Minor car repair,

[Harry Bloomfield]

Most modern front wings bolt in place and can be swapped in minutes. Most all BMW's seem to be black or silver, so finding a match should not be a problem. That is what I would do.

[Brian Gaff]

I think some rust sealer of some kind is a first thing, as someone said, from the description, 'minor' is a bit of an understatement here. Brian

[Terry Pinnell]

328.

[Terry Pinnell]

Thanks. But assuming one becomes available in the right colour in a reasonable time (patience isn't a strength - one reason why I'm not a DIYer!) then the local garage needs to remove the old one and fit the new. Presumably taking the total cost from say the £50 ebay estimate to way over my £150?

[meow2222]

Whenever you cut back the rust, which you have to to get a repair to work, you end up with a hole far bigger than it first appeared. So I'd only consi der 2 options:

1. Cover it all with duct tape & its legal
2. Replace the wing

Neither requires paying a mechanic. You may have to create some new fixings in places, but that's generally easy.

NT

[Roger Mills]

I thought you wanted to DIY it. Bolting a new wing on is a damn site easier than trying to patch the existing one with matting and filler, and then paint it to look half decent.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Sorry - thought you were asking about how to DIY it. I'd say changing a bolt on wing requires rather less skill than filling a hold and painting it to a reasonable standard. As well as being a far more satisfactory repair.

[Lobster]

On 20 May 2014, Adrian grunted:

My last car failed its MOT due to a very similar problem - I doubt that gaffer tape would cut the mustard

[Adrian]

The MOT's requirement is only "no exposed sharp edges". At the _very_ outside, a bit of knock-on edging strip is perfectly adequate. But, for that photo, gaffer tape will be just fine and dandy.

[Dave Liquorice]

metal, and

Aye, waxoyl is to keep sealed properly treated and protected surfaces. Etch primer? Is that the same as the phosphate based rust treatments like Kurust? Still need to remove as much soft rust as possible, which can make holes reaaly rather large you then use kurust (or similar) to stabilse the remaining "hard" rust before doing the filling/painting etc. Ought to last a couple of years before it fails again.

[Terry Pinnell]

I'm leaning towards that simple solution, probably followed by accelerating my next car purchase.

As mentioned, I'm no serious DIYer. Changing a rusty wheel arch is plainly a piece of cake to most here, but beyond my confidence level. And it sounds looks like the fibre glass kit approach is a lot more demanding than I'd hoped.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Fixing a rusty wheel arch is not an easy job. Changing a bolt on wing usually is - assuming you have the basic tools required, and the bolts haven't seized. Making a decent fist of a glass fibre repair also required considerable skills.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've seen many pro repairs involving painting an entire panel where the end result was only too obvious it had been done.

[Martin Brown]

So have I but that doesn't mean it is impossible - only that you have to be careful to get it pretty much right first time and have an eye for how to avoid drawing attention to any boundaries. Straight lines of masking tape or inadequately mixed paint being the most common faults.

Metallic is rather unforgiving in that respect most people don't shake it anything like hard or long enough to get the stuff properly mixed.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Metallic paint has lots of little mirrors in it. If the new doesn't match the direction of the old, it shows. Even before you consider the colour of the basecoat and 'clear' lacquer, both of which can weather over the years.

I've never seen an invisible repair done with rattle cans. I've seen plenty where the owner says it is invisible, though. ;-) Even although blending in on the one panel is better than spraying an entire one to the edges.

[Ian Jackson]

But with a lot of deep-seated rust, if you remove as much as possible, the gaping chasm created is often far larger than you anticipated, and you can end up making the repair can a lot more difficult.

Things like Kurust are fine for surface rust, but you need oil to penetrate deeply into decaying bodywork. [Actually, WD40 does a pretty good job, although Waxoyl and similar is the 'right' thing to use.]

For those who shun using Waxoyl initially, an alternative is to do a preliminary 'dry' repair first, then drill a few holes through the repair into the rust behind, spray in the oil, degrease as necessary, and finish off the job.

[meow2222]

Unless you're infirm, I'd give changing the panel a go, using a ready painted used one. Its only some bolts.

Duct is better than gaffer, it sticks much better.

NT

[Terry Pinnell]

Not sure what this stuff is called that I've used here for the time being:

I de-rusted as well as I could without extending the gap.

I might take it off and replace after first packing it with a little foam rubber or something, so that it follows the curve better.

I suspect that removing 17 year old bolts would present the first challenge. No, actually I bet it would be finding them and gaining access!

[Fredxxx]

I would agree with most on here and say changing a wing will be easier and give a better finish than filler, or duct tape.

There is a risk that some bolts will shear, especially at the bottom of the panel. Captive nuts are generally used. If you're careful you can drill out old bolts where their head has sheared off. If did one recently and was able to remove the remnants without having to re-tap or do anything more. Just make sure your drill is well centred.

[Theo Markettos]

There's a school of thought that says oil-soaked muck is better than no muck at all.

I've done a sequence: WD40 for penetrating into the cracks Waxoyl to keep it there, flexible coating (Toolstation's own) Black tarry underseal for stone chip protection

Seems to be working out OK, though it's not a scientific test. Using own-brand stuff means it's cost-effective to buy lots - I think I used about

2-3 litres of poundshop WD40-clone.

The trick with Waxoyl is to get it hot when spraying, otherwise it's like Vaseline (which is what you want - when it's on the car). I've used garden sprayers - they seem to work out better than aerosols and you can refill them. Heat them in a water bath beforehand.

But this is all behind the scenes stuff - won't help with fixing a hole in the panel.

Theo