Well I couldn't get into my trunk so I had to take the back seat out to fix it. And to my dismay I had discovered that the rear quarter panel had began to seperate from the floor at the seam as well as around the rear strut tower. The strut tower on the rear drivers side is not even connected to the base of the trunk anymore. I'LL post some pics up soon. But for now I'm just looking to see if we have any body repair guys on here who can help me.

 

Have you looked on you tube? I have found tons of rust repairing tutorials on there, and damn near everything else lol

 

if it is as bad as you describe, I bet you have all the floor rusted and the radiator support along with the aprons and strut towers under hood. time for a replacement.

 

Well I wouldn't be surprised if the rust goes a bit further once I start cutting it out. But as of now every thing else is quite solid. Its almost as if water was able to make its way in on that side damaging only that area. All the other strut towers and floor area is fine. Pictures will help. Ill get them uploaded tomorrow.

 

you would'nt believe the amount of rust on the maxima's around here in s/e pa. i've done that rear 1/4 panel on passenger side and the whole wheel well was gone, i mean gone!!! my body guy had to weld a whole new section in as well as the panel itself was full of holes. the rear bumper support was rusted to the point that he welded in a whole new piece. friggin salt and snow SUCK!!!!

 

Time for a new car

 

Best advice in this thread.

 

Sorry about your ride. I'm thinking the same thing that njmaxseltd & george already posted....

 

I know 100% what you mean. I live in eastern Canada and we get the same snowy salty roads here. That's why we don't usually give up on cars because of rust here in Canada. Its a normal thing we just have to deal with here if you want/need to drive your car in the winter.
What you just described is 100% the same problem with my car. The whole wheel well is gone, the strut tower is disconnected etc.
How much did it cost you to have fixed professionaly?

 

You live in a southern state don't you? Rust is quite normal here in eastern Canada. Bit yeah some people would give up. But I still have a year on my inspection so if I can save it I will. Especially since I finally figured out my power loss issue. Dennis was right on his guess the maf or wiring is bad. I'm going to try adding a new ground as it seems to be a problem in the connector or wiring since if I move/ wiggle the wires the car will spit and sputter, try to stall, or rev up.

 

Not ready yet...I love my Max. And I'm going to try and repair it myself. I can shape metal and my buddy can weld. Or ill just pay for that one repair then do the rest myself. What I'd like to do is find a Max with a good body but is off the road, then swap all my good parts from my current Max. To the other then I will still have a Max. Only ones I can find cheap so far are 5th gens. And they have great bodies. But I bet its hard to make a 4th Gen/5th Gen clone car, eh?

 

well, my body shop cut me a break cause i use him so much. but i got estimates for 1,800 and up!!! whenever welding sections in, it pushes up the price quite a bit. i ended up paying about 850.00. that was what i had to pay for the rust repair, he gave me a break on the paint, another 300.00. when i went in to pay, he said, " just give me 1,100 cash and your good. phew, i dodged a bullet there. i had literally 1175.00 till payday and it was a week away!! shop around, i bet there's going to be some shops that'll work with you, probably 650-800.00 if your just doing that rear 1/4 panel. if the trunk is really bad, ( pics ) i bet you could be looking at 1,100 and up. gl

 

I respect this! Lol. I just dropped $1700 on a paintjob and rust repair on my 97 Maxima and all my friends are calling me crazy. Saying things like I could have bought another car with that money but what they miss to understand is the 4th Gen Maxima is a gem.

 

They sure are a gem! And also.the last generation that was true JDM, IMHO. I have a body Guy here in town that cuts me big breaks. He got my wrote off camery back on the road for $300, pluse parts. And that car was bent up bad. I hope he can give me a good deal again. Otherwise ill do the best I can myself

 

I wish you luck man. How long have you had your Max? Had mine for 2 years, and I hit 125k today.

 

Thanks, ill need it.
I've had mine for about 2 years also. Bought it for $350 at 140,000 Km's. Now it's at 205,000 km's.

 

Lol. Wow that's cheap. I paid $2700 for mine with 109k.

 

Yes I stole it for that price. Which is why I don't mind doing some majior repairs as I got it for so cheap. So far I have apx. $2000 into it. So I don't mind bringing that number higher if it means having a a good working Max. for a while.
I'm just uploading pics of the rust damage now.

 

OK so here are the pics of the rust damage...

Inside the car with back seat removed


Inside trunk with fabric peeled back...


What's left of the wheel well....


But the floor is solid right up to the seam where my finger is....


So what do you guys think. Other than saying time for a new car, (I just don't want to hear that). I'm open to any and all repair ideas.

Thanks

 

New car even if you don't want to hear it.
The junkyard by me has Maximas more rust free than yours.
Did you pour salt inside your car or something??

 

Its Canadian salty.roads. I am looking for a Max with a good body that has a blowen motor or something. But I'm sure I can patch it and it will last.a bit longer. Its only that side
Everywhere else is pretty.good.
I want yo repair for now.

 

dude, i hate to say it but you'd be better off with another max. mine was'nt near as bad as yours. that's just hella bad rust right there. good motor and all, sometimes you gotta walk away unless you find some guy willing to do charity price rust resto that's gonna be expensive right there. i mean hell, minimum 1,500 to 1,800.00 easy.whats the rear 1/4 panel look like on the outside?? that's not even safe to drive.

 

Is it just the inner wheel well or is there more to it?
As far as body parts go the IWW isn't the most expensive of items to get from the dealer. Online prices in the US are about $280. That's probably cheaper than labor would be to cut/form/weld patches. If you can do plug welds with a MIG and cut spot welds to remove the existing piece then it may not be a totally insane project. It depends on how bad the rest of the car is.

 

The rear 1/4 panel looks fine on the outside, and still is good. The wheel well is gone, but the overall pannel is quite good.
I know its bad. And it only got that bad because I drove with the back seat out as well as the metal trunk plate. Didn't realize that the back seat and metal panel was all that was stopping that side from commingle apart.
My body Guy is really fair. Like I've said before he fixed my camery that was wrote off badly. The front end was completely smashed and bent. I got a great deal on all the front end body parts. And took them to him, a week later he had my car perfect again for a small fee of $300 so yeah, I know a Guy.
On a side note I found a nice 97 Max that's out west, ( no salt on the rods there). Looks mint in the pictures. They're asking $1200. But as usual I'm broke. And going out west is a couple of days driving. But it would be perfect because I could buy that MAX then swap all my brand new parts over, then keep my original MAX for parts. I hope the car is still there when I have the $$$

 

Thanks, because that's what I wanted to hear the outer wheel well is gone too. The rest of the car is "OK", the rockers need to be replaced or patched again. There is a hole in the floor on the passengers side. Bit that's a simple, cut the rust out and weld in a square of sheet steel on the underside and inside under the carpet. See the issue is that prior to me owning the car, all rust repair was done with fill and paint. But they didn't remove the rust so if course it continued to rust but it just wasn't as obvious. So I was thinking I could cut that whole section out of a junk yard car, the cut out the whole bad section on my car and weld the one from the Donner car. Not ready to give up yet. It go es me something to do, and will allow me to get some more practice with majior body work. Since I am going to school to be an certified auto tech/body man. This is my trainer car,

 

They say rust is car cancer

 

That's a fair comparison, considering that, like cancer, if you don't get it all cut out and properly removed it will spread.

 

My max is completely rusted out. just trying to get 1 more year out of it though, sorry to see that must rust. honestly it is not worth trying to fix IMHO, but that's just me. I would try and sell before it becomes more of a road hazard that is deff not safe. my rockers, floors and rear quarters are completely gone but not nearly as bad as that. and being in Canada that is why. heard Canada is the worst for the 4th gen. best of luck to you on what you decide to do.

how is the lower radiator support? I would deff check out the rad support if your car looks like that around the quarter panel..

 

I've drove worse, my Mazda MX-6 GT was rusted so bad in the subframe that it would of broke in half in an accident, LOL. My inspection is good for another year so I think what I might do is drive the **** out of her and just have fun with her until she is all washed up like a trick. LOL.
Then ill either find another Max to swap new parts over too. Or just part it out to the org. The Rad support is surprisingly in good shape. It must have been replaced in the past. My rockers are mostly body fill LOL. So yeah I think it may be time.

 

Yea man I know how you feel I've had my max for almost 3 years and sank plenty of money into her just to discover rust after rust. My father and I are cutting and welding and fiberglass filling the rockers in the summer. I just had my radiator support done last year, both federal are rotted to **** also so need to replace those too. Hoping to do all that to get a good sale out of her when it comes to sell. Gunna try and sell before next winter. I don't want to but I can't keep casing rust every year:'( the floors are going in it too she's a mess