You, me, and rocker panels

Kinja'd!!! "winterlegacy, here 'till the end" (winterlegacy)
12/20/2019 at 21:31 • Filed to: New England claims another set of rocker panels

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Something I wish I had right now, other than a cold drink

The suffering continues. Turns out the rocker panels weren’t in as great a shape as I thought they were. Scraped away some rust bubbles and OH DEAR LORD that’s a lot of rust.

So, I’m going to ask the Oppo hivemind - how bad is it to replace rockers, really? How much do shops charge for a rocker job?


DISCUSSION (6)


Kinja'd!!! MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
12/20/2019 at 22:11

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Subscribed. My Jaguar could use new rockers someday. They look pretty good but I’m pretty sure there’s a good bit of Bondo in there. 


Kinja'd!!! facw > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
12/20/2019 at 22:38

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Yeah, I don’t think it’s ever just some bubbles. I don’t know anything about repair though.

I can however leave you with this amazing/terrible rust repair video:


Kinja'd!!! lone_liberal > facw
12/20/2019 at 22:43

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Frankers!


Kinja'd!!! pip bip - choose Corrour > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
12/20/2019 at 23:07

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Doesn’t snow here, so our cars don’t get rust like to need the job done ever 


Kinja'd!!! I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
12/21/2019 at 05:00

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I can already foresee getting shit for this, but in most cars, rockers are nominally structural. The chassis will be a bit floppier than if they were intact, but you could get away with wire wheeling the rust away and filling with expanding foam then painting it up if you want the aesthetics to be right . Your car isn’t gonna snap in half.


Kinja'd!!! Old-Busted-Hotness > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
12/21/2019 at 06:06

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It’s kind of a big deal. Usually the rocker forms the lower part of the door opening(s) so alignment is important/ critical. Lots of spot welds to cut/grind off, and the likelihood of finding more rust once you’re in there is pretty high.

You can half-ass the job by leaving the seams in place and cutting the new panel to fit. There’s more welding this way, but less chance of the pillars going all wonky without the lower support the rocker provides.

Beware of any shop that quotes a price that seems reasonable. They’ll probably just tac k it in place over the old rocker panel.