Wheel well trim: Rustmaker!
Saw rust peeking out from behind the wheel well trim. Ripped the lousy trim off! The only place on my car with rust is behind this trim, and it's working it's way out front.
Some protection the trim offers, huh? Traps dirt, salt, and water and makes lots of rust.
HERE'S MORE TO THE STORY...
Well I went out to "fix" the rust spots with my dremel tool.
On the passenger's side, the rust is limited to a small corner on the outside of the fender, just where it meets the bumper. I dremeled with a wire brush attachment, used touch-up rust converter, and then used color touch-up. The rust was not on the inside, but I cleaned and sprayed rustoleum in there anyway.
Now on the driver's side there was a lot more rust from the inside, but it didn't make it out beyond the lip (at worst it's 1/8th inch from the outer body, about 2 1/2 inches in length.) When I started dremeling with the cutting wheel attachment, dirt started falling out like crazy. There's a plastic flap that must have something to do with the fuel filler, which let go of lots of dirt and rocks when you pulled it away from the lip! Also, on this side of the car two pieces of metal meet at the fenderwell lip, further trapping moisture.
I cut off the bottom 1/2" length of the plastic flap so it wouldn't catch dirt against the inside of the fender lip. Also, I sprayed as much rustoleum in the seam between the two pieces of metal to help prevent further rust.
Worth checking into. Stop the rust before it gets bad!