Donny1940

I saw that post. I think it turned out very good. Definitely 10x better than I would have imagined a JB weld repair to turn out. I'm not totally convinced the amount of effort I put into this was worth it for a 13 year old Fusion, but once you cut the car open, you're kind of committed. I won't knock what you did.

I was going to try and blend the paint, but ultimately didn't. The new paint is darker, and I don't know if that's due to it being aftermarket paint (which was ordered specifying the original Ford paint code, black primer, that the original paint is 13 years old, or some combination of the three. But whatever, it looks good enough and hopefully will slow down the spread of rust in that area.

In a nutshell the process was: Jack up car, remove rear wheel and wheel well liner, remove rear door, remove door weather stripping out of the way, cut away rocker panel near the rust and determine how much you'll need to cut away to get to good metal. Strip away paint, cut replacement panel down to size needed (they're sold from front to rear wheel arch), cut existing panel so it's a bit smaller of a hole than needed. Test fit new panel and mark where cuts will be, carefully cut away existing panel (don't make to big of a cut), test fit again and grind away existing / replacement panel where needed to ensure good fit (this took a lot of time). Apply weld through primer to bare metal that you won't be able to paint later. Patch body where needed (don't worry my weld was much better on the other side). Weld on replacement panel, grind welds smooth, apply bondo (I used the fiberglass kind because I think its better with water), paint (I used 2k primer, paint and clear spray cans), spray cavity wax (I used 3M cavity wax, a whole can, and their applicator wand) in the space between the rocker and body, apply seem sealer. I sealed up where that wheel arch thing screwed...reinstall wheel / liner, door, etc.

My wife's 2011 Fusion was victim to the same rocker rust that I imagine just about all first gen Fusion's in the North East have. The paint started bubbling in the normal spot and recently started to rust through in the bottom. With winter coming I decided to go the nuclear option and cut out the rusted portion and weld in a replacement panel. Just as a disclaimer I'm not an autobody pro, and this was my first actual welding project. I spent a good amount of time researching the process, and A LOT of time practicing welding sheet metal, which can be tricky. I spent two whole weekends on this project and wouldn't recommend trying it on a whim and if this sort of work doesn't interest you. I did like that I had the chance to work on learning a new skill, but it was more work than I expected (I totally should have expected it to be a lot of work). If I were to do it again now, I probably could do it a bit faster, but if you look at the welding part are intimidated by that, realize that it's only a small portion of the job. Also, whatever rust you're seeing is probably the tip of the ice burg, and you'll need to find good metal to rust to. I did wind up patching a portion of Still, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The car also only has about 90k miles and runs well otherwise.