the rust and paint it black. Or just leave it alone since it is just going to rust again

Others may have their preferred methods, but if I was treating surface rust on an area like this on my car, I'd do the following: use a stiff metal bristle brush to remove flaking rust treat the affected area with muriatic acid or some similar liquid to neutralize the remaining rust paint with POR-15 using a brush mask and spray the finish colour with matching rattle can paint, then mask your stripes and paint them as well use buffing compound to remove any overspray possibly cover the newly painted area with 3M or similar protective film. All materials should be available at your local auto parts store.

I agree with Caymancouver, but I'd rather see you do all that on a Ford, especially if this is your first go at it.

Yes, I practiced first on a car I didn't care about... that's the best place to learn.

Very typical, especially here in Finland, I believe same in The UK. At winter time sand and salt on roads, studded tyres grind tarmac. It's only surface rust but don't let it rust through. What I've done is a bit of repetition to already written. Removed all loose rust, cleaned carefully with brake cleaner , applied CRC rust converter, paint prime coat (I used epoxy paint) + Porsche touch up paint. Not 100% perfect solution but good enough. The final solution will be to let a professional painter to respray these spots and stone chips around air vents for the engine. After respray PPF to protect the paint.

Agree with the cleaning it up suggestion. What you’re seeing is chipped paint and metal that has been exposed to water. It’s not rusting per say clean is up, smooth it out and get some paint/clear over that. Or take it to body shop and get it fixed and anything else that needs attention