My 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis

[sly]

Not bad. Definitely better than anything I would have done.

[DerekTheGreat]

I hate to say it but, if continually exposed to salt & moisture, the rust will come back with extreme prejudice and in short order. I first saw it when my dad had rust "repaired" on his Mark VII. Only took two Michigan winters before you could see the bubbles under whatever filler they used. Coatings are only as effective as the cleaning process under them. From what I've seen and tested, it doesn't get better than the factory applied pretreatment and paint system. This is why I would never "fix" rust on a daily driver and instead use & recommend Krown & Fluid film to seal & repel moisture. I had a picture I wanted to attach, but can't find it. Was a GMT400 truck that someone had put patch panels on over the rear wheels. Paint was shiny and pretty, but the areas where they had welded and mudded over were bubbling hardcore, looked like plate tectonics in automotive form. I'm sure by now rust jacking has popped the paint & mud off and those areas look like full blown automotive gangrene.

[Tiggie]

No bondo hate here on a daily driver. On a show car, sure let's do it "right" with metal and make it as best we can. But on a daily, what you did was fine. Seal the back side really well and be sure it's fully coated on the outside and it will last a while. It will come back but it looks better for a while. Can't stop the rust bug. Have seen many of these repairs in the junkyard, and they served their purpose while the car was on the road.

[87gtVIC]

Better than before is still better. Taking care of eyesores like those does wonders on how you feel about the car. I am sure you feel a whole lot better daily driving it now.

[87GrandMarq]

It seems like pretty much every box panther I’ve seen has some rust on the underside of the trunk lid. My 87 is the same way but it’s not all the way through like yours. It is looking good though.

[DerekTheGreat]

Better than before until it comes back looking like a raging case of herpes covered in spray paint. I advocate oiling everywhere possible to thwart corrosion, let it take over the edges and seams as it undoubtably will do while taking the time saved to do other more important things, like shots and leisure time.

[slack]

Thanks. For winging it the first time using the 'right' stuff (instead of using lasagna trays and caulk like on the CV LOL) I'm pretty happy with how it came out. It definitely looks much less ratty than it did. I wish I had taken some more before pics to give a better before/after. The car doesn't get driven in the winter so it doesn't really see salt and stuff but it is stored outside so it still sees the day to day weather.

As for oiling... strongly agree! A year ago or so I bought like two dozen cans of Fluid Film. I spray it everywhere I can. For the underside of the car, I sprayed rust converter, then POR15'd it then Eastwood internal frame coating and finally covered in fluid film. I also sprayed Fluid Film inside the doors and a bunch of other areas as well. Really great stuff (even if it does smell terrible).

[DerekTheGreat]

Without salt, it will hold up far better and longer. The water will get to it eventually. A friend restored a 1970 Road Runner, it was immaculate, plum crazy purple. They like to rot out right around the rear window corners. Sure enough, his had a huge herpie blister on the driver's side after said restoration. Car doesn't see salt and only gets caught in the rain, yet there that blister was like a giant middle finger to the face.

Fluid Film does smell terrible, good god. I went in the garage yesterday to do that diagnostic work on my Lincoln (the week before I put a new fuel pump in it and drenched the tank & surrounding areas with FF) and it was 10 fold worse in a confined space. Guessing since that thing is seldomly driven that smell will hang for a while. Worth it though. Surprisingly, the rest of the underside still looks a bit oily. It hasn't been Krown'd since it left DD status behind it, so some seven years ago.

[VicCrownVic]

The Scab has never been a winter driver. I bought it in... **checks RR thread for exact year** 2016, and it has always lived outside. The body is not much worse than it was when I bought it 9 years ago. It's amazing how just keeping it out of the winter crap has benefited it.
5 winters so far with the '98 and Krown has kept it looking pretty good. I have no doubt it would be turning into a rotbox at this point had I not applied that preventative measure annually.