Does anyone else have this problem on the lower part of their trunk? I have been doing anything i possibly can to stop them. I have put undercoating on the inside of the trunk lip and tried spraying rustoleum down in the inside of the trunk and continuously applying Acura scratch fix paint over top and they are just spreading down the line I'm not sure what to do to stop it or if a shop can. I feel I just may need a new trunk lid in a few years

 

Gotta grind it down and repaint.
Could cost you around $200 or more at a shop.

Or just get a trunk from a junk yard.
Should be around 200, maybe even cheaper.

I havn't seen anyone get rust there, though.
Most people have rust on the rear quarter panel, or the hood.

 

accident!
poor prep job!!

 

Nope it has never been in an accident. I blame salt for this one. Yeah when I got the car I sanded and painted where rust was starting at the hood where top grille piece is and it hasnt come back. Then last year I sanded and undercoated the rear wheel wells (quarter panels) so those wouldn't start. Because im sure it would've turned into what my 1990 integra looked like "a big hole!". So I do anything I can to stop rust. Guess ill have to keep my eye out for a trunk on ebay. I know someone who works at body shop who would probably get me a good deal, but I feel it would come back within a year or 2

 

so, you bought the car new?

 

No, I have owned it for almost 3 years and did a carfax report before I bought it.

 

A clean Carfax doesn't mean it was never in an accident...it just means it was never in an accident that was reported. My '05 has a clean Carfax and was CPO but by looking at the bumpers, you can clearly tell both were re-sprayed at some point prior to me taking ownership.

 

So i thought I would get ahead of the game and take care of those trunk bubbles before they got worse and before winter started. I took it to my friend who owns a body shop to have him clean up the rust and repaint it. Well come to find out the bubbles turned to holes So should I have the work done to fill and repaint that will cost me $250-300 (may not last long but will look good) or save money and pay around a hundred to have it filled and just paint a small black line that will go across the bottom of the trunk until i can purchase a used trunk in the future? I have opened a can of worms lol. Thanks for any advice.

 

If you are going to go the "full" repaint route I would just pull a trunk from a junk yard that looks good if you can find one. If you just fill in the holes you are just covering the problem. This may last forever or just last a year.

Up to you in the long run. Personally if it was me, I would be looking for a rust-free trunk and looking to repaint it. Good luck!

 

Thank you. I am hoping he can find a used trunk tomorrow for cheap but TLs are very limited in Michigan. If he does ill go that route, but if not ill have to just fill and repaint because i need my car, and used trunks on ebay are over $500 plus the paint. So that price is out my budget right now as i was not expecting rust holes. So hopefully that would last a reasonable amount of time. If i only knew they were this bad i would have saved the money and planned to just replace the trunk.

 

So here is what the tiny bubbles turned into. He came across a used trunk today for $450 but its another MI trunk so it may start bubbling like mine did within a year. So my thought is to save my money and repair the holes and hope for the best. Then spend the money on a new trunk in the future once it gets bad again. Hopefully the repair will last for years!

 

Something you can ask the previous owners.

Looks like they were never rust bubbles, and that they were holes that someone tried patching up.

From your picture in the first place, it didn't look like bubbling paint.

 

Well that was my doing when it first started to bubble i sanded the little spots and put touch up paint over it. There were no bubbles when I purchased the car then within a year it turned to that.

 

Has nothing to do with being in an accident. It's right at the seam where they fold it over from the factory. If it's a not quite perfect fold and you're in a northern state, which I see you are, it's going to happen eventually.

Mine started ever so slightly rusting right in the middle in late 2012 (like a 1mm spot) and so I inspected the seam and sure enough saw it was coming from the inside. Mine was extremely slow and I ended up getting it fixed for a couple hundred this past spring, but it's already starting to come back. Mine was never rusted through like yours. Just a couple small bubbles.

Trunk lids are pricey on e-bay. Most mint ones are around $500-600 plus $175 to ship. I found one last winter for $475 a couple hours away that I could have picked up, but I let it slide. I had the seller email me some close ups of the seam and it was rust free. Kicking myself now.

 

OK, how will the holes be repaired? the only rational way is to weld in a patch panel part, then fill the inside with rustproofing material. Any attempt at body putty, no matter what kind, even the metal impregnated stuff, is not going to work. Those are holes (obviously). A good weld job (and paint) will cost as much as a new trunk. I guess you could just weld over the holes, and just prime, not final paint. That would be my second choice.

If it was me, and it is not, if the inside panel of the trunk is sound (no holes) I would not repair at all, and wait to buy a new trunk lid. In the meantime, I would spray rustproofing inside the cavity, and around the outside holes.

Although I have listed the 3M undercoat, that is only for overspray the rust-proofing material, *under* the car (chassis), not for use inside panels. The 3M rust-proofing is actually recommended by Honda for replacing the factory material when a panel is replaced. I have used it before on chassis frame parts, for touchup on bare areas, where the original undercoat has failed and starting to rust, without overspraying w/ undercoat, and it has lasted 2 years already on my Chevy Blazer chassis. I was just too lazy to crawl under the car again.

3M rust-proofing 08892 18oz/ undercoat 08883 19oz

 

Yeah my friend said it started at the inside at the seam. Sounds like you and I are in the same boat. Mine started to bubble less than a year ago and the bubbles just kept coming up down the seam. I thought i caught it fast enough so it wouldn't be rusted through, but oh well. Like you found eBay the trunks are expensive (not including painting it) and they are from northern states! So whats the point. Ill just hope for the best and keep my eye out for a cheap trunk from the south Sorry to hear it came back on you so soon. That is what I am afraid of.

Yeah the inside panel is not perfect either and in the photo you can see there are 2 holes on the inside (Went straight through). So I can't get myself to go the cheap route and just paint with undercoating and have holes in my trunk it just won't look good . I am not sure how he is exactly repairing it, but i know he is not just slapping in bondo so ill get a list from him. Thanks for the 3M info. Since i live in MI I am undercoating crazy with my TL. I have used Rustoleum undercoating that you brush on all over the inside of my rear wheel wells and the underbody. Next undercoat project is removing the side skirts and undercoat that. Oh yeah, did I mention hate rust

 

Well i just picked the car up today and it looks beautiful and looks flawless! No more ugly touch up paint bubbles I am quite impressed how well the paint matches with the car being a decade old. Now i just hope it lasts as long as possible

 

Looks good! The way I see it, at this point, a quick $150 fix every spring for the next four years is probably still cheaper than a used trunk lid with shipping. I'll probably keep this car till mid 2018.

 

Have the same issue with mine along the center lower edge. Started two years ago. Now a rust through. Bought a used lid for $200 and I am going to be putting it on this next weekend. I just don't see rusty TL's in the upper midwest so this issue surprised me.