Saving the lower door panels for $3

[sad-lumina-owner]

I bought a 'value pack' of assorted car screws (these look mostly like wood screws that are chrome plated or coated black, and provided with cheap punched out washers).

I began by replacing the screws holding the inner door handle (there are two that are hidden in the hand-hole and go down vertically). These screws by location pick up a lot of grime and dirt and moisture, and rust more quickly than the others. Although long screws come out, only short (less than 1") need be used here, as the 'thread is a sheetmetal plate just below the hole.


I noticed in passing that
the same style screws hold the black plastic foot pad inside the doorway (front doors on my sedan).

I unscrewed the three screws holding this, removed it, lo and behold, rust and chipping paint, along with sand and moisture built up from years of slush and snow etc.

So I took a wire brush and vigorously removed loose paint and flakes/dirt, and took some leftover JohnDeer rustpaint, and re-covered the rusty bits. Only a small amount of painted (rusted) area sticks out from under the black plastic thing, and this is only visible when the door is open (who cares? - a bit of a clash between the green John Deer paint and the red bodypaint...).

This was really a stitch in time type of repair. If I had left this another couple of years, the lower body/frame would have started rotting through no doubt.

I replaced the old screws (also rusty) with new ones from the pack (this is such a bargain even at $3 that I am going to buy another pack).

Rust stopped in its tracks, all new screw heads, even blobbed paint in screw-holes to make sure rust stopped there too.

I recommend you do this, its so easy and simple, and cheap.



Tools and Materials:

- pack of replacement screws
- Philips screwdriver
- some leftover rust-paint, old brush or sponge, rag
-wirebrush and/or sandpaper,
- rag to wipe off excess paint
- visegrips


(I also used the pair of vise-grips to remove the oversize washer on the new screws, (so I could use the short ones in the pack): you can grip the edge of the washer with the visegrips and then 'unscrew' the screw from the 'non-removable' washer.

[sad-lumina-owner]

Update:

I also did the back two doors today (removed plastic foot guard, wirebrushed and painted, replaced screws).

Just a small footnote for those not mechanically enclined.

The screw heads on the rear were far worse, rusted and clogged with dirt sand (these are Phillips heads remember).

It was not possible to get the Phillips screwdriver into those hardened plugged screw heads.

But the situation was not actually as bad as it looked:

The side screws were removable (there are two side, two top on the back footguards).

These screws (their sharp ends) can be used as mini scrapers, by a combination of poking, twisting and scatching, to remove the hardened, rusted-in fillings in the screwheads on the TOP two screws.

By this method I was able to remove enough rusted on crap and get enough of a toehold with the screwdriver to torq out the top two screws, even though they actually looked hopeless visually (not even recognizable as phillips heads).

Then I proceeded as usual with the wirebrush, removing ALL possible loose paint and rust/dust, and painting over with John Deer rustpaint.

One more footnote: The screw holes were actually somewhat stripped due to rust and probable overtightening when installed (airgun at factory?).

I compensated for this by hammering the bent metal hole edges back down, and filling the holes with auto 'goop', which gave the screws something to 'hang onto' as they say on Black Adder.

I think this method will work, holding back rust and corrosion in this bad, moisture-trap area for a few more years.

[Blue Bowtie]

Actually, they are PosiDriv recesses in the screw heads, but a Phillips is close enough for service work. Glad you got the rust covered. Now you'll have to keep monitoring it to see if it is actually stopped or just stalled. Rust is fairly persistent.

[sad-lumina-owner]

I thought I'd add a pic to clarify this part of the job.

The black plastic door-tread is what was removed. The area underneath was scrubbed and painted, and the screws replaced:

This pic is of the driverside front door jam.