The Bad News

As I’ve mentioned before, this 2004 Volvo S60 has spent its entire life parked outdoors under trees, and those trees have dropped leaves and pine needles that have clogged up all of the water drain holes.  It’s also experienced 16 Canadian winters and that’s a lot of salt exposure and now parts of the car look like this:

This panel between the rear wheel well and the rear door is rusted through on both sides.

Yeah, that’s bad.  And lower edge of the rear quarter panels where they meet the bumper are bad too.  And that’s just the outside.  I’m afraid of what it looks like on behind bumper and trim.

I’ll have to jack it up and remove the wheel well liner and probably the rear bumper to get an idea of the extent of it.  I’d like to find where the water is collecting and I suspect a clogged water drain is the likely answer.

Took this photo last fall.  I’m not really familiar with the S60 but I wouldn’t be surprised to find a water drain under all that debris.

I’m not sure what it would cost to fix the rust issues but it’s probably more than it’s wise to spend on a car this age.  I need to get a good look at the extent of the rust and maybe make it look a little less unsightly.  But I do realize that the only way to fix it properly is going to involve cutting and welding and that’s beyond my skill set.

Leave a comment if you have any tips or suggestions and in the meantime I’ll keep working on making the rest of the car look better.

Thanks