Kurt,

What is the average cost of the repairs?
I fully understand that they all vary and I have had the repair done on a previous car down here in Cardiff. Depending on cost you could have a big money spinner here.

:thumb:

The best way to stop the rust reoccurring is to do the following:

Replace the whole arch with a new panel as I have explained, and also to seal the arch from both the underside and inside the car. I will upload some pics shortly of a repair I have carried out and the price can vary depending upon workload etc... I'd say the average price for this would be £300 per quarter, that's including parts, paint & materials, and labour.

Obviously this is a guide price but gives an idea for those with this problem. I hear of garages charging as much to fit the fibreglass arches which do nothing to stop the rust and once they are fitted you can tell immediately that the vehicle has the rust problem.

The job can be a little more expensive on the 4 door as sometimes the repair will need to be taken inside the door shut.

Hope this gives you a rough idea.
Kurt - H&G Bodyshop

That's a bargain!

I have a link to the H&G Bodyshop facebook page where I have uploaded some pics of an Impreza that I currently have in the workshop.

This is only as far as primer as the car will not be painted until after the weekend. I will post the final pics once the car is painted.

Bearing in mind this vehicle is having a little bit more work done to protect the sills, and also having the full sides painted so this is a more expensive job again.

Here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/HGBodyshop

Just to let you know, you don't need to have a facebook account to view the page and pics.

Kurt - H&G Bodyshop

Very nice!

Loving the Pop! :)

Just been sold on to a guy in Germany, new lease of life as a hotrod.

Wonder why my wagon has survived so well. I jacked it up and took the wheels off last week for a good look underneath as it's not showing any external signs of rust. I cleaned the arches and it looks perfect under there.

You might be lucky, but just to reassure yourself I would remove the inner quarter plastics and check on the condition of the arches from inside the car. These arches rust from the inside out, and most of the time it's too late once it's started to show on the outside.

as above they dont rust from the wheel side of the arch, its the cavity on the inside of the arch, you can see it from the boot if you take the trim off

Kurt,

I have had a set done by a garage in Cardiff a while ago and paid about the same. Now moving on to my 7th Subaru I know the issues. It may be worth popping down to an SWS meet, normally the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the Toby Carvery on J32 of the M4, to drum up business and have a chat.

Cheers

Ian

Even so, I've had plenty up on the ramp and they've been rusty looking up inside the arches (and obviously showing outside and on the arch lip seam) I saw one the other day which was rotten all round the rear jacking points. And the fuel fillers are all rotten usually too.

Sounds like a bargain.
Mine has a small bubble on one side, but both need doing. Looking down from the boot behind the plastics you can see rust on the inside of mine above the arch. Also on the nearside rear there's been a bodged repair between the arch and passenger door. You can see there's rust under there so mine might be a little more extensive.
The quote for the work including paint is that for a standard factory colour? Mine is 230 Feather White.
Liked your page on FB this morning.

Thanks Ian, I will keep that in mind.

Well I have both a Max Meyer solvent paint scheme and Max Meyer water based paint scheme so can colour match to more or less any colour.

If you wanted a more precise quote you are more than welcome to call by the workshop one day if that is possible. Also thanks for the like.

Just to update here is a link to the complete repair:

https://www.facebook.com/HGBodyshop

If you get any problems viewing from that link then here is a direct link to the album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...8448877&type=1

Any questions please get in touch, hope I have provided some guidance for impreza owners that are suffering.

Kurt - H&G Bodyshop

Top work :)

Just had a look on FB, looks spot on.

Where is H & G?

We are based near Cardiff mate.

Thanks, just looked at your rear arch repair on your Facebook page & it looks impressive. Shame it's just a bit too far for me.

If you can source a decent panel beater that's willing to carry out the work I will give a more detailed explaination of the procedure. You will need to find a competent fitter because you can imagine the outcome if fitted incorrectly.

Glad to hear people like the work.

Can anyone recommend a shop that can do this, in the Glasgow area?

Top job!

This sounds like a good idea, plenty of classics attend and abit of preventive maintenance to stop rusting appearing or spreading with this work can be good for you.

Group buy ? :-)

really excellent work h&g would appreciate a more detailed explanation if that would be possible especially on the sealing of the inner arches also do you have any info on replacing the sills is there a replacement panel i could use from another car or a universal panel or do you just make up a repair panel my arches arnt to bad at the moment they have been rolled by a previous owner but are starting to bubble a little the main problem i have is the rear and mid part of the sill any info would be appreciated thanks paul

I have been speaking to a couple of body shops who are not too keen on tackling the unknown so contemplating a welsh holiday to have the job done right :D

So am I. Local body shops to me either daren't do it or are quoting more than it would cost to replace the whole quarter panel.

I did my own V1 STi before I had my own bodyshop and used a pair of salvage rear quarters to cut out the sections I needed.

Once I took the old paint off my STi and started cutting away it wasn't as bad as I first feared, but still wasn't pretty. The nasty old filler repair was blistering up really bad, but on the one side it had been plated. And whilst it was a very poor plate repair, it had actually helped to prevent the real damage from spreading much further.

Finding a pair of rear quarters that were rust free (barring a tiny bit of surface) wasn't easy, but saved on fabrication time.

I also lead loaded prior to the finishing skim of filler then went overboard with the rust prevention as I don't plan to sell the car.

http://i57.tinypic.com/2193rt.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/2d766ut.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/2m7iw0p.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/a2rsx1.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/353czy8.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/2zsn2bk.jpg

http://i60.tinypic.com/290u9uc.jpg

http://i60.tinypic.com/n389pv.jpg

http://i60.tinypic.com/n389pv.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/1182loi.jpg

nice work strada looks like a nice job but finding a rust free set of arches must have been a nightmare seems as tho you took a lot more out of the original rusty panel than i would have thought necessary is there any reason for this? just interested as i will have to do mine in the near future haha thanks paul

No that was the minimum I could take really. Wish I could find some decent "before" photos. It had been badly bodged with filler before which had expanded and made some huge blisters. When I took the paint off I was pretty relieved to see how little I had to cut away to be honest as I was expecting to have to replace the entire quarter, which is why I sourced two full quarters. I was searching for a while for rust free ones, and even then I agreed to take some from a breakers which were described as one being rust free and the other having a slight amount of rust on the edge, which I knew I'd be able to sort, at least most of the shape would be there. As it was it was nothing around the area I needed anyway.

Other than a little I had to fabricate into the bottom of the passenger's side arch the rest of the car was rust free and incredibly straight. I doubt there's another STi V1 out there so straight, clean and original now, so was worth the effort.