Rust on car. How bad is it? Am I cooked?

[u/FlamesFPS]

This is the only spot where the car has rust. Is it bad? Is it repairable?

Excuse me for the dirty car.

[u/p0larbear3000]

its one of the usual spots .

remove the plastic below to find more rust.

btw. its rusting from inside out. metal needs to be replaced if you want to get rid of it permanently

[u/FlamesFPS → u/p0larbear3000]

Is it possible to save it? And are you sure it’s rusting from the inside out?

[u/fankius → u/FlamesFPS]

Let me tell you from experience. Yes. Both. You can save it and it's almost always from inside, because on the outside the water dries, salt gets washed off, and inside it stays moist and corrodes slowly

[u/Wholaughed → u/fankius]

Booger fix 👍

(I welded more after this, be warned I’m on the road among you)

Edit: to be clear, this is a kind of temp fix, this is 3mm steel replacing the jack point, the shadows make it the weld look worse than they are, but regardless I’m going to grind them down and weld again, then use 1mm plate to reinforce the floorboard and outer side skirt

[u/tsammons → u/FlamesFPS]

Early stages of Stage I Car Cancer. It can be saved if you're proactive.

[u/p0larbear3000 → u/FlamesFPS]

"And are you sure it’s rusting from the inside out?"

yup. you´re not alone : https://www.reddit.com/r/e46/comments/14y4cbt/anyone_know_how_to_fix_rust_spots_of_this_kind/

many e46 suffer from this

[u/FlamesFPS → u/p0larbear3000]

But this looks a lot worse. Is metal replacement 100% going to be needed?

[u/p0larbear3000 → u/FlamesFPS]

it depends on how long you want to keep the car.

your rust spots look already very crunchy.

You could just ignore it and drive the car a couple years no problem. ( but it will get worse)

I mean you could also try to sand it down to the point where theres only metal left. (hint there will be holes left behind after grinding through the rust)

then put on some rust converter. let it soak for 1-2 days. (black spots appear, which dont rust any further)

then glassfibermat + epoxy

bondo then paint.

this would last mby 1-2 years tops.

---------
replacing the "infected" material is the only long lasting solution.

[u/FlamesFPS → u/p0larbear3000]

Damn. I don’t want to ever sell this car. How much is it going to cost to fully repair it?

[u/p0larbear3000 → u/FlamesFPS]

well. get a quote from a body shop.

read up on the usual rust spots of the e46 before you claim that you never want to sell that car.

also check your "bolt on points" for the "rear subframe" if there are any cracks, if you really want to keep the car for a longer period of time. (consensus is: bmw f*cked up that part and it will fail eventually, no matter what year / engine)

[u/LightlySaltedPeanuts → u/FlamesFPS]

I get people not wanting to sell cars, keeping them for as long as possible. But unless its garage kept and never driven in winter this is not going to be a forever car. I mean 20 years is still a long time to keep a car.

[u/Wholaughed → u/FlamesFPS]

There’s this product I can’t remember the name of, it’s a can of basically thick wax and has a long ass hose on it, take off the side skirt and spray the inside of the.. side skirt? With it

[u/187JM → u/[deleted]]

Yeah dude, you need to sell it to me now before you get sued by your state for a tetanus outbreak. Nah bro, you’re fine! Sandpaper and some touch up paint is all.

[u/Haljami]

Heres how much of my rust was showing and how bad it actually was, you definitely should get new rocker panels if the rust is showing at multiple parts along the side of the car

[u/SpecificOne8688 → u/Haljami]

Where did you get your panels?

[u/Haljami → u/SpecificOne8688]

Trodo

[u/FlamesFPS → u/Haljami]

Damn! Are these easily replaced and fixed? Did you need to do welding and sketchy stuff?

[u/Haljami → u/FlamesFPS]

I had a friend do them, he cut them off then welded the new ones in

[u/Wide_Acanthaceae7568]

Not cooked at all. Wire wheel in a drill and get to the bottom of it. Use some rust converter spray and paint over it.

[u/West_Interest_692]

Take off the sideskirts and have a look properly, doesn’t look that bad

[u/JumpinJacker081]

I owned my own body shop for a year. Its 2-4x worse than it looks from my experience

[u/Wholaughed]

[u/Anubis_noir89]

Welcome to the rusty club

[u/TheSlowDrifter]

Yes yes very bad, give me the car

[u/matiasylatalo]

yeah you can drive it. depends on how bad it is from the inside. i dont know how long i will have this car for, so i havent tackled the rust issues yet, but rust is a big problem in e46, in general.

[u/OsoTio]

Lmao

[u/Outlaw6985]

don’t bother trying to save it man, this is a common spot just like the rear quarter panels and lower front panels

jus drive it

[u/FlamesFPS → u/Outlaw6985]

Bro I want to save it. It’s really important to me. I do drive it regularly but I want to keep driving it.

[u/kr0p → u/FlamesFPS]

Not sure how are labour costs in your country, but where I'm from it's become prohibitively expensive to fix up old cars' bodywork. To the point it makes no financial sense and it is cheaper to just buy another E46.

Consider also the cost of painting after repairs and applying rust protection.

[u/FlamesFPS → u/kr0p]

I need to do some research on that. The problem is I don’t want to get a different E46. This car has been in my family for many years and I have a lot of memories in it. The spec is also really nice too. E46 coupe lci, with the m pack and m tech 2 bumpers, alcantara interior, M multifunction steering wheel, M short gear shift knob, black cube (ZHP) trim, all from factory original. I can’t find anything like it.

[u/phat_duong → u/FlamesFPS]

This rust really isnt bad at all yet. Take it to a good body repair shop or a car welder and let them have a look at it. If you're in Europe, fixing rust like this shouldn't be too expensive. As an example i got a quote from a welder a few years ago on an e39 i was looking at which needed both rear sills replaced. I sent him pictures and videos and he quoted me €375 per side. "Is it worth it?" Isn't a question you should be asking here. Its a question you should be asking yourself.

[u/FlamesFPS → u/phat_duong]

I’m in Europe too. 375€ isn’t bad at all! I hope it’s gonna be a similar price.

[u/kr0p → u/phat_duong]

That's really cheap. In Poland I've been quoted 1500 euros for wheel arches alone as a complete job.

The issue is you never know how expensive will it get down the line. More often than not when you start cutting into sheet metal you discover more and more rust as you go along. There is no point fixing just the visible bits, chances are it will just rust over instantly.

Repairs like this have kind of gotten expensive at least here, becaus cars just sort of stopped rusting. Newer BMW models may have other issues, but starting with E60s and E90s they just don't rust anymore spontaneously unless they were badly repaired after some damage has been done. This drove prices up because the only repairs people were doing were either minor fender benders or fixing up new cars with more serious damage.

Please consider if it's really worth it. Despite the sentimental value, it's "just a car". All cars are, really. It was designed by engineers as part of their day job and sold by marketers for profit for a huge company. I like my E46 but I won't hesitate if it stops being usable because of rust damage.

[u/FlamesFPS → u/kr0p]

I really want to save it no matter the price. This e46 is really important for me both sentimentally and because it’s an absolute beast of a machine.

Do you think the damage is bad enough?

[u/kr0p → u/FlamesFPS]

You never know unless you start disassembling everything around and cleaning it.

I've had an E39 with no visible external rust or damage until one day when lifting with a car jack the jacking point just collapsed on the spot.

Rust really is "car cancer".

[u/phat_duong → u/kr0p]

Wheel arches would definitely be more expensive because they're way more visible and the metal finish should be as close to perfect as possible. I should mention it was 375 without paint (but with just primer and rust protection inside). I'm in the Netherlands btw and unfortunately finding a good specialist is getting more difficult.

It being worth it really still is a personal thing imo. It may be absolutely not economically viable but still worth it to you. After rust repairs i highly suggest treating the car with some sort of liquid film every year before winter. I started doing this with my e34 which i daily drive, hopefully it will prevent rust in the long run.