[Highflyer]

Hi friends.

I have a 2007 Civic S/AT. The car drives well. Smooth engine, good ride and good looks keep me and my folks happy. There is small/large issue that it has rust formation at door drain holes. There is no other associated problem. Doors close with a thud and all the door electricals are working fine. I am worried about the next few years when the problem may grow and need a big expenditure to fix it.

Since I stay at a small place (Kharagpur) that doesn’t have Honda showroom I was planning a trip to Kolkata. Closest place with HASS.

Last week some work came up at Kolkata. I finished work and set course to Pinnacle Honda. I had a good experience of the place when I had visited it for a regular checkup.
Promptly one SA came up to me and I told him about the problem.

Conversation at HASS:-

SA – Sir we will have to change all four doors.
Me – Price ???
SA – 1,20,000/-.
Me – Come on. No rattle, no squeak and door change? Don’t joke with me.
SA – OK sir let me ask my best guy.
Best guy – Sir we will have to take out the doors. Open them up and then see. If they are OK then rust removal, repainting and other work will cost you about 40,000/-
Me – A sigh of relief. How much time?
Best guy – Ummm 14 – 15 days.

My small effort reduced the estimated expenditure by 1/3rd. I told SA that I will come back and drove off.
I called up a pre-owned car dealer and asked for advice.

Dealer – Sir why did you go to HASS? The work you are saying can’t cost more than 20,000/-
Me – OK then tell me a good place.
Dealer – Give me five minutes. I will come back to you.

30 min later

Dealer – Sir the garage is closed today.
Me – But I have to drive back in next few hours. How do I get it checked?
Dealer – Let me know in advance about the next visit and I will ensure that it is checked.
Me – Okay.

I left Kolkata without any comforting solution. Once I reached Kharagpur I decided to explore any local possibilities. Two hours later I realised that there was no local expertise available. If there was one then it didn't come my way.

So friends I need advice from you all. Have a look at the pictures and suggest something that would keep it under control. Change of doors is out of question. Even if I have to do it I will do it when these doors fall apart. That would be atleast 2-3 years.

[laluks]

Oh My God!

One question that keeps popping out of my mind is whether the water accumulated inside for a long time?

It is always good to open that up and see what's it like on the inside before any course of action. But from the pictures I am a bit worried and curious what it'd be like on the inside.

[manim]

Originally Posted by Highflyer

I have a 2007 Civic S/AT...
...There is small/large issue that it has rust formation at door drain holes.

I too have a 2007 S/AT model.
After reading your post I am worried!
I will check-up mine tomorrow morning under daylight.

Anyway I have already noticed rust in under-body a month back.
And I have already booked an appointment with my A.S.S in the first week of May for the 1,05,000 kms service where I also plan to do 3M under-body rust prevention treatment.

The SA also mentioned about rust-prevention for door for extra cost.
Maybe now I have to consider that.

Also my hometown is a port-town which has very high humidity (salty beach air).
So I am worried.

[Highflyer]

Originally Posted by laluks

Oh My God!

One question that keeps popping out of my mind is whether the water accumulated inside for a long time?

It is always good to open that up and see what's it like on the inside before any course of action. But from the pictures I am a bit worried and curious what it'd be like on the inside.

Same question is there in my mind. I don't think that there was any accumulation. Reason? Had there been rust on other parts it would have given some other indications. Like rattle etc.

Whatever the case needs to be investigated by opening the panels. Hope that it happens in a short time.

[sumeethaldankar]

God , Highflyer can't believe such a thing can happen to a Civic.It took 12 years for my 800 to develop rust problems here and there and that too when i live just 3-4 kms away from the sea shore in mumbai.

I think you should get tin work done and get a good anti-rust treatment.I don't think replacing the door is a good idea and even 20 k for this job seems too high.Maybe you should look up the team-bhp directory to find a workshop close to your place.

Was the car by any chance been to a beach etc where it got in contact with salt water or something like that?

Good luck.

[dockap]

Once rust starts you are fighting a loosing battle. I know because i had rust problems in my magnum and even if you scrape it off and use the best rust proof primers and fillers and paint it comes back after some time. The advice i got from my local auto painter was to go to a autorickshaw body building garage get the rust affected parts cut out and weld new metal sheets in. This is if you do not want to spend a bomb at the authorized service center by replacing the affected parts.
For new cars Waxoly has the underbody coating and cavity sealent package I have got it done in my new XUV.

[jatinpatel]

@highflyer

By any chance were all the doors repaired or repainted anytime ?
cause i can see over spray of paint on the door rubber/stopper.

Cause if it was repaired or repainted then chances are super high that the work was not done properly and due constant exposure to water the rust seeped in at such a scale.

My advice to you okay i will sound totally weird but this will work on a long run.
The patch work by replacing affected part by new metal wont work on long term basis the rust WILL seep in 2-3years even if the new metal is treated and all. Basically its a type of Spit work.

What i would suggest is, This will hurt and pinch your heart like crazy and you might even wanna come and hit me, but this is THE correct way.

Create Nice BIG dents on all four doors and then go to Honda A.S.S and tell them do replace all doors under warranty and hence Rust will go all together and the painting work would be also to company level.

I too had got this problem in my 92 M800 did the same and the results were superb the Rust didn seep in till the point i sold the car in 2005.
For good ol 7-8years Not a spec of rust from the doors.

[Highflyer]

@sumeethaldankar
This is a pre-owned Civic. The door that looks bad, had some work done on it. The car is in pristine condition otherwise.There is not visible rust anywhere else.

Even my Indica never had a spot of rust anywhere in eight years of my ownership.

@jatinpatel
How did you get warranty on a car which is more than 2-3 years. Because thats the period of warranty on most of the cars. My Civic is definitely out of warranty.

[mayankjha1806]

@jatinpatel, Did you mean warranty of Insurance claim, warranty will not be applicable for dents but if the car was under warranty then it will be applicable for rust etc.

Damaging doors will make it easier to claim Insurance, i would say even otherwise you can claim Insurance for the doors.

It might be worthwhile to ask the previous owner as to how this has happened (Not for criticizing but for knowledge sake). It will help keeping your other cars and the rest of the forum safe from something like this.

[sandeep108]

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

Create Nice BIG dents on all four doors and then go to Honda A.S.S and tell them do replace all doors under warranty and hence Rust will go all together and the painting work would be also to company level.

Advocating fraud? And getting thanks for it? I really would not choose to go this way. Because people claim like this, we all are paying higher premiums. In any event due to depreciation he will have to bear 40-50% of cost.

If you go to a good garage, patchwork will prevent for 2-3 years. If you do the door panel rustproofing, it will last for more. I am surprised you did not check for rust when you bought the car or maybe you did and as a result you got the car at a bargain.

The door drain holes must have clogged and as a result, water collected and caused the rust.

Most of the dealers give free anti-corrosion. This is mostly a bit of a con as they never give any warranty for it and simply do 1 coat on underbody. As dockap stated, one must get a good anti-corrosion treatment done with proper number of underbody coats, door, boot and bonnet panels with warranty. This is essential when car is new.

I am staying in highly corrosion prone area and because of good anti-corrosion, my civic yet has no sign of rust (touch wood) after 5 years, when many other cars in the compound show signs after 3 years.

[jatinpatel]

@sandeep

Its not my car.
Patch work is patch work no matter what treatment you do on it the rust WILL 100% re-surface back in max 3years and looking at the pics for doing panel work the door seal will be broken thus inviting more rust around the areas of the new panels hence corroding the full door.
Hence patch work at the end of the line is gonna end him up to change the doors.

My theory is this "If A work has to be done it has to be done perfect.Period"

And on that note even am staying in Bombay since past donkeys years and am well aware about the weather and rusting issues.

I bought a Pre-owned civic 2007 model its 5years old and only sign of superficial surface rust is on the underside of the boot seal cause my guess is the previous owner didn do proper job of repairing it. I will be getting the Boot changed soon.

And am not expecting any Thanks or anything.
My view was to reduce his burn in the pocket, Ethical way to do it is either get all new doors from Honda or any aftermarket source or go to scrap-yard select proper DENT-FREE RUST-FREE doors and paint and install them. And yes you do get such doors in scrap-yards atleast in Bombay you do.

And Authorized workshops of any Company doing anti-rust coating on new cars Do Provide warranty cards
I got 4year warranty card from Sai-Service for the anti rust treatment done by Fucot.
Got 5years warranty card by 3M when Anti rust treatment was done on my Lancer on the day of purchase in 2007.

Ask for warranty card and you will get it, that is if they dont give it before-hand.

Well To Each To His Own.


@mayank and Highflyer

As Am talking about insurance claim and not about company warranty.
If the car is under extended warranty and the repair work was done by Honda then yes you can claim warranty for rust, and if dealer says No then shoot mails to Honda they will Oblige.

@highflyer

All the door seals are damaged so incase in future when you go to sell your car, damaged door seals will impart quite a hit on your resale price, I have personally experienced in my OHC when the boot was repaired and the seals showed signs of repair the resale fell by 9k inspite of No rust and perfect paint match.

[Highflyer]

@jatinpatel

If I get the doors repaired won't the seals be also repaired with it?
As far as insurance route goes, due to depreciation I will get just abut 40 - 50 % of the repair cost.

Can somebody give me any idea about the quantum of repair work and its cost?

[sumeethaldankar]

Some of you guys have gone in for a exterior detailing job for your civic's from 3M etc.What i wanted to know was How long will the treatment last ? ie 3 month,6months etc.Also will washing the car in the typical washer guy methods spoil the detailing treatment done?

thanks

[jatinpatel]

@highflyer

once the factory seals are repaired/damaged they wont gain the factory integrity come what may.Period.

About insurance do get it checked cause as far as i remember 100% coverage is there on metal and paint related repairs. Atleast i got 100% cost reimbursed when i had to replace the boot lid of my 800 after 5years of buying it.

Depreciation is applicable to Plastic parts and not metal
Atleast i think so Please correct me if I am wrong.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Some of you guys have gone in for a exterior detailing job for your civic's from 3M etc.What i wanted to know was How long will the treatment last ? ie 3 month,6months etc.Also will washing the car in the typical washer guy methods spoil the detailing treatment done?

Waste of money, in my opinion. To our brain, the 3M treatment's look/finish lasts for a day. The next day, the dust gathers on the car's body (if it is summer season) or slush/mud sticks to the car's body (if it is rainy season) - and your ride doesn't look very different from the car which has NOT got the 3M treatment.