I have some rust on my 97 ford f250. It's getting bad on each wheel well. I'm hoping to get another 5 yrs. out of it. The truck has 236K on it and runs well. A body shop said that they could put some epoxy on it and install fender flares to cover it up. Anyone ever tried this before? Hoping for some constructive feedback. Thanks, Andy

 

Andy, don't hide rust- fight!

Take some pictures and show them. Surface rust can and must be treated. Deep rust must be removed.
Do you already have holes in the sheet metal?

 

I already have some holes the size of quarters above the wheel wells. The body shop said that they would cut the rust out, treat it, epoxy the area and put the fender flares over it. I have some more rust on the corners of the truck box and some around the doors. They will take care of those areas as well.

My dillemma is this: My truck is probably only valued around $5,000. I don't want to spend several thousands to fix a truck that if it is ever totalled in an accident would only net me $5000. The body shop said that they could do all of this for around $1,700. If I could get this to last me for about 5 more yrs. I'd be happy. Then I would either get a different truck or deal with the rust again. I would love to see how long this truck will last me. I use parasynthetic motor oil, transmission fluid and gear fluid. It still gets around 18-20mpg and runs well. Any thoughts?

 

The body shop already told you what to do.
If you want to save money you can do it by yourself investing time instead of money.
Maybe you have friends with welding abilities? Ask them for help.
Don't expect a rust repair to hold longer than a couple of years without replacing the sheet metal.

Dang, 1700$ is a lot of money. Almost 2/5 of the value of the truck and you didn't have calculated in any necessary repairs.

Do they do a complete body repair? No, they don't.
For 1700 $ you can buy all the needed tools like a grinder, brush disc etc. Have a look at those Hayne's tech books how to repair such areas.
If the rust comes back you simply can do it again.

It is difficult to tell you what to do without knowing( seeing) the damage. It depends on your own abilities.

 

I forgot to tell you that the $1700 also took care of the rust around the lower corners where the truck meets the box - each side is rusted - one side completely broke through and the both rear doors have rust around the seal of the window. Sorry if you thought the $1700 took care of only the wheel wells. I have priced those out and just the fender flares are @$235 each. I don't have the ability to take care of the other rust on the truck. This is my work truck and I want it to look nice when I pull into job sites. I do commercial/industrial roofing and we try to be clean cut in our personal appearance and our machinery. Any advice?

 

once you get the rust fixed i would recomend under coating the truck with a good oil. i think i use lanolin oil. you can order it from gemplers farm supply catalog. it works good cause it doesn't dry out and get brittle, it stays tackey. i always wash out the under side of the truck best i can the day before so it has time to dry then give it a good heavy coat and flood the wheel wells with it. its called fluid film. its expensive but wort it

 

Hmm, if you have to go for apperance ( which makes common sense) isn't there a possibility to do the visible points first?
Let them explain in detail how they are going to treat the rust.
Because you are going to pay for it.
I've seen a lot of bad bodyworks- just covering the holes with bondo and Epoxy and vibration ratteled it out again.

Did you already checked several body work shops for price quotes?

 

Ya, I've had 2 other opinoins. One was to cut away the rust and put a patch of sheet metal welded in and painted over. I have seen these done before and a yr later it pops up again. Another was to get another bed and paint it. There are no guarantees as to wether one of these used beds has rust either. The last one was to cut out the rust, epoxy it and put on the fender flares.

 

The last method is a method you can do even if you don't have any experience!(cheap)

So you don't have any friends with a welder?