Rocker panel rot? 2008

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misspelledone

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2008 Expedition EL, under the driver door. Like it's not bad enough that all the paint is falling off the hood and hatch now I am getting rot under the driver door. This real common, and is there anything that can be done? Truck doesn't see a lot of sand or salt or anything, it's pretty well just a street truck that I keep very clean. And it's not a small spot, it's a solid 12 inches at least. Damn this truck, I love it but it's killing me slowly.

Thanks,
Chris
 

ExpeditionAndy

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2008 Expedition EL, under the driver door. Like it's not bad enough that all the paint is falling off the hood and hatch now I am getting rot under the driver door. This real common, and is there anything that can be done? Truck doesn't see a lot of sand or salt or anything, it's pretty well just a street truck that I keep very clean. And it's not a small spot, it's a solid 12 inches at least. Damn this truck, I love it but it's killing me slowly.

Thanks,
Chris
Living in Jersey and driving it in the winter is all it needs to get started. Really once rust starts the only way to stop it is to cut it out. If it is surface rust you can sand it down to bare metal, fill in any obvious divots with bondo or fiberglass, then sand, prime and paint. If it the metal has gotten soft, you have to cut it out weld in new steel and then finish and repaint the effected area.

If it's in the driver's side, you can bet that it is in passenger rocker as well. Crawl under it and check the floorboards and body mounts too because you are likely to see it starting there as well.

Ask me how I know. :(
 

gixer2000

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Best thing you can do is try to displace the moisture so it stops getting worse. Some type of oil spray will typically get the moisture out but unfortunately the only way to repair is to replace the entire rocker
 

bobmbx

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Rust-O-leum will stop the creep, but thats all. Bad metal does not regenerate, so you'll have to remove the damaged areas and replace with something, either new metal, fiberglass, or heapum bondo (like we used to do in the good ol' days).
 

ExpeditionAndy

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Rust-O-leum will stop the creep, but thats all. Bad metal does not regenerate, so you'll have to remove the damaged areas and replace with something, either new metal, fiberglass, or heapum bondo (like we used to do in the good ol' days).
I friend of mine ran a body shop 35 years ago and for people that wanted a really cheap rocker repair, they would stuff newspaper into the rocker and fiberglass and bondo over it, paint it and out the door it went. At least now you can shoot expanding foam inside for a little stiffness. :rolleyes:
 

bobmbx

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I friend of mine ran a body shop 35 years ago and for people that wanted a really cheap rocker repair, they would stuff newspaper into the rocker and fiberglass and bondo over it, paint it and out the door it went. At least now you can shoot expanding foam inside for a little stiffness. :rolleyes:

Back then, car panels had a substantial amount of steel in them, and took a bit longer to rust to the point of uselessness. Today, not so much. Thin panels, aluminum, and plastic dominate the bodywork of most cars. A friend in high school had a 1968 Ford Galaxy 500. It weighed about 8 tons, had an engine most airplanes would love to have, and could bounce off rock walls with impunity. We proved that last one in an empirical experiment one night. For fun, we put a spark plug in the tail pipe hooked to a switch on the dash and then to one of the spark plug wires on the engine. We'd be rolling along, shut the engine off for a few seconds (which filled the exhaust system with a nice Fuel/Air explosive), then hit the switch and started the car. At times, he shoot a flame out the exhaust pipe for 20 feet or more.

We were immortal then, so no worries.
 

ExpeditionAndy

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Back then, car panels had a substantial amount of steel in them, and took a bit longer to rust to the point of uselessness. Today, not so much. Thin panels, aluminum, and plastic dominate the bodywork of most cars. A friend in high school had a 1968 Ford Galaxy 500. It weighed about 8 tons, had an engine most airplanes would love to have, and could bounce off rock walls with impunity. We proved that last one in an empirical experiment one night. For fun, we put a spark plug in the tail pipe hooked to a switch on the dash and then to one of the spark plug wires on the engine. We'd be rolling along, shut the engine off for a few seconds (which filled the exhaust system with a nice Fuel/Air explosive), then hit the switch and started the car. At times, he shoot a flame out the exhaust pipe for 20 feet or more.

We were immortal then, so no worries.
I remember those days. I had a 2-door 63 Mercury Meteor. It was 13 when I got it.
 

JExpedition07

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My rockers have some rust underneath on both sides, As does my aunts 08. Rocker panels are a weak spot on expys and they haven't been changed to date so it's a persisting weak spot on brand new ones. I sprayed in and out with fluid film spray that is supposed to stop it. How many years do you plan on keeping the truck? If only a few years spray it and dont worry about it. My last explorer had literally no rocker panels Left and I drove it like that for two years. The moisture sits down in there and goes to town on the steel all you can do is take care of it best you can. I find most vehicles have a weak spot(s). I'm seeing a lot of tahoes with rusting rear quarter panels lately from the last gen (07-14).
 
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darmahsd

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Both rocker panels on my '05 are gone, along with the
bubbling hood and tailgate around license enclosure,
both aluminum panels that Ford won't own up to.
The good thing is the way the rocker panels are
parallel to the ground, so looking at the truck from
the side view, you can't see that they're gone. If it wasn't
for the bubbling aluminum panels, my truck would look
mint.
I'm going to grind away the remaining part of the rocker panel. I can get slightly thicker gauge sheetmetal from a local supplier to weld in. I have a small sheet metal brake
to form the edges. There's not much physical change
between 2nd and 3rd gen expy's, so maybe these would
work: http://www.ebay.com/itm/232004375176? redirect=mobile
They might have direct fit for your '2008.
Either way, cutting old ones out and welding new metal
in best way to go. Then Ziebart through access holes.
If your rockers are gone, check your radiator support,
most likely that's on it's way out too.
Other tip is to cover the chassis and undercarraige
with Por15. Expensive stuff @ over $150 a gallon and time consuming, which is why I haven't gotten to it yet, but worth it if you love
your truck and live in the snow belt.
Stephen
 

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