Body shop to fix hole in underbody

daMaster

New member
So I went for my annual rust proofing at DuraTech and Jon (the owner) spotted a big rust hole under my car while he was spraying it. He warned me that he could feel the carpet through the hole.

Last night I pulled up the carpet on my driver's side and found a huge hole (pictured below) which only seems to be getting worse. This is most likely because my car is lowered and over the years has been scraping against snow and ice. It's a 2002 Mazda, but it's been rust proofed every single year since I owned (since day 0).

Can someone recommend what I should do to get this fixed? Any good body shops that specialize in this kind of underbody work?

Here's the pic:
img1061x.jpg
 
Check le prix d'une floorpan chez napa, sur un volks c'est en bas de 100$, desfois ca vaut la peine de la changer au complet plutot que de faire une job de patchage
 
Check le prix d'une floorpan chez napa, sur un volks c'est en bas de 100$, desfois ca vaut la peine de la changer au complet plutot que de faire une job de patchage

Good idea. I'll look into it. But how much does it cost to replace the entire floor?
 
a floorpan pretty much is the whole floor on one side, if you can find that I think it would be your best bet because once you pull teh carpet you'll probably find more.

Nick
 
hmmmm Mazda..... ca sent la qualité jusqu'ici.

Je suis pas un hater, j'ai eu une Millenia et je l'ai adoré... mais elle aussi a commencer à pourrir.

Si ca peut te donner une idée mon ami a refait le plancher sous sa Altima dans un garage ordinaire et ca lui a couter environ 4-500$
 
Yep typical spot on those cars, well really any car. They rust from the inside out. It's caused by water that gets absorbed by the carpet, high traffic area. Since that area is always in contact with water it slowly rots away, even if its dry on top there is still moisture trapped in the under padding.

Did you have good winter floor mats?
 
hmmmm Mazda..... ca sent la qualité jusqu'ici.

Je suis pas un hater, j'ai eu une Millenia et je l'ai adoré... mais elle aussi a commencer à pourrir.

Si ca peut te donner une idée mon ami a refait le plancher sous sa Altima dans un garage ordinaire et ca lui a couter environ 4-500$

I was hoping this wouldn't turn into a Mazda-hating thread, so let's try to keep those comments out. I've owned many Mazdas in the family and they've been awesome. My wife's 99 Protege is in excellent condition and has practically no rust in the underbody or around the usual problem areas.

Mine got damaged by scraping on ice, snow, etc. because it's lowered. It's clear that the floor is cracked and damaged, just look at the crack lines in the picture I posted.

Yep typical spot on those cars, well really any car. They rust from the inside out. It's caused by water that gets absorbed by the carpet, high traffic area. Since that area is always in contact with water it slowly rots away, even if its dry on top there is still moisture trapped in the under padding.

Did you have good winter floor mats?

I always layered on 2-3 coats of carpet over my stock carpet during the winter months. I really think this happened because of damage from scraping ice, snow, etc. during the winter. One of the consequences of driving a lowered car in the winter...

I can do it for you if you want

Check PM please.
 
I always layered on 2-3 coats of carpet over my stock carpet during the winter months. I really think this happened because of damage from scraping ice, snow, etc. during the winter. One of the consequences of driving a lowered car in the winter...

then why is it only on that side if you scrapped and rubbed? Trust me it's from water that entered from inside
 
Mine got damaged by scraping on ice, snow, etc. because it's lowered. It's clear that the floor is cracked and damaged, just look at the crack lines in the picture I posted.

Thats the sound isolating material, not your floor. Its brittle and once your floor got rotten out (from the inside out) there was nothing underneath to support it. The hole probably formed last winter and slush/salt got in and accelerated the situation.
 
Isn't Duratech 100% warranty?

It's probably like Metropolitain.. it's only covered if you've done it every year since the car was purchased new and if the rust started from the outside .. etc.. a whole bunch of crap to cover their asses and never pay really.

Sucks to see your floor in such bad shape, if you do get it fixed, please tell me how much it cost you and where you got it done, I might have ap roject car that needs a floor. thanks
 
Yep typical spot on those cars, well really any car. They rust from the inside out. It's caused by water that gets absorbed by the carpet, high traffic area. Since that area is always in contact with water it slowly rots away, even if its dry on top there is still moisture trapped in the under padding.

Did you have good winter floor mats?

This.....


...is something most people don't seem to be able to wrap there head around. MY first car, A 95 lebaron GTC, was driven by one of these asshats. It was supper clean everywhere except in the floorpan ONLY in the driver, and a bit of the passenger side footwell.
 
The precedent owner of my civic put plastic under the carpet (when it wasn't too late), I don't know if it helps but I don't have any hole for now.
 
I don't wanna argue with the self-proclaimed carrosserie experts here, but in-person and even from the picture it is very evident that the damage started from the OUTSIDE in. The metal under the car is scraped, rusted and badly damaged, and something tore through that area FIRST. That caused the INSIDE floor to crack, and then rust as water penetrated in.

Just because it happened on the driver's side doesn't mean it should also have happened on the passenger's side. That's like saying "I got a nail in my driver's side tire so I also should have gotten a nail in my passenger's side tire". Last winter or some previous winter I must've hit something hard on the driver's side.

Just to put things into perspective: I'm the first owner of this car. Rust proofed first 4 years at Metropolitain, next 6 years at DuraTech. I don't drive the car much during the winter months, and let the fact that I only have 137,000 kms on the car be a testament to that. Overall, the car's paint and body is in excellent condition. I've always been diligent about putting many layers down over my carpet during the winter.

Once again, this didn't happen from the INSIDE out. You have to see the underneath and the inside floor in person to realize this happened from the OUTSIDE in.
 
Ya un ptit trou dans le fond ma chevelle pis jreçoit plein d'eau, quand jroule dans la neige, faut que jme traine une pelle pour la vider com' faut !!!!!!!!!
 
Back
Top