Rust Repair
 

Does anyone know of a reliable auto body shop in the vicinity of Burlington, ON? I have been asking around to get some rust repaired (pass side rear wheel well lip and windshield header between windshield and conv top). So far I am not getting good vibes from the local shops. I don't think that they are really interested in doing this type of work.

Phil
2003 Mustang Conv. 3.8L

Since there have been no responses either nobody lives near Burlington and/or no one has needed rust repairs. I have investigated many shops and finally found Bodyworks at [ BODYWORKS- The best bodyshop in Burlington, ON ]. They are doing all the right things: cutting out all of the rusted metal and fabricating new panels to weld in. That includes removing the windshield and replacing the panel above the windshield. I have my car booked in for the week after next and will report back on my experience.

Phil

Here are the before photos. By the way, Bodyworks allows visits anytime you want so you can see, and photograph, what they are doing to your car.

Phil

Sounds like a good company, I hope everything works out for you.

Don't take silence as a bad thing, sometimes it takes a while to get responses, the traffic here isn't as busy as some of the other sites. Doesn't mean anyone's any less knowledgeable or helpful, just busy, and in my own case, yup, don't live in Burlington, so there wasn't much for me to say. Good job doing your homework before committing, it's encouraging that the shop has that kind of open door policy and that they have the work ethic to do the job the Mike Holmes way.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mean to sound impatient but wasn't sure how active this site is. I'll do my best to make my contribution to the traffic flow. We'll soon see if I made a good choice (I mean in body shops, not in forums - this seems to be a great forum) :).

I don't live in your area so I couldn't help.

Sorry bud I know very little about rust repair. Both of my Mustangs ( 2005 & 2007) are relatively new with one being garaged year round.

The Mustang went in to the body shop yesterday. So far the quarter rust has been cut out and new metal welded in. More welding and hammer/dolly work to be done. Also, they just removed the windshield in preparation for a new section above the windshield. Here are a couple of before and in progress shots of the quarter.

Glad to see you're making progress, keep us updated.

Nothing like a rust free Mustang. :tup Looking good.

Day 2 at Body Shop. Windshield is out (being replaced with a new one since they broke the old one taking it out - this was anticipated!). New metal going in. Forgot to mention that they have 3 Mustangs in there right now - yellow 1970 Mach I conv. getting new floor pans / green 2009 getting a new hood / mine.

Mustang heaven. :tup

Day 3 at the body shop. The repair above the windshield is finished (in first coat of primer) and more work done to the wheel opening.

Nice to see you putting some love back into the ol girl:tup

Are you getting a complete re spray of the whole car?

I just think that it is too nice of a car to let it go any further downhill. Not getting a complete respray this time. At some future date I may do that but it could also get a colour change at that point :).

Day 4 at the body shop. The panel above the windsheild is finished and the new windshield is installed. Skim coat of body filler on the rear wheel well is being worked on. Should be painted tomorrow :).

That's looking good, I wish I had the skill to do that, those guys are real artists!

Looking good, you'll have some great history shots for the photo album.

Day 5 at body shop. Ready to be painted. Should be this afternoon. There also was a seam along the inside lower edge of pass door that was rusting/weeping so I had them sand blast seal and paint it also.

Nice to see you seem to have found a good place to get your work done.
Looking forward to seeing the completed project and you out on the road enjoying that vert.

The Mustang is home :chacha:. Just picked it up and am happy with the results so far. They even had the interior cleaned since the top was partially down throughout it's stay in the dusty shop. Here are a few after shots. Now it's back to cleaning up the engine compartment.

Looks really good!

X2 ^^^^^^^

Looks great :tup

Nicely done, glad you found what you were looking for and are happy with the result. Always amazes me how they can fix things like that and blend it right in.

Thanks again guys. Now that the rust is fixed I am currently working at removing some paint scratches on the rest of the car and cleaning the salt stains off of the driver's side carpet. I picked up a salt remover at Parts Source and a scrub brush from the dollar store :).

Well.....Salt Eraser spray on foam does not work very well with caked on salt on your carpets. I used a wire brush, vacuum and three applications and it still isn't all out. I'll let it dry thoroughly and then try something else the next time I wash the car. My son drove this car daily year round since it was new so this is clearly an accumulation.

What about using water and some detergent and a shop vac to suck it up and wash away the salt buildup? Not sure if that will work, but I've used the shop vac to clean up other messes on carpets.
Nice work on the Stang. Nice to have it looking great again.

I would say your best bet would be to take it to a detail shop and get it shampooed.

Funny you should say that. My children just bought me a premium detail treatment at a local Autospa for Father's day. I'll see how they do.

Smart kids :tup

Wow, I am impressed of how good of a job they did! I own a Rio Red 1994 3.8L Convertible (original owner), the car had 20 Canadian Ontario winters under its belt, but the body is in really good shape other then the rusted rear quarter well lips (like your was). Luckily my windshield header has no rust, and it is almost identical to yours.

In early 2011 the paint was beginning to peel off both rear quarter panels, so I had both repainted and it cost $500 (bad idea). Then about two years later the well lip on the quarter panel (where yours rusted out), started to bubble. They obviously painted over rust. The bubbling is now working its way up and is about half an inch above the lip, luckily no paint has come off yet.

Seeing these pictures gives me hope that it can be repaired, unfortunately it is not financially feasible to get this done yet. I image both sides will cost at least $5000 to get fixed. Hopefully by the time I get it fixed the car will be worth more than $5000.

Jesse

[IMG]<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jessemooney/21707423021/in/dateposted-public/" title="1994 Mustang"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5669/21707423021_de65bcc945.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="1994 Mustang"></a>[/IMG]

Hi Jesse,

You have a very nice looking Mustang. I would get that rust repaired sooner rather than later since it will get worse and cost more to repair later on. When you are ready, shop around for prices and quality of work. I looked at four different shops before settling on one. You could bring it to Burlington and use the same shop as me. The two wheel well lips should cost less than $3500. but a couple of the estimates I got were almost double what I paid. Most shops do collision repair and are not really interested in rust repair. Good luck.

Thanks for you quick response. I found that as well; most body shops just want to pull out dents, replace parts and paint. I agree that I will have to call many different shops. The places that actually do classic body repair (at least in my area), if your car is newer than forty years old they kind of laugh at me and wonder why I would want to spend money on a car that is not a true ‘classic’.

That being said it is good to know that there is at least one place in Ontario that will do the repair work, and make it look good again.

Thanks,
Jesse