LX 470 tailgate rust spot (1 Viewer)

[Warsaw Ogurec]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum and to Land Cruisers in general. I have recently bought an LX 470 and has been since cleaning it and fixing imperfections. I came across a single rust spot under the plastic tailgate gap cover - in the bottom of the rear door frame. The car otherwise does not have rust, undercarriage is clean. I have never worked on rust spots before, so I am looking for an advise on what is the best way to handle that. And also, any thoughts why that specific spot rusted out and what I can do to prevent that from happening again. Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Mike NXP]

=] you poor thing lol

Moisture / debris stuck between the seal and perhaps at some point something nicked it to start the process. There are some drain holes in the tailgate and moisture and dirt easily gets up in that area from down below. Since it's not a super visible area maybe you can just tape off a little square, sand down everything that has rusted back to metal, and then touch up paint. I think I have the same color as you, the dealer still can get touch up pens. I don't do much body work but that would be a cheap start to try

 

[excessive]

sand / clean / paint with touch up and move on with life

 

[Warsaw Ogurec]

Thank you for the replies. I read about products like POR 15 - which you apply after sanding, and then paint over it. Is it worth it in this case, or I am fine just doing a regular automotive primer and paint?

 

[Mike NXP]

Thank you for the replies. I read about products like POR 15 - which you apply after sanding, and then paint over it. Is it worth it in this case, or I am fine just doing a regular automotive primer and paint?

POR15 is not needed in this scenario. My truck came from Nevada and was super clean so I did a coat of POR15 as preventative, 5+ years later it tends to flake and scab off. Not good for cover ups / fixes in my opinion.

Clean rust and paint, and then some sort of fluid film to protect, can spray inside tailgate through weep holes

 

[OwnerCS]

I have an LX470 from Texas with a pristine frame. No rust anywhere but the tailgate started rotting.

Inside the tailgate the electrical wires were wrapped with electrical tape with a cloth outer cover.

Moisture and possibly soap from a car wash collected on the cloth wire wrap. After some years of making contact with the tailgate, it started a rust spot. It turned into a hole about the size of a shot glass opening. We had to cut out the rust and weld in piece of metal to fix.