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Bubble on Sill

J

J4CKO

New member
I bought my car due to its smooth, mainly pristine sills, I had a look with my endoscopic camera and all looked well, last night I went past it and spotted a bubble on the drivers side rear sill, about the size of the end of your finger, pressed it and water came out, looked this mornign and it has filled again, its tiny but it this the tip of the iceberg ?

The car was previously garaged but now lives on my path.

It has some limited rust to attend to already on one wing under the stone chip, rear of the off side sill on the single skin bit and behind the rear wheels where stones have knocked the protection off, surface rust only but this has worried me a bit as I thought the actual box sections are fine. Why would water come out like that, has it got under the paint or is it coming from the other side, I can press it and it doesnt seem rusty, the rest of the sill looks spot on and even with quite a lot of pressure it doesnt go through. the spot is about two inches up, just aft of the line where the door shut is, i.e the rear sill panel.

Am I going to be doing more grinding ?
 
usually if you burst it and water comes out its an area that has had work before and its starting to rust again good luck
 
It had a full respray four years ago, done to a good standard.

Cant understand where the water is coming from, from the surface this side or all the way through, might be a breah int he paint that has got water in, hoping its not fromthe inside.

Would have hoped to get more than two months before it decided to turn to dust.



 
I'm afraid it's almost certainly bad news. Same thing happened to me about 2 years after a repair to my sill.

It's going back in tonight to be re-repaired! Metal cutting out and replacing this time!

Stuart
 
What was done last time Stuart ?

I wont mess about, will be breaking out the cutting disks and MIG, either replacing the rear sill section or letting in new metal, summer is coming.
 
The inner is of more concern than the outer Mark, because this is the crucial torsion tube (axle) mounting area. Another concern for me, would be that you cant see everything through the B-post vent - it give you an idea, but thats all.
 
It can be repaired 'easily' with the sill removed - its only difficult/impossible if youre trying to do it from underneath, as there isnt direct access to it. You can see the problem area on James' 'new sill' thread.
 
If it gets worse, it probably just needs the stone chip (Wurth) removing and a localised repair with some filler, and then a paint over. Talk of welding up new cills is only worse case senario, not for a small bubble.
 
I would be digging out the grinder and a wire wheel.Get all the underseal ,stone chip,filler and paint off of the offending area.Get a good look at the metal underneath.Until you do that everything else is pure speculation.It could be a simple stone chip or a whooping great hole or anything inbetween.You won't know until you can get you eyes on the metal.
 
Colin, yes, thats my thinking, I am not overly worried really, just need to get on with it when the weather gets better, tackle one area at a time, am practising my metalworking skills, might dig the old Metro out of storage and bang new arches on it, have asked my dad whether he wants to go halfs on converting it to VVC so that would be a good place to practice, saw the sill repair panels for £40 a side on Ebay.
 
Hi
having replaced 100's of sills in my life - let me give my 10p worth

number one most important issue is DRAIN - or lack of drain holes. It does not matter wheather a car is inside or outside. Condensation will collect as much in the bottom of your sills as on your windows.
I'm replacing more 'replaced' sills than factory ones as 'modern' bodyshops seem to love seam sealer - letting all the water trap in the bottom.
Coat the backside in zinc primer before welding , and then 'fill' the section with dinitrol (preheated obviously so it penetrates )

and then leave well alone :)

my bodyshop guys give 10 year warranty on old mini sills done like this

sorry my spell check is in french - a real pain
 
Totally agree with what hotrubber is saying.I always paint panels in weld through zinc primmer.It saves you loads in the long run, also remember to zinc prime all of your finnished welds as soon as they cool down and you have dressed them.If its going to rot then the around the welds will go first.
 
Cheers for the tips guys, appreciate having the wealth of experience so I dont have to go through that learning process quite as much.
 
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