Surface rust, or body rot

[steve punzo]

The above picture is of the passenger side pillar of a 1980 Eldorado taken approximately 6 weeks ago. The issue was diagnosed as harmless surface rust and repaired. The picture below is of the same pillar taken yesterday, although the issue may have reappeared as long as 2 weeks ago, the last time the car was out.  Any suggestions as to what this means would be greatly appreciated.   

[TJ Hopland]

I think both of my E bodies have rust there.   Mine are just 'drivers' so I have never really tried to fix it. 

Do you know what the 'fix' was?

I assume you had the whole car painted at the same time?

[steve punzo]

TJ, no, actually the correct repair of this problem was contingent on the sale of the vehicle and my concerns were discussed at length with the seller. My body guy saw the above picture and was concerned that it could be serious and advised me against the purchase. The seller had it "repaired" and assured me it was simple rust and that the problem was corrected.  The answer to your question is yes, the car was painted at one time, but not by me.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

That picture shows that the panel is rusting from the inside out, and without proper inspection, you could well be in for a series of nasty shocks, after purchasing the car.

These sort of problems cannot simply be repaired "by just doing that spot and nothing else" as the underlying surface is suspect.

Bruce.

[Philippe M. Ruel]

A quick view of what can be "simple rust", actually rust coming from the inside.

Before and after wire brushing.

[steve punzo]

 Philippe, the pictures do look similar, that's for sure. Not holding out much hope that I'll find anything different to what you found once an honest, competent body shop takes a look.  There is an interesting, yet very disappointing story that goes along with this, certain to raise more than a few eyebrows on this forum. I'll be sharing when the time is right.  Thank you for taking the time to respond.

[beastly beauties]

I think it's great you bring to light an interesting but disturbing topic to me. I have seen many rust situations in my 40 plus years as a body person. What you have there I would consider it to be rusted through. Blistering like you show in your photo 99.9% of the time means there is a break through in the metal beneath the paint. It can only get there one way through the process of rusting through. The thing I find disturbing is that I see so many cars on the market where the seller makes this false claim that the bubbling is "surface rust". The description of surface rust is rust that is already showing on the surface and usually due to some sort of abrasion where the paint was removed causing the issue. I heard many people telling me that there rust repair was surface rust and the fact of the matter is that there can be very minute pin holes in the metal but must be repaired with no less diligence than a large gapping hole or the repair will only be temporary at best. Those pillars never received any internal rust preventing measures and are no surprise to a rust through situation. However that little bit of blistering shouldn't stop you from buying the car as it can certainly be repaired reasonably by "professionals". Use that issue as a bargaining point instead.    Good Luck,   D. Symonds

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

If the body work had been done recently, perhaps check with the body shop who performed the work and see if there is anything they could do for you.

Should be a fairly simple job for any competent body shop. 

As mentioned earlier, this particular area is generally a known problem spot on Eldorado of this generation however it is not necessarily indicative of the condition of the rest of the body sheetmetal - if that is of any consolation.

[TMoore - NTCLC]

Just curious - does this car have a astro/sun/moon roof?  If yes,  I believe the drain tubes run down the pillar - you might check to see if perhaps the tube is blocked.

[steve punzo]

TMoore, yes it does have an astro roof. We'll look into that. Thanks