1999 996 - rust?

My 996 spent most of its life (1998-2019) in very snow/salty areas (namely Minnesota), and has over ~106,000 miles, developed rust. Its in CA now, so I'm less worried about new rust developing, but I want to address whats there now so it doesn't spread. I always knew about the door jam rust spot on the 99s, but what I hadn't heard of was the lower edge of the rear deck lid rusting. I've gone over the underside of the car meticulously, and can't find anything there save for the usual suspension component and bolt/fastener stuff. Has anyone here had rust in these spots fixed before? If so, how much did it end up costing? The door jam/latch is what worries me most. Pics attached. Worst spot on deck lid Going through paint, rough texture here

I�ve got the rust in my drivers side door jam around the latch (looks worse than yours). It�s sort of a bizarre place for rust to develop, but whatever (though it makes me wonder what causes it).. I�ll get around to fixing it one of these days. I previously did some major reconstruction on both sides just in front of the rear wheels where the rocker panel meets the wheel arch (on the inside of the wheel well under the plastic liner - the road dirt & salt/water just collects there and eats the steel). I wonder how common this actually is???

A little late for the damage that has been done, but I'm a huge fan of "Salt-Away" ( Amazon Amazon ). Put some Salt-Away and water in a foam gun and spray the foam everywhere on the under-carriage - safe to use on bodies also. It will remove any salt attached to the surface and protect the metal going forward. I do the 996 under-carriage every Spring -- which is overkill because it has no rust and never is driven in winter once salt goes down -- but literally only takes a few minutes to do, so why not? I use it on vintage cars also (they have no rust currently, but want to keep it that way since they have far less resistance to rust). I know someone who has a snow cleaning business and he says Salt-Away makes a night and day difference in rust prevention in his equipment. Salt-away also makes a faucet attachment to mix it going into the hose ( Amazon Amazon ) -- that's good for flushing an outboard motor, but I found that their faucet attachment leaks and a foam gun is much better for using it on a car.

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Never heard of this, but sounds like a great options for my daily drivers. Thanks!

Found another spot washing the car today, right edge of the luggage compartment lid, same thing as the engine deck, coming out from under the crease in the sheet metal, runs from about where the hinge starts for ~2/3 of a meter down.

Unfortunately for the deck lid it�s inside the folded metal, very hard to stop. Once stuff like this starts it�s difficult to fix. About the only way I�ve found is to keep the car out of the elements. Living in Ohio rust is the norm and repairing it is usually temporary if the corrosives are reintroduced. In my experience when rust like that is seen many times there is more hidden. Not always, but rare to see just that. These cars seem to be pretty corrosion resistant though.

I'm considering looking for a body shop to go over the car for rust and get a quote for fixing it eventually. Mostly just want to make sure that any work that gets done is rust-protected so that if I do end up leaving CA for somewhere that gets real winters, I won't have to worry about it beyond just properly cleaning the car during those months. Worst-case on the deck lid and hood looks like ~$1600 in parts if I buy them direct from Porsche. Some cursory research doesn't seem to suggest repairing these sorts of stamped and folded panels will be much cheaper, if at all, not to mention all the extra work needed in terms of sanding them, paint prep, etc. Porsche sells panels primed from what I remember. I guess somewhat unrelated note, but if I do go the route of repairing these things now, does anyone know of a method by which to preserve things like the build sticker from the inside of the trunk?

Given that those lids are readily available used I would replace them instead of attempting to repair them. More precisely I would ignore them until the rust got onto the top surface, then replace them. In the meantime I might use something like Eastwood's 15275Z internal frame coating which is supposed to soak into lap seams and encapsulate any existing rust to prevent it spreading. When it's time there are companies that make reproduction door jamb and frunk lid stickers. I would get the door jamb fixed as soon as possible.

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I believe it is because of the minute movement of the latch eventually scratches away the rust proofing and after that it's only a matter of time. Any place there is friction is a recipe for rust.

Thanks for the suggestions! My line of thinking for the deck lid and trunk were about the same (wait for it to get really bad, replace the whole things then since repair of the panels is now impractical). Ill look into rust treatment for everything else. I'm also going to stop by a local body shop and see what they think about the door jam. Being in CA they probably aren't rust experts though. As for why the rust: In sheet metal seams, there is often space for water/snow/salt to get in, so on a car with clogged drains, its probably really easy for water to get in there, where the metal is unpainted and unprimed, and then rust through the panel. The galvanization ins't bad, but its designed to work in conjunction with the primer, paint, and undercoat, so its really outmatched in spots like these. The doorjam is interesting. I've seen an interesting trend though while researching it - it rusts in the driver's side more frequently on both LHD and RHD cars as I've observed. Not sure if this is an indicator of the movement of the latch as was suggested, but it may be at least part of the problem. The other thing I've noticed is it actually seems to be rusting from the back. Others with this problem have noted the same. I wonder if theres a spot in the wheel well that snow/salt can build up in that leads to rust, and its just coming through on this side due to all the open/close cycles on the latch. For context, my car has ~107k miles on it, and of those, ~104k were put on it in snowy states by prior owners with probably sub-optimal levels of care taken for things like cleaning salt off of the car. I can't be absolutely sure of this (they could have been diligent and it still rusted), but given all the other poor maintenance done that I've been going over and addressing, I highly doubt it.

Sometimes spots that are more rust prone can be traced to manufacturing techniques. Perhaps that spot is where the body was held during the galvinization dip or something like that.

That is possible. I do know that the door jam rust thing mostly affects early cars (1999 and 1998 builds from what I remember), so its possible that they changed something (hold points) in the galvanization process that fixed this problem.

Quick update but I found more! Passenger side in the front trunk lid, the seam where the right edge rolls under next to the hinge bracket.

The door latch can suffer from bi-metallic corrosion. On at least some cars, Porsche used a clear sticker underneath the latch which either didn't do a very good job, or as on my car wasn't properly aligned or may have moved. If the corrosion isn't too bad yet, then there is a rubber gasket (VW part 3C0837279A ) which fits underneath and seems to do a better job. If you opt to have the latch areas repaired, then consider fitting these afterwards. For details, see 911uk.com - Porsche Forum : View topic - Door Striker Corrosion advice, upgrade? & about halfway down 911uk.com - Porsche Forum : View topic - Marky's 996 ownership thread. re: the rusty seam on the rear lid, see about halfway down page 53 of 911uk.com - Porsche Forum : View topic - 996.1 cab C2 manual

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Damn shame. I didn't think these cars rusted at all. Maybe part ways and look for a better example? I'm sure a first time 911 owner will snap this up, rust be damned. They just want a piece of 911 history!

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I got the car so cheap ($15,500, with a clean title, service history at a dealer, nothing missing, and a few minor mechanical issues I've already fixed) that I don't really mind. Its in CA now (and will be for the foreseeable future, I might be up north for a few years, but have a friend with a big garage down here, so the plan would be to store it and find something interesting, I'm thinking B3 Coupe Quattro to use in the meantime). I plan on at least treating the rust temporarily, just to stop any spreading, before I can justify spending the money to get it addressed properly (ie cut/grind/whatever needs to be done to get rid of it, repair, repaint area, etc). This is actually my first 911, and I'm enjoying it so much that I can't really see myself selling it. While I don't doubt that I could more than get back what I paid for the car in today's market, I'd rather not if it can be avoided. So far as I can tell, for addressing it, my best course of action is going to be replace rear deck lid (its warping due to the rust, and likely too far gone, plus its got a fair few other blemishes), then sand down the areas on the door latch and the front trunk lid. Just bad luck I guess, but again, given what I paid for the car, and where the 996 market is going (not to mention the fact that I'd be hard-pressed to find another similarly-specced early 996 ever again), I don't see selling it to try and get a rust-free car as a great solution either. Going to get quotes from a body shop I trust (fixed my rear bumper after it was backed into by my neighbor for a decent price, and did perfectly good work, and are recommended by a local independent Porsche shop that I trust) and see how much it would cost to fix just the door latch point for starters. Might also have them go over the rest of the unibody while they're at it, there could be stuff hiding up in the wheel arches that I've not seen. As for whether or not 996s rust, as I understand it, the door latch thing is fairly common on early 996s. I've seen a few threads on European forums (mostly people with early cabs) where they've had this fixed by cutting out that part of the door jam, welding in a piece from a donor car, and then adding a gasket to prevent it from rusting again. What I've read is that this is caused by mud/snow/salt collecting behind the latch in the inside of the wheel arch, and the fact that the galvanizing process was done while the body was held up from these hardpoints. My bet with the other 2 spots on my car is that its a combination of clogged drains, and the fact that the car sat for a few years outside in the snow before I bought it. Both of those areas are spots where snow/ice would collect, and then water would pool when it melts if the drains were clogged up.