Topic: Driver Door Rust?

[Ironhide]

Noticed that the inner door shell started to rust under the paint.

There are several areas at the bottom of the door where both shells (inner and outer) have been joined by glue or welding.

Did anyone have the same problem?

[DeepBlueGXP]

Haven't seen any rust on mine

[Steelmesh]

Coulda woulda shoulda, but spraying oil or wax on the insides of your doors and rockers, trunk lid should slow down the existing rust and prevent it in other places.

[Critterman]

Nope none on mine.

[Sol Asylum]

Was this door damaged by the minivan or in another accident?

[Ironhide]

Was this door damaged by the minivan or in another accident?

No the door has never been damaged.

Maybe it's because my car has been built on Monday the 13th 2008, I'm not kidding!


By the way I've been to my favorite paintshop.

The guy told me that such damage occurs when the two shells haven't been joined properly (water can leak between the two shells and they start to rust).

They've repaired a lot Ford cars with the same problem.


Got an offer about 250$ for the repair which includes removing the rust and damaged sealing, applying a new sealing, new paint job and spraying wax  on the inside of the door.

Only thing they asked me to do is to remove the door and bring it to the shop.

Additionally I'm thinking about  spraying some wax on the inside of the passenger door (saw some spray cans on Amazon).

Hope that's as easy as it looks.

[joybill44]

often, rust on the lower edge of a door or rocker panel is caused by water inside the door or panel. I would check and be sure that the drain holes in the bottom of the door are not clogged and not allowing rainwater to dain out.

[Ironhide]

often, rust on the lower edge of a door or rocker panel is caused by water inside the door or panel. I would check and be sure that the drain holes in the bottom of the door are not clogged and not allowing rainwater to drain out.

Thanks for the good advise.   

I've checked the drain holes and they are not clogged. 

It's a mystery for me why it's only my car which has a rusting door.

I've checked the Opel forum, but didn't find any thread about rusting doors.

[joybill44]

after reading your post, I went out and checked mine inside and out. No rust.

[Ironhide]

Finally I've checked the complete door from the inside.

All sealings are in order, the grey paint job has no damage and there is no dirt inside the door it's just a little bit dusty.

Why in god's name is this damned door rusting.

[Steelmesh]

Finally I've checked the complete door from the inside.

All sealings are in order, the grey paint job has no damage and there is no dirt inside the door it's just a little bit dusty.

Why in god's name is this damned door rusting.

Can you trace the build date?  Maybe it was in the body shop getting paint the day before Christmas shutdown, December 23rd was a Friday in 2005.

[Sol Asylum]

Don't think it was built in 2005, the Opel GT only came with the turbo version and 07 was the first year for those.  So it is possible it could have been 06.

Oliver do you have a garage to store you car in?  A lot of us may not see the rust because we store them out of the weather.

[Ironhide]

Can you trace the build date?  Maybe it was in the body shop getting paint the day before Christmas shutdown, December 23rd was a Friday in 2005.

The car has been built on Monday  May 13th 2008 (not kidding). 

Don't think it was built in 2005, the Opel GT only came with the turbo version and 07 was the first year for those.  So it is possible it could have been 06.

Oliver do you have a garage to store you car in?  A lot of us may not see the rust because we store them out of the weather.

That might be a reason for the rust on my door.

For several years I had no garage for my car (only in Winter).

In 2015 I've bought an outdoor car cover (from a company which is producing these covers for Ferrari, Porsche etc.), because I had lost the garage place.

In 2016 I started to use the cover for the whole year in order to protect my car against rain, storm, sun and whatever.

[Ironhide]

Got my door back from the paint shop and I'll kill the painter.

They told me that I don't need to remove the seal at the top of the door, because they would just paint the lower part of the door.

Now they've painted the whole backside of the door including the seals.

We tried to remove the paint from the seal which worked pretty well, but the paint next to the seal flake off.

They didn't prime and sand the are and so the paint didn't stick on the door. 

[TomatoSoup]

Jeez.  Call themselves painters?

[Ironhide]

Jeez.  Call themselves painters?

They've been the top address for paint jobs, but that seems to be history.

To be honest most of the painter shops got worse down here, they just want to earn a lot of money with low quality jobs.

Or like we use to say in Germany: Welcome to the German service desert or in this case quality desert.

[Ironhide]

Good news about the paint job_! 

The paint shop has reworked the door and now it looks shiny and new.

Additionally they sprayed a special wax in both doors to prevent them from rusting.

[Critterman]

Great, glad you are happy with it.

[Sly Bob]

That's great that they made it right and that the rust is gone.