JonSumner

Hi guys,

Been looking at getting an s2000 for about a year now (finances willing), just biding my time & waiting for a good example to pop up. But something piqued my interest, helps that it's round the corner from me - but it's got some bodywork issues, two are easily fixable but I'm unsure about one of them...

In essence, the ad says the car's got surface rust at the bottom of the rear nearside arch. Photos look pretty bad - the sellers assured my it's only surface rust so could be sanded down and repainted, but knowing that rust around there isn't always a cheap job to rectify, I'm just looking for a bit of advice to whether it could be a simple fix, or whether it's an omen for something worse. Pic attached.



FYI - it's a bargain, round the corner. Money I'd save on getting this would go to fixing some of the issues - it's just the rust that's concerning me.

Thanks in advance.
Jon

noodels

That will need welding,then sanded down and painted
it will reveal a hole if breathed on.

JonSumner

Thanks man, not going near it then

bluepurple

An expensive fix to be done properly. The arch lip is still installed so moisture is held against the arch, where the inner and outer arches meet. The arch then rusts from the inside out, starting at the lip and working its way through the body.

I would expect this to cost £1k a side to fix properly, but cheaper jobs are possible dependant on how long you want the repair to last.

Go and take a look, id be interested to know what the rest of the arch is like and what its like under the rubber lip. You will know what to look out for on other examples too.

Chuck S

If it's that easy why hasn't it been done before offering the car for sale? Reason is it's not that easy.

-- Chuck

JonSumner

Thanks for your help guys

unclefester

On cars you look at, pop a finger up behind the arch lip rubber trim and feel for dirt. If it's clean behind there ( no build up ) the odds are the owner has been keeping on top of it. Mine is perfect in that regard but then i remove those trims twice a year and clean / waxoyl / stonguard then refit so dirt doesn't get a chance to build up and retain moisture hence no rust. I wouldn't touch a rusty car with a 10ft barge pole when there are better cleaner rust free cars out there, probably for similar money.

noodels

^^ Proper way to maintain any car is clean behind arches,
my 98 Civic Aerodeck has 0 rust behind the arch trim as with my 04 S and my 2001 Polo

miloking

if its that ebay one(and from the rust photo i think it is)for 4000 pounds its a bargain as engine+gearbox sell for not much less...but it does have 150k miles on clock
There are few nicer ones for bit more. Depends how inclined you are to fix things yourself.
Earlier this year i bought another imported s2000 from UK as a bit of an project...and yea they are all rusty as hell from UK thanks to the wonderful salt.
So for this price range i dont think you will find that much better...

RobinA3

I wouldn't say it's a bargain at £4K. With the mileage in mind and the epically bad rust that is present I would say it would be a bargain if it was £2.5k.

That rust is really bad and it's a big job to sort that out, I would say it's a good £800-900 to get that arch done properly if not more.