Purchasing a car patched with bondo
 

I am currently considering purchasing a honda eg hatchback, which the current owner has patched up the rust on the rear quarter panels of the car. He shaved the rust off first and put on bondo afterwards, which has lasted for 3 years now with no bubbling.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with purchasing a car that had a history with rust that was patched with bondo or has done a rust patch job themselves and what are their experiences with the car afterwards. Also, is the patch job on the car I am looking at considered top notch and professionally done since it has lasted 3 years now with no signs of bubbling?

If parked indoors, the bubbling can be delayed. Parked outdoors will speed it up

depends what your buying it for. daily driver? who cares. most cars rust out, even if you can't see it.

if youre planning to find a car and dump a few thousand in mods over the next few years, its totally worth waiting for a clean one or two owner rust free example. that way your not wasting your money fixing other peoples mistakes.

Yea, I plan on daily driving it, only considering it because it seems like the guy dished out some cash on the suspension so I probably won't even mod the car at all. Only thing I'm contemplating on is the rust fix up done.

If the rust reappears, anyone know any good shops that weld new quarter panels not half-assed? And perhaps their price if you've done it there before. Just thinking ahead incase rust pops up again and seeing the options I'll have.

Thought it was the other way around, unless I am incorrect. :S

park outside = moisture and dirt = rot rot rot

As someone who knows a thing or two about rust, and how to properly fix it, WALK AWAY NOW.

The only way to properly patch rust is to cut the cancer out and replace it with fresh steel, anything else will fail, and you will have a bigger problem than you originally had.

Update, he doesn't have pics of the rust or rust patching process, but he said the rust was only the size of a thumb on 1 side and the other side was barely visible. Both sides were only surface rust with bubbles. Considering how the bondo job lasted 3 years do I take his word for it? The job was done at a body shop too.

try running a magnet on the repair area, if the magnet does not stick you know its 100% bondo and start running

Was just gonna mention this.

Also, if it's simply a daily driver/winter beater type of vehicle that you don't plan on keeping forever, it's not a big deal if there's a small bondo patch on it.

Rust is like a beard. It will grow back if you shave it.

it all depends how it was done. if all the rust was cut out it cant start rusting again UNLESS that area is exposed to moisture again.

if the area has all the rust cut out. then the guy used a rust converter the area will not rust again.

how durable the bondo is will be based on how good of a job he did. if he used fiberglass, if the backing of the bondo was coated to prevent rot and how well he painted it.

assuming he did everything right there will be no issues unless that area gets hit. if he did it wrong its only a matter of time before the rust comes back and that bondo piece falls out leaving you with a bigger hole than you started with.

Anyone experience owning a car with a bondo job for rust?

What are your plans for the car and how much is it?

I plan on driving it long term, the honda eg is priced at 3000 with excellent paint, seems like no flaws in the pictures. I'll be going to check it out on Wednesday. And as a note it has several suspension parts installed already such as koni yellow ground control coilover sleeves, skunk2 LCAs, BWR lower tie bar, nardi woodgrain wheel (not sure if authentic), and a yakima roof rack. The parts are intriguing me to the car since I basically do not need to poor any money into modding it and the maintenance for the water pump and timing belt will only be done 25k km from now.

If this little bit of info helps, he was planning to swap the motor with something better, but found a different car instead, which makes me think that a lot of effort was put into the car and in taking care of it.

It really depends on what's under the bondo, tbh. My AE86, a car notorious for bad rust, had the typical fender rust that was cut out, fiberglassed, and bondo'd on top of the fiberglass. Needless to say, that part of the car won't rust anymore, and neither will the "cut" section of metal as it has been given POR-15.

That said, that was a DIY job by an AE86 enthusiast who was in love with the car until he got engaged and his fiancee made him sell it... your typical Kingsway body shop rust repair will only last a few years before the rust begins to re-surface. If it's just a daily, who cares? But if you plan on getting the car back to show quality I would stay away.

its an eg. they all rust there. if its a daily and was repaired three years ago and it hasnt come back its hardly going to be any worst than 90% of the other eg's out there. also if it was just surface rust that hadnt penetrated the sheet metal and it was all ground out then filled with a short strand style body filler which is water proof then chances are it will last at least half as long as the car originally did without a recurrence.be glad the seller was honest with you.