Rusty Arches/Sills - Buying Time Advice?

[bluezedd]

Hi guys,

I am experienced in a lot of areas of car repair, with the exception of bodywork. My car has been rusting out at the rear arches and although the car is not worth much, I would like to bodge to buy time. I know enough to know that the only way to solve it is to cut the metal out and weld new metal in. This is not something I am capable of, and not something the car is worth in terms of value.

What seems to be happening is the paint is chipping from the very edge of the metal, then that's letting moisture and rot to creep up.

I want to do something where I don't care how it looks, but I do care enough to try and slow down the rot.

This is what I am working with, and the other side is worse:

https://imgur.com/a/UCmPAxL

What I have already done is:

Removed both wheel arch liners and cleaned them, and inside the wheel arch. Inside the wheel arch, the metal is perfect, but the sill metal is what is going.

I have been using bilt hamber hydrate 80 rust killer to try and slow things down, but in retrospect, this is probably the wrong product, and should have been used for prep work, rather than trying to slow it down.

I have purchased a tin of POR 15 in black, and I will use this on the exposed areas of rust to try and slow things a bit.

Do you guys have any other advice on what I could do to slow this down, while also keeping myself safe (I'm wary of isocyanates in paints, sanding dust etc)?

I've heard of people pumping the arches full of grease, but don't know if this is something I should/can do.

I could potentially remove the paint bubbles, then refinish with POR15 or similar, but I'm a bit wary that this might accelerate things. I might do a worse job than whatever paint is already on there giving it some protection from the elements. I'm also wary that rust can be a bit like an iceberg. If I go messing about, I might find its much worse than it appears.

I really appreciate your help with this. I have a bit of time, I don't care how the car looks, but want to slow things down. The car has other mechanical issues, and is probably worth in the region of £500 or £600 max.

thanks guys!

For context, the MOT guy said the car is in really good condition for age, referring to the underside. It all looks pretty new, except these rotting arches.

[SlimJim16v]

That looks bad. Once you start on that, it'll turn into a lot of work.

[bluezedd]

SlimJim16v said:

That looks bad. Once you start on that, it'll turn into a lot of work.

Thanks SlimJim,

I'm not surprised that's the case. They went from perfect condition, to that really rapidly, then have been reasonably static at that level for a couple of years. I think it's likely that someone has previously been in at the arches before.

Maybe just best to slather on some POR 15 and let it go.

Thanks for your help