How long will my rustbucket last?

[srgtlord]

The body of my 1987 USA made golf diesel is begining to develope some rust around the internal front wheel arches and small patches of rust all around the body such as around the rear shock tower, near the front suspension control arm etc... My question is how long do you guys think I can go until the whole thing just crumbles/ becomes undriveable?

[maxfax]

There are a lot of variable to that question.. Pics would probably be a good help to gauge where it's at..  What part of the world are you in? A lot of winter driving, alot of salt used?

[745 turbogreasel]

Max has a point, rust is a regionally specific term, I'd scrap cars for rust my Michigan friends would say were in great shape.

[clbanman]

He's in Massachussetts.   If you are still at the surface rust stage, oil spraying the car, or Krown rust control will slow things down.  If you can poke a screwdriver through the steel in the rusty areas, it's too late, you're at the remove and replace metal stage.   Take a look at areas like the rockers, floor, inside the wheel wells.  If there are no holes or soft spots, then oil spraying will give you some more time.   If you're attached to the car, proper rust removal will extend the life even further, but unfortunately where you are located this is likely not going to be cost effective.

[srgtlord]

Alright well  I guesse Ill just drive it until it crumbles

[Dakotakid]

When you start loosing bags of groceries out of the back seat....it is a good indication that rust is becoming a problem!!!!!!
No seriously, the original poster poses a very good question which I have often internally debated. Recently, I  was forced to make a decision regarding rust and generalized weakness in a Golf body which I had driven across my state to retrieve, and (hopefully) use as a recipient of all my still good components from my rusty '86 Golf gasser.

I made the embarrassing mistake of NOT crawling under the car to perform a thorough inspection. After driving for 7 hours (one way!) and whizzing away the time and money on fuel to retrieve this car, I got it home and discovered that, years ago, someone had managed to run this car over a very stiff concrete parking lot barrier or boulder of granite! The car body looked so good that I did not feel a need to investigate it any farther.....huge mistake!

Anyway, rust had been very busy in the impact areas on this car under the driver's feet/lower firewall and behind the drivers shock tower. This is, in my opinion, an area of the car which plays an important role in "crash protection." My concern is that there would be much less structural integrity even after grafting in sheet metal patches. Anyway, I have (sadly) made the executive decision to part it out and go lick my financial wounds from this mistake.

So, I pose an extension to the original question: when does rust become an issue of impact safety and NOT just mechanical safety? And please, I am aware that maybe I should be driving larger stuff with airbags. But, I still like these cars for other reasons.

[8v-of-fury]

srgtlord:
Alright well  I guesse Ill just drive it until it crumbles

Amen to that!

[clbanman]

srgtlord:
Alright well  I guesse Ill just drive it until it crumbles

Amen to that!

I had one car that rusted the rear wheelwells so bad that if I drove it in the rain, water would splash up inside the rear quarter windows.  At that point I admitted it was time to retire it.

As far as the question about structural integrity/ crash safety.... you would have reduced crash protection far sooner than noticeable issues with structural integrity.    How much rust would it take to lose 20% of the sheetmetal thickness?  

Some signs it's too far gone (and all have happened to me):  

1. You jack up the car, and the jack goes up but the car doesn't move off the ground.
2. You can take a large screwdriver and hold it against the subframe, and then push it right through the subframe.
3. The aforementioned water splashing on the inside of vehicle glass while driving.
4. You hook up a tow rope to the bumper supports and the entire bumper assembly and supports pull off the frame.
5. You try to jack up the car and can see the subframe compressing as you put weight on it.
6. You pull up the carpet to check the floorboard condition, and there is no floorboard - you are looking at the top of the gas tank.
7. You are trying to do some weld repair, and can't grind back to good metal that is thick enough to weld without burning through.
8. If you jack up the car with the doors open, you can't close the door.

[maxfax]

8. If you jack up the car with the doors open, you can't close the door.

Pending on how you have it jacked up, one can't always open or close the doors on a solid MK1...

[rabbitman]

8. If you jack up the car with the doors open, you can't close the door.

Pending on how you have it jacked up, one can't always open or close the doors on a solid MK1...

Yup, when I put mine up on the hoist it's usually hard to open and close the doors even though it's easy when it's sitting on the ground. It has a pretty good body, very little rust but for some reason the driver seat is about to fall onto the ground . The pass side has less of the same problem but other than that there isn't very much rust.

[srgtlord]

Thats not rust..Its weight reduction 

[catlin_cava]

Some signs it's too far gone (and all have happened to me): 

1. You jack up the car, and the jack goes up but the car doesn't move off the ground.
2. You can take a large screwdriver and hold it against the subframe, and then push it right through the subframe.
3. The aforementioned water splashing on the inside of vehicle glass while driving.
4. You hook up a tow rope to the bumper supports and the entire bumper assembly and supports pull off the frame.
5. You try to jack up the car and can see the subframe compressing as you put weight on it.
6. You pull up the carpet to check the floorboard condition, and there is no floorboard - you are looking at the top of the gas tank.
7. You are trying to do some weld repair, and can't grid back to good metal that is thick enough to weld without burning through.
8. If you jack up the car with the doors open, you can't close the door.

Ive had a few of those happen... and everytime it happens you shake your head an laught...