# Major Rust Under Car and Jack panels **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** golf, volkswagen\ **Created:** [January 26, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079 "2017-01-26T20:58:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/1 "2017-01-26T20:58:21Z")
Hi I was wondering I bought a 92 Gti Mk3 Golf a month ago and there’s major rust under the car and I need help knowing what can be done to repair this problem? And how much it would be to repair I want to repair the whole car as a project but don’t know where to start😌So if anyone could help me I’d really appreciate it ![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/3/33653d08a9c3b4c5da11d66860196e5e5b39f65f.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![SteveCBT](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevecbt/32/3192_2.png) [@SteveCBT](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveCBT)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/2 "2017-01-26T21:17:00Z")
Sorry to hear about all the rust. This is a 25 year old car and unfortunately under carriage rust does not have an easy fix. I do not even think it has a fix. Hopefully you did not spend much on the car. Maybe you can get some of your money out of it by selling the engine, tranny etc if they are in decent shape. ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/3 "2017-01-26T21:19:19Z")
Do you have a picture of the rust? I’ve seen people freak out because they dive under their just-bought car and see rust on the exhaust pipe. But if it is significant rust, then you’re done. You could get several cars for the price you’d have to spend restoring that one. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/4 "2017-01-26T21:48:43Z")
Rust is like icebergs, you only see a small percentage of it. Before doing anything you might pay a body shop to tell you if it too late for this car. ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/5 "2017-01-26T21:54:07Z")
I’ll get a picture of under it for you now ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/6 "2017-01-26T21:54:59Z")
Hopefully it’s not screwed up I’d honestly probably get a hole new bottom body for it and all ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/7 "2017-01-26T21:56:52Z")
@kealantdog If you want help you will keep the profanity out of your posts. I will give you time to edit before I flag. ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/8 "2017-01-26T22:07:21Z")
I apologize sorry ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/9 "2017-01-26T22:10:32Z")
![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/4/4677fafab6ef313334090ae12aa6d021582d1435.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/10 "2017-01-26T22:11:31Z")
![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/6/6f5c5e5847426a15702c0b54aff6e72660f175ec.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/11 "2017-01-26T22:12:36Z")
![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/3/3223758819f871a9b0c283fdce576f07bbf7eba7.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/12 "2017-01-26T22:14:15Z")
![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/2X/5/53a4350b9bf97f21b2e698541886aa6e0469511b.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/13 "2017-01-26T22:18:22Z")
> [@kealantdog](#): > > Hopefully it’s not \*\*\*\*\*\* I’d honestly probably get a hole new bottom body for it and all Apparently, you don’t understand the concept of the car’s **_unitized construction_**. The floor pan–which is apparently the area with severe rust problems–is welded to every other part of the car’s structure, and unless you want to spend possibly…_thousands_…of dollars on separating all of the structural parts and then having them **professionally** welded to a non-rusted floor pan (assuming that you could actually find one!), you will have a vehicle that is structurally unsound. What you envision is not something that you could do unless you are a very-experienced professional body repair person with access to a shop that has the necessary welding tools and a body jig to align the structural parts prior to welding them into place. And, even if you do spend the _big_ bucks to professionally repair this 25 year old car (with negligible book value), it is very likely that it would not have the same passenger protection qualities that the original structure possessed. If this was a classic car with great value, then your plan might make sense. Spending thousands of dollars of dollars on trying to salvage a non-classic 25 year old car makes…zero sense. 😖 ---
**Author:** ![kealantdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71c47a/32.png) [@kealantdog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/kealantdog)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/14 "2017-01-26T22:22:44Z")
The car restored is been sold for 5 grand now in perfect nic ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/15 "2017-01-26T22:23:37Z")
@kealantdog Just in case you don’t know at the bottom of your post you will see what is supposed to look like a pencil. Click on that and you can edit. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/16 "2017-01-26T22:24:05Z")
> [@kealantdog](#): > > The car restored is been sold for 5 grand now in perfect nic For those of us who speak English, could you please repost that sentence in the English language? ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/17 "2017-01-26T23:53:23Z")
Even in Minnesota that would be considered dangerous. We get rust. But when one of your gas tank straps is rusted out and hanging down, we replace the vehicle. Tester ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/18 "2017-01-26T23:55:32Z")
I wouldn’t make any assumptions until you get the car checked out on a lift by a competent shop. If the undercarriage is truly rife with rust, repair is totally impractical and not cost effective. Post back with the results. We do care. NOTE: your tire pressure are obviously too low as well. That creates risks of irreparable flats and dented rims. Just a suggestion; next time you should get the car checked out BEFORE buying it. After is too late. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/19 "2017-01-27T00:39:43Z")
Any cars I’ve had that developed under body rust or on the jack points, spelled the beginning of the end for it. Not worth putting $5-10,000 or more into restoring. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079/20 "2017-01-27T02:56:27Z")
The only value other than scrap would be if you could find one with a good body and a blown engine or transmission. You would then have to do the work yourself or with friends for it to make sense. Never buy a car without looking underneath. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/major-rust-under-car-and-jack-panels/99079.md?page=2)