Rocker Panel Damage Advice

Hey guys, I got some trial damage under my passenger door. I wasn't too concerned until I saw this piece is actually part of the body and not bed on. I don't care about the damage, but I am concerned about rust...any advice for the best way to fix this is much appreciated. Should I cut thag section and seal, just clean off the rust I can see and seal it? I'm concerned with any moisture or waster thay has made its way in if I seal it up and don't want bigger issues down the line.

Thanks!

 

If it were my truck and I had no immediate plan to get it fixed, I'd remove any loose paint, mask it off, hit with some rust reformer primer, and then with some rattle can white.
Repeat annually as necessary.

 

Subbed.

 

Wire brush will clean the rust and remove the loose paint. After that hit it with a self etching primer, followed by a white paint. You'll still see it real well, but at least it wont rust.

You need to use self etching primer here BTW

 

invest in sliders

 

I would remove the rust, clean it up, bondo and then touch it up. Will look better than that. If you go through insurance or get this fixed properly it will cost a fortune. Once you repair it either way, get rock sliders.

 

So looking closer at that picture, it looks like the metal is cut and split open too. So your going to need to seal the hole too. This can be done several ways, the fastest and cheapest is to go to your local body shop and ask if they can run a small bead of "panel bonding adhesive" over the slice. Panel bond is a 2 part glue that we used in the auto body industry to actually glue quarter panels on. Some cars you could glue, some you had to weld, but its some really really strong stuff and will seal the hole real easy.

The other option is to have it welded, but then you will have to rustproof the backside of the panel (you can get in there through the rubber plugs in the rocker)

Another worse option is to just JB weld glue over it.

 

Just stick one of these on it and call it a day.

 

Sorry, I'm bad about checking this. Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! Where I live is very dry, so I've pulled the plugs to make sure it's dry inside and will clean up the rust, Bondo, and paint. I'll post pictures when I get around to fixing it. Sliders are definitely in the plans but couldn't afford them yet. I'm not concerned at all with seeing the damage, just don't want to deal with rust down the line. Appreciate all the input.

 

I don't have pics from the whole process, but I got it sealed up. I left the plugs off for a couple weeks, cleared off all the rust, used a corrosion inhibitor, then filled it in with Bondo. Color matched it then coated with a rocker panel textured clear coat. Could have spent more time shaping it out perfectly, but I don't really care how it looks since I'll have sliders on before long and really just want it protected. Thanks for all the help, guys — we'll see how it holds up.

 

Looks pretty good. Hopefully it holds up over time. Fortunately the color of your truck makes it easier to hide then if it was black.

 

Thank you. Yes, plain white is thankfully pretty easy to cover/match. If I have any issues down the line I'll be sure to update this thread — if not, no news is good news.

 

Just an update here. Two years later and this looks as good as the day I repaired it.

 

Nice!