Expert: William Forster - 11/7/2008

Question
i have rust on these spots on my 99 Chevy Silverado could i fill them with bondo or would they need to be welded

Answer
Hey Daniel! The only way to properly fix these spots is to replace the rusty steel with new. Rocker panels always have much more rust inside of them. Once you see a hole, you need to figure on replacing the entire rocker. The rust scale inside of it gets wet, and takes forever to dry- causing further rust damage. If you don't get that out, the panel is going to continue to rot. IF you don't have access to welding equipment, a company called SEM has structural adhesive for gluing on rockers and rust patches- however, I strongly recommend you glue and use rivets together. Don't get carried away with the rivets, and make sure the new panel overlaps the old by at least an inch. You can buy nice quality wheel arches and rocker panels very reasonably- you might try ebay, or a company called Year One. Year one has a book in their literature section called how to restore your chevy truck- I highly recommend it. Year one has online catalogs. Bill