Roof Rack Rust Hole!! Body Shop or Bondo Patch?

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bcaskey08

bcaskey08

Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Threads
19
Messages
184
Location
Carlsbad, CA
I pulled off my factory roof rack yesterday because one of the corners was loose and wouldn't tighten when screwed down and low and behold, a rust hole! The whole rack had to go and the luggage strips. So now my problem is that two of the nutserts are rusted out and the others are in a downward spiral. I'd like to handle this problem the proper way but I don't have an unlimited budget. I was "phone quoted" $500 by a place in San Marcos to patch the 8 holes from the rack but now that I have pulled the luggage strips and have a total of 16 holes now so I assume it's going to be a bit more if not double.

Would you guys recommend that I have a professional body shop handle this or should I get a bondo patch kit and try and go that route?

In most of the other threads I've read, people just put screws, RTV, aluminum tape or some other filler on them and bed line the roofs.

How hard is bondo to work with? And has anyone on here gone this route?

I'll snap some pictures as soon as I get back to the truck
 
Depends on how far you want to go. We used a tapered punch to dent down the holes, applied POR 15, JB Weld quick steel to fill the holes, bondo for leveling it out, primer, paint and clear. Lots of work but just depends on how you want it to look. Here's a few pics about 1/3 of the way down from the build thread:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/build-thread-for-the-german-shepherd.805447/
 
Here are the pictures!

ImageUploadedByIH8MUD Forum1401927649.425759.webp
ImageUploadedByIH8MUD Forum1401927730.905580.webp
ImageUploadedByIH8MUD Forum1401927751.468719.webp



I though about pulling the headliner and since mine is a 97 I heard it is reasonable to put it back up.

I'm not sure if the $500 quote included the headliner being pulled. I will confirm tomorrow.
 
SUMMIT CRUISERS said:
Depends on how far you want to go. We used a tapered punch to dent down the holes, applied POR 15, JB Weld quick steel to fill the holes, bondo for leveling it out, primer, paint and clear. Lots of work but just depends on how you want it to look. Here's a few pics about 1/3 of the way down from the build thread:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/build-thread-for-the-german-shepherd.805447/
Click to expand...

Those Pics look pretty damn good. I'm kinda leaning towards the bondo route, but I've never used the stuff. Were your nutserts rusted? And did you drill them out or leave them?
 
The nutserts were rusted but not as bad as yours. We drilled them out, and retrieved most of them. The ones over the sunroof can be retrieved fairly easy. The ones in the back were retrieved by removing the grab handles and fishing them out. On yours I would drill them out, wire wheel the rusted areas, apply POR 15 to the bare and slightly rusted metal, JB Quick Steel to fill the holes and bondo. In order for the roof to look smooth and the JB Quick Steel to stay, you need to dent down the holes so they can be filled level with the roof. Bondo is easy to use, just don't use too much hardener. I found that UPol Fantastic body filler is a much lighter, smoother and easier product to use and sand than that of the original "Bondo" product.

I believe the only reason the headliner gets removed is to weld up the holes. I'm good with using the Quick Steel product with POR 15 and leaving the headliner alone.
 
Summit Cruisers:Got any photos of denting down the holes and filling them up afterwards?
 
I just went through this my self in my 97. I opted to pull the headliner out, which was not difficult, just time consuming with all the grab handles, visors, seat belts, weather seals etc that you need to take off. I also dropped the sunroof assembly down so that I could cut out the rust and weld up the holes. I then coated both sides with POR15 and put everything back together. Took the majority of a weekend to complete but only cost me a bit of mig wire and a $20 tin of POR15

It's a lot of work, but with all the money and effort I have into my rig, I would be heartbroken if it started to be consumed by rust.

One thing I would recommend if you go this route...get someone to assist dropping and replacing the sunroof...I did it myself which was a challenge as it's heavy and awkward to balance on your head.
 
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the only proper way is to remove the headliner and have someone weld in patch panels. That being said, there are epoxies that work fairly well but you are going to have issues filling that larger rust hole with something.

If you plan to keep your cruiser, do all the prep work like headliner removal and sanding the areas. Then take it to someone to weld it up.
 
Kernal said:
Summit Cruisers:Got any photos of denting down the holes and filling them up afterwards?
Click to expand...

I don't think I have any pics of the process. I do have the tool we used. It is essentially a tapered punch and after hitting it with a hammer it left a tapered dent about a 1/2 dollar size OD. With a tapered (wedged) hole, the Quick Steel we used will always be there and there is no visual evidence that there was ever a hole.
 
Pm sent for more info
 
Is this the tapered punch you were talking about?

ImageUploadedByIH8MUD Forum1401945571.464171.webp


Is it like a metal spear?
 
I welded mine and used Rage Gold body filler by Evercoat. I bobbed an '83 Toyota truck back in the day and used Bondo, and was dreading sanding Bondo after filling the roof rack holes on the 80. The Rage is amazing, it sands really easily, but seems super solid. It may even look slightly acceptable after my horrendous attempt at welding 20 gauge.

I would also look in to using an OEM quality panel bonding adhesive or POR patch as others have suggested. I used to be really skeptical about adhesives and JB weld type products, but with the advent of modern technology epoxies and schtuff seems to have as much strength and durability as a weld, especially if you factor the horrible welding I did. From what I see in your pics I would definitely pull the headliner and get at it from both sides due to the rust through, and size of the area.
 
if you were going to tackle it yourself I would reccomend getting the rust spots down to bare metal, hit with phosphoric acid to netralize rust, then get some of those mesh type material they sell at auto parts store to give you some strength on the surface area when applying the bondo. You should be able to get a decent outcome with this process. Just don't try to lay down bondo into those open gaping holes, that will be troublesome for sure. I would lay the mesh on the inside of the roof and smooth with bondo or other filler on the outside.
 
Mine was a lot worse than that, so on my rig I cut out the rust, used 3M 5200 adhesive to attach some new metal on the inside surface and then filled in with skim coat body filler. I was reinstalling my rack though, so I have new bolts holding it all together and the patch job is mostly covered by the rack. That 5200 is some pretty awesome stuff but it takes 7 days to set fully and that can be a problem for some folks. I didn't have to fully drop the headliner, I just pulled it down enough to slide in the new metal. That went very well and the job seems to be holding up perfectly so far.
 
$1,911.20 at a body shop in April of this year.
I removed the headliner for them.
I removed the stock roof rack, I had rust and 3 nutserts that spun and I left them in there for the body shop to remove.
They removed the 4 plastic "runner" strips that are in the middle of the roof.
I also had them remove the rear spoiler as those holes were developing rust as well.

They welded all holes in the roof and rear upper tailgate where the spoiler was attached. They removed the front windshield and rear glass.
They painted the entire roof/rear upper tailgate and were able to seal the front windshield better than the previous owner had someone do.
Since the shop owner knew I would be wheeling the truck he wanted to keep the truck an extra day to let the urethane cure fully around the windshield.
Price might be considered steep by some, but it was a reputable shop and I can trust that the rust was taken care of the correct way.
 
jwilliams said:
$1,911.20 at a body shop in April of this year.
I removed the headliner for them.
I removed the stock roof rack, I had rust and 3 nutserts that spun and I left them in there for the body shop to remove.
They removed the 4 plastic "runner" strips that are in the middle of the roof.
I also had them remove the rear spoiler as those holes were developing rust as well.

They welded all holes in the roof and rear upper tailgate where the spoiler was attached. They removed the front windshield and rear glass.
They painted the entire roof/rear upper tailgate and were able to seal the front windshield better than the previous owner had someone do.
Since the shop owner knew I would be wheeling the truck he wanted to keep the truck an extra day to let the urethane cure fully around the windshield.
Price might be considered steep by some, but it was a reputable shop and I can trust that the rust was taken care of the correct way.
Click to expand...

You did all the hard work and you could have bought 2 good welders for that price. Pulling the glass and resealing is something that I would certainly farm out to a specialist though.
 
Adhesive and paint cost me twelve bucks.

Just sayin', there's plenty of ways to skin a cat. One of 'em will probably even fit your budget.
 
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