Body work advice? Door got hit + rust issues

what used to work and still works real good is body soldering . this was a big thing in the old days . and dead easy to work . first rule is none goes on the floor . you will need solder paste . body solder . flat block of wood oiled on one side .engine oil will suffice . nice blowlamp with steady blue flame .
solder paste painted on heat up to melt will just turn brown when ready if i remember right . wipe over it with the cotton rag i forgot to mention .
next the fun part . getting the solder to stay where you push it with wooden block . you have to keep testing if going into a molten state as any visual difference is too late ..
let cool and shape with a body file ..
sorry for ranting and maybe being cryptic ..
 
You really have to cut out bad metal and MIG weld (don't buy the cheapest welder either and you need one that uses the inert gas like Argon) in new if you want it to be structurally sound.
Bondo is for minor filling of ripples etc. and fiberglass will crack and won't give you any structural strength. A US built pickup is best for winter use (save the car for the summer) as you have a frame under it & 3/4 Ton has a thicker one so better! Body on Ford trucks are now aluminum (since 2015 on F-150) so that may help too!
 
The body shop I use would recommend sandblasting surface rust to make certain it was clean. However...

That "rot" above the rear fender lip (where the rear bumper cover attaches) is a common place for rust, although I'm really surprised an '07 is showing this soon. Our '04 Civic has nearly 240,000 miles and has suffered through crappy Michigan winters and roads, and doesn't have any of the body rot on it at all (especially in the same place). Even our '99 Acura didn't have a speck of rust either, and it was 15 years old before a flood ate it.

Once that rot shows through, it's pretty well been eating away from the inside. The only proper repair I know of is to order up replacement "plasma" panels for the rear quarters (as they are designed to be plasma welded in place). They run about $380 each ($560 list price) from online discount Honda parts dealers in the US. They are part #s 3 and 6 from this page:

https://www.hondaautomotiveparts.co...OUTER+PANEL+-+REAR+PANEL+(PLASMA+STYLE+PANEL)

Honda part #s 04636-SLN-A82ZZ and 04646-SLN-A82ZZ . The big drawback is the labor involved. That is where the expense adds up.

As for getting someone to cut out and hand fabricate a new fender lip...I personally wouldn't trust it to last. One could do a sloppy repair by sandblasting away the rust, slopping Bondo on it, maybe pop-riveting something on to attach the rear bumper cover to, and getting away with it for a few more years...but again, it wouldn't last. No body shop out there has access to all the processes and treatments an auto manufacturer has to help inhibit corrosion on the bare metal.

As for the door, if the metal is stretched too much, but the rest of the door's frame is salvageable, a body shop orders a new "skin" to replace it. If it were me, I'd be tempted to find a replacement door from a salvage yard. Fits are a little harder to find used parts for--they are not that popular like a Civic or Accord. Not rare, but you'd likely have to travel further distances to find a good door. In the US we have car-part.com to search salvage yards. Maybe there is something similar for Canada?
 
i used to pop rivet patches .then tap it down and fill over the top . this repair can only be done on non structural places .such as wings and door panels etc .
 
Why don't you just leave it, let the nice lady who had the decency to leave a note off the hook and leave it as a credit in the karma bank? There's already enough body rot damage to the car from those Ottawa winters that a dent in the door's not really gonna make it look a hell of a lot worse.

That's what I'd do, anyway.
 
Here's what I have to fill so far. I'll end up taking off more material on the dogleg too. The hole on the rocker panel is first.
 

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never heard it called a rocker panel ..
that would be an mot test fail here . no idea how strict your annual tests are .
 
Which part is that? The rocker panel or the dogleg around the wheel?
In all unibody cars, the body - particularly the floor pan - is part of the main structure of the car, Cutting in critical places can weaken the whole integrity of the car, That sill plate/rocker is probably one of those areas.
 
I guess I'm stuck then, unless I go spend a few hundred bucks on a mig welder?

Though nothing should be any weaker than before I ground the rust off those parts.
 
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Though nothing should be any weaker than before I ground the rust off those parts.

Correct.
That being said, before I put myself, anyone I cared for, or anyone else for that matter, at risk, I'd run that car somewhere that could put it up on a rack and do a thorough inspection of the undercarriage. There may be more issues that you're aware of. If not, you'll at least have the peace of mind knowing it's still safe.
 
Correct.
That being said, before I put myself, anyone I cared for, or anyone else for that matter, at risk, I'd run that car somewhere that could put it up on a rack and do a thorough inspection of the undercarriage. There may be more issues that you're aware of. If not, you'll at least have the peace of mind knowing it's still safe.
It does get regular maintenance at the dealer. It was last in at the start of the spring to have the summer tires put on. They'd tell me if there was a major issue right? I'm sure they put it up on the lift.
 
I'd just let her insurance fix it and not worry about it.....

Once the car starts rusting, rust never sleeps just like cancer and has a quite similar result. You could take enough money from whoever and find a door from an auto wrecking yard the same color and switch the doors out.

Generally, preventative measures are taken before rust sets in. It doesn't take much to seal the underside of a car with an apoxy type of rock guard product. The hardest part is masking off the entire outside of the car first after steam cleaning the underside of the car after you get the car up on jack stands.
 
I settled for $300 for the door damage last week. She doesn't have to worry about going through insurance, I get some compensation for the damage. Getting a full fix here is like hooking a nice McIntosh amp up to a $100 dollar pair of speakers. The money won't save it...

I talked to my friend's neighbor yesterday, he is always doing rust work on cars. He had a BMW in the driveway all stripped down, all seats out of the inside. His rocker panel was rusting, he cuts all the rust out and welds new panels. He had a whole shiny new rocker panel ready to go on. No shortcuts...

He uses a mig welder he got on local classifieds for $150. He said the issue with using an arc welder is just quality of the weld. As for damaging the electronics with the welding current, he just said the battery needs to be disconnected. For any type of welder.
 
Older BMW may have thicker metal so more repairable! Depends on age as new high strength steel is very thin to give lightness, but results in a throw away car which is better for sales too.

His friend might have gotten a really good used MIG for a fraction of the new price! Don't buy a new cheap one as you will wish you didn't and they don't use gas to give a quality weld. They are for flux core wire only. I tried the cheap way!

The quality MIG welders also have a metal drive system and infinite heat control. The Lincoln MIG 140 (also max Amps) in CDN tire is a more basic model (4 heat settings) than a C version available at a welding supply store which has the inifite heat control. Miller is also a top brand and the make one in that size with infinite heat settings also with also an auto setting which is said to be useful. These better welders will be more useful in the long run for other projects and you get a higher duty cycle. Body shops use them even! You can also weld aluminum with them also.

Good luck!
 
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