I decided to keep my 98 ES300 with 115k miles until i become debt free(hoping 3yrs..lol) so decided to fix few things while i drive it... anyway... i do have rust on both side of rear wheelwell and found few guys on craigslist(not sure if i'm doing the right thing) and they quoted my around $250-300 for the repair. and one guy said he's been doing body work for 20yrs and he said he can guarantee the work for at least 3-4yrs on rust... well here is a pic of the rust, let me know if these could be easily fixed like those guys said... and how much would it cost at normal body shop?

 

Yeah, dunno where you are getting that price from, perhaps in the USA body work is cheap.

I have a couple of small specs on my right side quarter panel, just bubbles and faint rust coloring and to do it right you have to cut out the panel. Anyways for this minimal rust i have to spend about 700% ish to get it done 'right' including paint, new panel, welding, etc.

You can't mask it, there is no temporary fix for this, trust me. I did some 'preventative measures this past July' and it came out a bit more last month...

Like i said, what you have is what i like to call serious cancer, its too late to do anything to cover it up. You have to get the arches cut out and new ones welded in, plus a quarter panel has to be resprayed as a whole since it is one big piece otherwise won't match 100%

Best of luck,
Mike

**I am not an expert or a bodyman, but i spent a few months working for a shop when i was younger and was hooked on it ever since, i like to call myself the backyard mechanic of bodywork.

 

lthanks 01LEXPL, well the guy said for the side with bubbles only, he will grind it to bare metal and put filler and sand it, prime it and paint it(partial paint) and the side that's worse he will cut and weld on metal sheet and filler, sand, prime and paint. and he said it will take him only 1/2 day.... could this be true and be done??

 

Yeah its true. But the paint part is not convincing, it should get an evening of rest for the paint to cure, and a month thereafter without buffing the car for it to harden properly. Since you didn't include the pic of the whole arch, i was assuming there were bubbles on the back of it.

But if that is the only spot then i guess it will be okay.

Mind you, the bubbling panel is what i would be worried about, that is what i did this year myself in my driveway.

Grinded down, 2x coats of primer, one of paint, one of rubber undercoating to cover it up, and the black lip on top of that, but still somehow made its way thru.

And the pic you included is how mine was. it started at the lip and worked its way up, so there is a good chance there is more cancer that is not visible, i would be willing to bet some more is hidden in the really bad arch all along the inside [again this was the case for me]

 

That price is not right I'm I-CAR and ASE certified in collision repair. The paint alone will be that price if not more, because you cant just paint that spot you have to blend it in. Also with that color it is hard to do because of the metallic and pearls in the paint. So make sure he is good( or its going to look like s***) and he has a paint booth or its going to get dirt in it. If he just puts filler on it will crack or pop off in time. It has to be cut out and a new piece welded in then filler over that so it's not so thick. It doesn't look that bad but there is a lot of work that goes in to it. (if its done right)