Hello all...after saving my pennies, I finally found and bought an 87 Carrera over the internet from a well known dealer who assured me that the car was rust free...Unfortunately 2 minutes after it came off the truck I found rust bubbling up from the lower passenger door. The dealer apologized profusely and offered to take the car back, which was very courteous and is giving me some time to think over what I would like to do...Of course, my wife is of limited help with these matters and I would have never considered the car knowing it has any rust. Now I'm reaching out to you all to see what would you do in this situation? the attached top photo is of the outside and the bottom pic is one I took with a bore scope underneath the car pretty close to where the bubbling is located. I'd appreciate any advice during my cooling off period (I was pretty pissed when I opened the door and saw it). I am thinking of bringing it to a body shop here in Omaha to get an estimate and everything else on the car seems okay. Thoughts?

 

Sand it down, see how bad, fill and paint, or cut it out weld in new piece and paint.
Rust is annoying so depending on what your objectives are, fix it as encountered but don’t go hunting. You may not like what you see.

You may want to pull that trim and jack car up and poke around on both sills. If it’s just that spot, fix it if you like the rest of the car, if not send it back.

 

thats what i did in that exact spot.. sanded it down , hit it with some primer and painted it with some leftover dr colour chip i had.. looks fine and its hidden so who cares.

but i would look under that rubber sill plate .. thats the common place they rust and there is a suspicious rust colour underneath it... too many signs like this and i would send it back.
im not sure what your lower pic is supposed to be .

the only issue is , is if it is coming in from the back, doesnt look like it is though.

 

Car has already seen (poor) repair in that area and it is rusting (take a look at the tape lines and other paint issues in the area). That is clearly coming from behind as the second pic shows. They rust due to mud and moisture sitting in the cavity between the kidney bowl and the latch panel rotting away both as well as the rear section of the inner rocker. Either send it back or ask to be compensated for a proper repair of the area.

Todd

 

At this point since you are emotionally and financially invested, have the body shop do a once over the entire body and chassis and get an estimate for the repair to this area, plus other areas that you have not (yet) discovered. At that point, make a decision to keep, repair properly, and get some recovery from the selling dealer versus returning the car.

Omaha body shops should be very good at properly doing rust repairs.

 

Thanks for all the great inputs...I never noticed the tape lines ...I think I will have a body shop take a look and see what's going on...Thanks!

 

The lower picture is the underside of the car taken with a bore scope camera pointing towards where the bubbling is located

 

The only way that's going away is to cut it out. There is a replacement piece for exactly this and they will need to cut open the quarter to drill out the welds. I'd guess 3500 to 5000 to have it done correctly, you should boroscope the other side too.

Since rust is here it is likely in other places too. Definitely check under the battery tray with the boroscope and the tops of the wings the front fenders sit on for starters.

For me, I'd return the car and find one you don't have to chop up already. For fs, go view the car first and never trust anyone to do that for you. Good luck.

 

As you stated, you wouldn't have considered the car if you had known about the rust, so, unless your criteria has changed, that would dictate returning the car. After all, the only thing that's changed is the delivery of the 911 at your house. I suggest you also looking at the sloped areas in front of/below the headlights. They are typical rust points as is the rust you have found. I feel the same as you about rust. Another non-Porsche car I owned developed rust in the rocker boxes and I kept going farther and farther trying to find decent metal to bond to, but I never did. As far as your problem, it looks like it could be surface rust in the seam. If you do take it to a body shop, make sure you don't take it to someone who might want to work on a Porsche primarily to fill his bank account. It shouldn't happen, but it does.
My 74 911 has rust in the same areas as yours, but the good news is, with the recent increasing prices, you may recover the money spent to repair the problem. People tend to pay for quality stuff.

 

oh if that is coming through from the back as Tod points out i would get rid of that car fast... dont even think twice .. rust never sleeps and it never heals .. it just keeps coming once it starts..

 

It seems like you didn't get a proper PPI from a Porsche specialty shop before the purchase ?
For what it's worth , my 89 which i bought 12 years ago had some rust spots on it too but i wasn't overly concerned since the car is only driven
five months a year and it's more a driver than a show car.
I was never too **** regarding paint appearance on any of my vehicles, although i make sure they all run like a clock.
What is the price for the car, these days they can vary between expensive and crazy expensive and if the bodywork involved justifies the price
it might be woth taking the dive as nice G50 cars are pretty scarce.You can't expect a 30 year old car to be perfect ...

Cheers
Phil

 

Thanks for all the great input...Unfortunately, I didn't get a PPI, I fell for the "i'm a man of my word, it's a good car"...I am having some trouble with finding a body shop to take a look, seems the 3 I called won't look at rust and one of them, wanted to replace the whole quarter panel...I suppose I'm lucky in that the person I'm trying to buy it from really appears to want to make this right...the car is mechanically in great shape. no leaks or seaps, shifts smooth, pulls strong, and has had the proper wear items replaced. I paid $64k for the car for what it's worth...and I've been telling myself it is over 35 yrs old and there seem to be fewer and fewer of them. I'm waiting on one more body shop for a quote...thanks for your insights!

 

They wouldn't be replacing the quarter but likely the kidney bowl, door striker and potentially the door sill plate. http://www.classiccarreras.com/25th%...er%20Anni.html

911s are absolutely fantastic at hiding rust. Have a look at the link above to see how great they are at it. Undercoating gets old and cracks, dirt and junk sits and rots away...

 

Hard to tell a whole lot from the pictures, but my bet would be on kidney bowl corrosion coming through from the backside. If that is the case, then it follows that there are many other spots on the car (e.g., top of front bumper shock supports), as there are other areas similar to the kidney bowls were muck etc., can accumulate.

A fundamental question when assessing rust is it due to general conditions or a specific factor? Kidney bowl rust is usually due to "general conditions", i.e., accumulation of dirt etc., combined with climatic and environmental variables such a moisture, salt on the roads etc. So, when you see rust from that cause appear in one spot, you can be pretty sure you will have many other spots on the way.

An example of a specific factor would be the semi-common battery leakage issue, in which you can theoretically end up with a car that has serious corrosion issue in that area of the car, but could be completely rust-free everywhere else.

Both extremes are repairable, but the only good way to repair is welding in new metal. It will get very expensive quickly, even doing a lot of work yourself, if you have the ability and equipment. If you picked this car up for an unusually low price, that could work out fine. However, I have the impression you purchased this as a solid car at normal market pricing. I would return it.

 

15-20 years ago I would have kept this car.

Now, after more more cars and experience (some with restoration and rust), I’d return it, and take advantage of the fact that you are able to return it.