Rust

[cammerfe]

Are any of you having trouble with rust in the back fenders just back of the rear doors and above the upper edge of the bumper cover?

Mine is showing rust stains in the paint on both sides at that position. Pressing gently with a small punch doesn't suggest that it's perforating from the back side although that seems logical. There could be accumulation of road gunge there as it's just above the rear wheel arch. It may be necessary to cut out and put in patches on both sides.

My '02 has 154K miles and there's beginning to be some evidence of there being attention necessary to exterior surfaces.

KS

 

[Hawk03]

I have that on both sides of the car but mine sounds worse than yours. The underneath of my rocker panels are gone too.

 

[02LincLS]

I have that on both sides of the car but mine sounds worse than yours. The underneath of my rocker panels are gone too.

My rockers are gone as well. Couple of aluminum bubbles on trunk lid near plate but otherwise body panels are in good shape for year/miles/location.

 

[RigsLS]

The LS is famous for rust/corrosion starting in both the trunklid (keyhole & underneath surround) and the rear door dog leg area, as mentioned where the plastic bumper cover meets the rear quarter panel, inside the door also if it gets out of hand. very common, I've seen plenty of LS'es for sale where they are always messed up in those areas.

The drivers side rear lift point is another area where it weakens. These areas are subjected to 'wetness' that never really dry up, not treated properly from the inside thus road grim, salt or just plain water gets a chance to begin it's work. Pretty much every LS you look at, at the rear wheel lip will have paint that is beginning to chip off. The edge is not treated underneath at the lip 100%.

Mine, at the rear door, has a very little area where I can see it's beginning, I can see it's forming right between the plastic bumper and quarter, I had cleaned up and treated the inner wheel well area, underneath the lip ... BUT once it starts, the only way to really stop it is to soda blast all of the cancer out and pretreat the metal prior to applying the primer.

Now, keep in mind these are 10yr old cars and don't feel so bad about it. Rust is part of cars, if they made them so the couldn't rust or wouldn't, the automakers would go belly up as we'd not be lined up to purchase new cars every century.

I had all trunk corrosion cleaned up last fall, which included paint match along with the LSE spoiler.

 

[jjapol]

Had to change a tire along the road last week. The passenger side rear Jack point on my 2002 LS caved in. Sob....... Rear fenders rusting at 12 o'clock in the wheel wells. Oh the cost of Michigan winters. Aluminum is doing well. Had some touch up done on the trunk 2 years ago. Same locations BigRedLs mentioned.

 

[1LoudLS]

the is exactly why i have a piece of sh!t caviler to drive during the long as Michigan winters while the LS hibernates!

 

[Rick Born]

My LS is my winter vehicle while my mustang hibernates . Just picked it up last year from California and hopefully will swap it out before it gets too rusty

 

[Upstairs Chris]

This is crazy, the LS is probably the least rusty car I've ever owned. Bottom of mine looks new almost.

 

[Telco]

I'd posted that FordPartsGiant might have replacement body parts available on another post for 02Linc, any luck with that?

 

[1LoudLS]

This is crazy, the LS is probably the least rusty car I've ever owned. Bottom of mine looks new almost.

same here, but then it also has the most aluminum of any car I've owned!

 

[galvorn]

Dealer replaced a bunch of suspension bits that looked worse for wear due to salt exposure (moved to TX from NY).
Hey, if Ford's willing to pay for it, they can replace anything they like

 

[pragmatic]

Mine looks great from the street. Underneath rockers long gone, other pieces rusting. That's the main reason I'm seeking a replacement. I just don't see anything that meets my requirements at a reasonable cost.

 

[jjapol]

This is crazy, the LS is probably the least rusty car I've ever owned. Bottom of mine looks new almost.

Road salt is what makes Michigan so special.... I think the Detroit unions somehow made a deal with the state road commission to push salt on the roads to rot our cars and eat the asphalt, thereby creating potholes that can eat an Excursion... Lol

 

[Rushsampson]

Ah, hibernation, the important part of every special car's life.

 

[cammerfe]

Prior to fall I'll remove the rusted rockers and replace with 1/8th inch plate and dom tubing tied into the bottom of my roll cage. And I'll have to do the trunk and around both the hood pins too. Gotta keep the ol' girl workin'.

KS

 

[Upstairs Chris]

I am well versed in road salt. I don't drive it often, but I do drive it year round. They salt the roads here just as bad as everywhere else but this car doesn't rust like other vehicles I've had.



Used to live and work here.

 

[rtk05]

I have that on both sides of the car but mine sounds worse than yours. The underneath of my rocker panels are gone too.

Im getting estimates right now to replace my rockers.....$700-$1100 is the ballpark.

Its worth it thought since my car only has 41,000 miles

 

[rtk05]

The back fender is a job you can do yourself if you have the right tools. The rocker panels im not going to touch because not only are my rocker panels rusted, but the metal that the rocker panels are welded to are rusted out too. Im not touching that.

I bought this car from some guy who let the car sit for 6-7 years outside with no cover. The good part is the body is not rusted, but underneath is rusted from grass and snow.


My advice is fix that rust right away. It wont cost much and it will save 100's in the long run.

 

[RigsLS]

Wait till you go to jack your LS up at the drivers rear jack point, right near the bottom right of the rear door, bottom of the dog leg ... let me know how that goes.

See, we don't lift there anymore, cuz we know better by now.

 

[rtk05]

Wait till you go to jack your LS up at the drivers rear jack point, right near the bottom right of the rear door, bottom of the dog leg ... let me know how that goes.

See, we don't lift there anymore, cuz we know better by now.

Crunch!

 

[FDR]

Wait till you go to jack your LS up at the drivers rear jack point, right near the bottom right of the rear door, bottom of the dog leg ... let me know how that goes.

See, we don't lift there anymore, cuz we know better by now.

Where do you jack from then? My driver's side is fine but the passenger side caved in a little. I don't know if I missed the jack point or what, but the taller flange folded flat so now it's level with the cutout for the factory jack. It jacks fine though... (for now)

 

[joegr]

This helps. (before you bend it over)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PJRPZM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

 

[RigsLS]

Where do you jack from then?...

FRONTS

Left Front ... (drivers side)

Right Front ... (passengers side)

REARS

Left Rear ... (drivers side)

Right Rear ... (passengers side)

Rear facing

- - - - -

 

[RigsLS]

This helps. (before you bend it over)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PJRPZM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

LS4ME once posted something like this and I made note of it at the time.
I tried the old piece of wood with a slid cut into the center method once but I was a dumb dumb and cut with the grain as apposed to against the grain,
the car settled and snapped the wood piece in half. I could redo but I'd rather get something like you posted in that link above.

I could also see myself trying these pucks type units,




When I first got my LS I of course started to lift at the rear point as the OM mentions, your typical place, if you will.
On the first few cranks of the jack, I could hear it give and make some noises I did not enjoy. Immediately stopped.
Didn't seem to collapse or anything but I knew there and then, it's not were I would continue to lift this car.



You can see in the above pic, (drivers side rear) the Canadian rust got to it already, mind ya this is where I already have it up in the air and on the 1st pass of my undercoating project. That pic already shows where I've passed the steel wheel grinder once over it to see where it was at.

After that I always now lift from the most rear points. I don't need to collapse it below the dog leg if I can avoid it.

 

[RigsLS]

Sorry for the pic whoring, (just love pics)

My undercoating project, the idea was to remove as much as possible surface rust on the entire underneath side of the car while it was up for suspension and brakes rebuild.

Although not badly covered in rust all throughout, it was mostly the back of the underneath near the rear where most the surface rust was present.

Didn't get it all but by the time I had gotten up inside the wheel wells and all throughout the underneath, I figured I was that much further ahead.

It does not see winters at all while in my ownership, I did drive it I think March, April when I first got it a few years back but never again since.

























Looked like this, underneath at one point.






Used a few cans of this stuff on it.




Hope you can all understand and appreciate I spend a couple of days going at it, several passes with all sorts of steel wheels, grinders, sand paper and such to get as much off as possible before covering it.

I did not just spray it with the coating (over rust) to get this result,