common rust pattern?

[maximk2]

My baby has, what i hear is the common rusting pattern on the e36, and it is bad especially around the front right fender, and behind it (on the body). To start off, here is an image of the car.

Now the following pictures are those of the area around the front fender:



now this is the spot where a rubber thing, which looks like it is for a jack used to be. The one on the other side is untouched, but this one is no longer there, and where it used to be is taken over by rust.

and this here is the front left edge. Not as bad as the front right, but has potential to become much much worse:

and this is rear left:

and last but not least, rear right:



This car has been a garage car all it's life, and here in Calgary we have very little humidity, so it it fairly hard for a car thats lived here the entire 14 years of it's life to rust like that.

I guess the fenders are not that great of a concern, because they can always be swapped out, but the body rust scares the poop out of me. I guess that taking the grinder to it would work , but how would I replicate that thick gray beautiful paint job?

Ideas on how to fight this rust would be appreciated, especially by my lady:

[xsperf]

well, ive never heard of that, the place ive heard is behidn the rear wheel(s)....

actually all of hte e36's i have seen(not on yours) have this very thick undercoating on the bottom of the car which makes the underside virtually spotless, maybe since you dont live in the USA they dont have it, only US spec cars do

[maximk2]

that is awkward. I have no rust at all behind the rear wheels.

[chris325i]

hay man, your rust isnt that bad yet.... what i would do if i were you is take the grinder to it, get as much off as you can, weld patches in any holes that have rusted through, then spray a good etching primer on it. etching primer stops rust and actually changes it into primer. from there you can paint it or lay that undercoating on it. your lucky its not that bad yet, ive had to fix some pretty horrindes rust in my day and its no fun. but if youve got any skill in body work/welding then youll be fine. other wise take it to the body shop and spend them dollars. or euros or what ever you have. haha.

[maximk2]

yeah ive done some body work too, but it was done to a 4x4 that just needed holes taken care of so mud dont fly and hit passengers in the face. I did a pretty good job of it, but I am kind of scared to touch the BMW. I guess that over the summer I will do it.

[Dudesky]

Behind the front passenger wheel is a very common place for rusting on the E36. It's because rain water channels down from the windshield cowl and drains into that area. It's the same water route that causes the DME flooding on earlier models.

[chris325i]

just remember that as long as you can grind, it dont matter what the weld looks like as long as it stuck. besides bondo is a beautiful thing if you use it right. most of that is just surface rust though so you just need to grind it off and spray it with primer or something. youll be aight homie.

[maximk2]

Originally Posted by chris325i

just remember that as long as you can grind, it dont matter what the weld looks like as long as it stuck. besides bondo is a beautiful thing if you use it right. most of that is just surface rust though so you just need to grind it off and spray it with primer or something. youll be aight homie.

Thanks man . Really cheered me up. I guess id be able to pull it off. What would I do about that lower paint though??

[chris325i]

well after you wet sanded the primer and what not youd have to spray and clear coat the paint. its real easy to blend back in though. just knock the shine off the immediate surounding paint some 320 grit sandpaper (wet sand it) spray the paint, then clear coat it, then wet sand again with 1500 grit sand paper. after that buff the whole thing until all the sand scratches and what not are gone. just take your time with it and if you dont want to do the sprayin you could always do the majority of the body work and then have it finished professionally. aight.

[chris325i]

oh yeah and for the undercoat you just have to brush or spray that back on and your done with it.