Cost to repair rusted door bottoms

[monteperformanc]

I looked at a nice GN for sale today. The car was low miles and in great shape but the door bottoms were rusted, especially the passenger side. Pretty bad. Does anyone have any idea how much it would cost to have a shop repair this? I want to at least have an idea before I think about making an offer on this car.

 

[charlief1]

If the bottom of the doors are rusted you can bet there's more in the car. You're in NY after all. See if you can get the car on a rack to see if there's any more damage underneith. If you decide to get it you'll be better off getting better doors instead of repairing it.

 

[Morbid]

There are replacement panels for just the door bottoms. As to what a shop might charge to do the work it's any one's guess.

Most shops today are "quick turn" and do mostly insurance work. They literally won't take jobs where there is a lot of rust repair because it ties up their shop.

The other side of the coin is you'll find it hard to get a estimate just by asking cause they are going to want you to bring the car in. So you'd either have to buy it or get the current owner to allow you to take it in for repair estimates.

Who knows though, things are slow..

 

[VINCE86GN]

If The Bottom Of The Doors Are That Rusted Don't Waste You Money On Fixing Them... Just Go And Look For Some Better Doors

 

[monteperformanc]

Is it generally difficult to find good replacement doors? I'm guessing that would also require repainting at least the sides of the car so everything would match?

 

[Morbid]

There's two sides to the "difficulty" of finding any replacement sheet metal for these cars.

One is most cars in the Northeast (rust belt) and near the oceans rust very fast due to higher concentration of salt and moisture. So after 20 years there aren't that many if any completely rust free. Leaving only southern and mid-western cars.

That leads to the second side which is finding one which will be no where near you and more importantly a seller willing to ship it.

Any part big and/or heavy which doesn't fit the profile of the USPS, FedEx Express, UPS has to go freight. That's a dirty word. Yes it's expensive but more to the issue is many aren't willing to deal with the work involved in preparing and shipping freight items.

Dismantlers or Auto Recyclers (folks who disassemble and re-sell car parts as a business) have a nation-wide locating service. Body and Restoration shops use them for sourcing the parts they need. Find one in your neck of the woods and see if they can locate the doors for you.

End of the day though you have to realize that there were only so many of these cars or similar built. Many have long since gone to the crusher as scrap.

 

[monteperformanc]

I have just recently got into the turbo regal world. I have a lot of experience with Monte Carlo's of that same era and it sounds like the same deal. Good solid doors are hard to find and expensive. A few years ago I tried to ship a good door via fedex ground and they basically destroyed the door. Their insurance did cover it eventually, but what a PITA. Thanks for the info.

 

[03FatBoy]

I have a 67k GN... interestingly enough, the ONLY rust on this car was the passenger door bottom. The driver's door has minimal rust. Fenders, hood, trunk, quarters, etc are all rust free.I did purchase a nice clean door to replace mine when I get around to paint.

 

[monteperformanc]

As far as I can tell, the car I looked at also only had rust in the doors. And the passenger side was much worse than the driver's side. I also own an 84 Monte SS and same deal, rust only in the doors. From what I can tell the window sweeps dry out and crack from exposure to the sun, then the rain gets in and sits inside the bottoms of the doors, which rusts them from the inside out.

 

[monteperformanc]

I found this online. It makes it look kind of easy:

Door Rust Repair - Autobodystore

 

[03FatBoy]

doors

...provided the inner door structure is intact, it is relatively straightforward to repair the outer panel. My outer panel is ok, but the edge of the inner door frame is rusted out. In other words, my door skin is intact, but the inner door frame rusted out.I did see a new lower inner section somewhere, but replacing the door is a lot easier. If I find the door bottom section again, I will probably purchase it and repair the original door. These things are getting hard to find!

 

[asto-t]

I can get you gn rust free doors if interested.It will cost you around 500.00 a piece

 

[Yankee John]

I was able to find some rust-free doors from a member who lives in North Dakota. They do not use salt on the roads there in the winter. You should be albe to use doors in other midwest states that don't use salt in the winter, such as South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, etc...

No such thing as rust-free doors on a Minnesota car- Unless it is ultra low miles and hasn't been driven in the winter. MN uses so much salt in winter that it makes the ocean look "sodium free".....

John