On our '06 Civic Hybrid, I'm seeing a little bubbling up on one our rear wheel wells, driver's side, on the edge of the lip towards the front of the vehicle. It's near the bottom of the wheel well, a zone about 4" long on the back edge of the lip, just the edge is effected:, maybe an eight inch wide strip right now.

There's a double layer of steel plate there, with intermittent spot welds. There's a bit of gap between the 2 layers: you can run a fingernail along, dislodging some of the trapped dirt.

Groan, here we go again. Anyway, I ran over the gap with a tooth brush to dislodge what trapped grit I could, and rubbed the area down with some car polish. Not sure what to do. I think there's something happening between the two layers.

 

I have the same thing on my wife's 05 Tribute (small bubbles of rust behind rear license plate), it is still under " rust" warranty but they said that it was to minor and i would have to fix it myself. Otherwise I would say take it in to Honda you shoudl still be under perforation warranty.

 

I checked, and don't think it's covered: surface rust is 3 year, we're over that. I don't think it's in any way "perforation", which has longer warranty.

I looked it over carefully. It looks like it started from the rear edge, where the paint was thinned and chipped away a little. I scrapped off all the loose stuff, sanded and steel wooled, applied several applications of "Rust-Mort", let it sit overnight, then primed and topcoated with brush applicator. It's a small, out-of-the-way area so not obvious.

I also pulled both rear wheels, had a good look inside, and made sure the edge was well coated. Only one wheel well is doing this, the other side looks fine.

I did the best I could, and will keep an eye on it. If it starts up again, not sure what to do, maybe get a pro to fix. Rear wheel wells are a very rust prone area on Hondas, maybe any car. From experience once these things start they come back, but maybe I'll be suprised this time.

 

Isolated bubbles are almost always pinhole perforation coming out from the inside. Watch it carefully.....

 

S**t, that's been lurking in my mind. There are two layers, spot welded together, but with a gap between. And there is crap getting in between. And it's down near the bottom of the wheel well arch, where the water (and salt) tends to migrate.

 

How long is the rust warranty? If you run it another winter and it perforates, will they have to repair it for free?

If not, I'd be tempted to get a rustproofing wax injection kit and spray the seams, rocker panels and anything else that could rust from the inside and out, filling the spaces between the two welded panels with wax. Waxoyl, Rust Check and similar products would be good. If you do it in hot weather, it's ideal and the wax totally liquefies and gets into all the seams.

I once rustproofed a Renault 5 and a Peugeot 405 I used to own and it was absolutely amazing where the injected wax would come out, of what you think are well sealed seams! The Peugeot in particular was still devoid of rust - despite living in the British Columbia snow belt for 6 tough years - when I scrapped it earlier this year at age 21.

 

I just had another look, and see the side I thought was pristine was actually showing a little bubble-up, just one 1" long area. The problem area is right at the edge, which makes me think it's as much from the paint on the edge being compromised, as opposed to deep rust starting in between the 2 layers. This in turn is likely going to mean Honda will argue it's surface category. This "pristine" side seems to have much better sealing at the seam between the double layer edge, though still a few iffy zones.

I shot WD40 into the gaps, on both sides, and am just now scraping and Rust-Morting the small area I just discovered. I was entertaining using a waxy substance, but figure WD40 will also get into the corners very efficiently, and be a little more forgiving, ie: not likely to plug something up, cause a dam. I would think it just needs more frequent re-application.

Surface rust is warranty for 3 year, which I'm past, and perforation is 8 year, which is a ways off. After this I guess I'll stop, periodically shoot a little WD40 into the gaps, and watch it closely. If it's bubbling back up by next spring guess I'll get in touch with Honda.

Rear wheel wells are #1 rust areas in my experience, very frustrating.

 

remove the rubber edging that is on the inside of the wheel well, honda put it there for ascetics yet all it does is hold water up against a vulnerable area for rust. I learned this working in a body shop a few years back

 

The Civics (at least the current gen) don't have that strip. But I know what you mean from past experience, at least with Accords. Maybe that's alway been an extra "feature" with Accords only?