Is300 sill corrosion

[Stevierich]

Hi everybody. I own a 2002 lexus. Is300. Car has only done 62000 miles and drives like new. Lovely condition. The dreaded blister has appeared on n/s sill. I know this is a problem on is200/300 models. I realise that this will be expensive. Is it worth repairing on car this age ?. I will probably get other sill done at the same time. I spent £800 last year on service and timing belt. Tyres and Battery. This is the best car i have ever owned but is it worth spending more money on 16 year old car. Sorry for long winded question .

[ColinBarber]

Hi Stephen

That is a difficult question to answer. I think it comes down to how cheaply you can get the work done locally.

This thread may be useful to understand what is involved which you can show to a repair shop to get a quote:

 

[gdh300]

Tricky decision. It cast me £500 to get both my sills cut-out, repaired and repainted. Problem is it was the second time... You've really got to get someone who knows what they're doing and insist on all the precautions to to stop it coming back (drain holes, Waxoyl and so on). 

You obviously love the car and are prepared to spend on it (as I was on mine) so I'd say get it done; the age is neither here-nor-there if you really like the car. At that mileage, the running gear is hardly run-in! But just be careful who does the work, or you'll be paying twice and doing it again in two years...

[Magic7032]

I think I got lucky with mine and a previous owner had them sorted, I could be wrong and the bit I’ve photos may be standard(?) but underneath is deffo sealed, I’d be interested what info or opinions anyone has 

sorry in pics car is a little muddy

[Dinho]

If you are planning on changing the car soon then no I wouldn't bother. But if like me you intend to keep the car then yes get them done. My friend had both of his sills done for £300 including repainted!

[Chris Skelton]

....I hope so (Worth fixing) as I'm -hopefully! - about to buy an IS with signs of this...MOT until next Feb, so plan to fix over winter, when I usually 'mothball' the car.

80K miles so worth putting a few 000s into it.

[Leozack]

My sills have bubbled and I had to have welding work done for MOT a year or 2 ago as they poked a hole in it and the result come daylight is shockingly ugly.  Unfortunately there's little I can do about it and I have noone local to Bristol/Bath I can trust to do the big job without fleecing me so I've just had to let it get worse.  Mine is 03 reg so it's hard to justify the investment but a car this beautiful yet beastly deserves to run until the engine goes.

[Dinho]

It cost my friend £280 to weld repair and repaint the sills which I think is a decent price. This is the Midlands though with many places offering that kind of service. Best you can do is get some quotes. 

By the way, you will have a long wait before that engine goes anywhere. Solid!! 

[Leozack]

The MOT repairs repairs on mine (which seems to basically be someone sticking a plate over the top and gluing it on with bathroom sealant) cost me about £90 which was a releif cos I was panicing about the cost just to get it through MOT when noone had ever poked holes in my car before and said oh look now there's a hole  😐  But yeah it looks crap.  Might get a photo oh it.  Never had bodywork done, never had scuffs or scrapes done, never had any recommendations for places to do this round here.

[Leozack]

This is the side I've not got done

This is the  super ugly result of the side I had done - noticing the arch is pretty bad now too  😞

I also spotted the running strip is losing it's paint too - nice

[rich1068]

The rub strip is replaceable pre-coloured for about £80 from a dealer or I got one of mine painted for £40. Touch up paint just wouldn't take no matter how many times I tried.

[Leozack]

Yeah I've just ignored that as it's passenger side so not really bothering me.  The other scuffs/scrapes/chips I give up on trying to stay on top of  😕  But I can't afford the thing to rust away so if there is a recommended process to carry out on the sills and people have had it done then I'd appreciate an explanation of exactly what I should ask for and some ballpark figures on cost (and maybe some photos showing it ends up looking better than my hideous patch job they did to mine)

[Ben01]

From my experience with rusty sills and arches (hello, former ford guy here), if you see the heavy red discoloration, not mention the bubles or cracks, is too late for any "easy" methods. Filling, patching, painting etc. are waste of resources, bad red girl will be back in months. Only proper cut and weld a new steel do a job, with all costs and troubles. BTW this was reason I given up with first GS, it was fine for a moment,  but after year or two in my hands she revealed her real red nature, here and there and everywhere.

Another option is to cover bad cosmetics with wrap, foil, plastics, etc. just to not see them and if you don't plan to keep the car for long time. Under the cover or wrap rust eats sills or arches twice faster, of course.

[Leozack]

Yeah well you can see on my pics above what I am dealing with  😕

[Leozack]

Judging by the photos, what do people think I should be asking for and possibly what might it have cost if anyone has done similar work?  Sidenote wht do people tend to do with chips on the bonnet etc, I've never had any kind of body repairs/touchups done on a car

[Ben01]

Nobody could guess cost and scope of this kind of job from photo, and prices form other side of country two years ago only fool you. Find any reasonable garage in area, ask them for quote.

About dents - buy a paint (by your car color code or matched) bottle or spray (I prefer spray, you always could spray into jar or glass a bit and use this with brush, but not opposite). Buy tiny pointed brushes. Buy any mild solvent (cleaner better, but any white spirit would be enough) to clean dents and brushes. Always work in superdry condition (not foggy day or after/before the rain etc). If dent is on plastic or metal, but not to the bare metal/rust, just clean it gently with solvent, dry it hard, and apply paint inside dent with tiny pointed brush, a few times if needed. If dent is to bare metal/rust it is good idea to buy any anti rust agent/filler or "rust conversion" agent (I still use some Brunox leftovers), try to remove much as possible rust without more damage and apply an agent before paint, according to manual for agent (never mix brushes for paint and any other agent!).

It is never perfect or invisible, don't believe in any adverts on tip-ups, but IMHO it is better than rusted dents, or black/white dents on plastic parts.

[Hadrian]

I trust the corrosion problem has been overcome now on the is300h.  ?

I haven't had a rust problem on a car for many years.

[rich1068]

Yes. Very much limited to the 1st gen IS. And even then it's not rust as we used to know it where cars literally turned to dust on your driveway. It's a little water trap that in some circumstances causes a bit of rot. Unfortunately by the time you can see it a bit of surgery is required.

[Leozack]

I guess what I'm asking is considering the poor job I had done to it (seen in the pics) for about £90 to get through an MOT, what should I make sure I ask for/don't ask for if I wanted to get both sides cleared up so they look normal again?  And is there any mod needed to stop it reoccurring?

The bonnet chips I've got that have penetrated the paint are rusty, I don't know if that's ever going to be worth the challenge of trying to clear them up since when you do long drives at speed you inevitably get peppered with this stuff and it's as futile as trying to keep the car clean when you drive down country lanes every day  😐

[Leozack]

Ok I'm looking at finding a recommended bodyshop in the Bristol/Bath area but I still don't know what I could ask for other than to just look at what you've seen in the above photos and tell me how much damage to fix it in a noncosmetic way aka a "please stop this car dying" way.  Combined with other issues the costs of keeping such an old car are starting to kick in, which feels bad man  :S

[rich1068]

I hate to say it but you're going to have to take the plunge, put your hand in your pocket and just pay someone to sort this. Same with the engine management light problem you describe in another thread. Coming back here and asking for repeated advice isn't going to get the job done. You seem to hate the thought of being ripped off, everyone does. But unfortunately if you're one of those people that always thinks they're getting ripped off when they have to pay out for something then I'm afraid I can't help you with that.

Really don't want to have a go but there you are. A quick Google comes up with these guys http://www.firstchoicetoyotaspecialist.co.uk/ I know nothing about them but that's probably where I'd start. Speak to them about the engine management light, ask if they can recommend a body shop.

It's great running these older cars. But just because they can be picked up cheap doesn't mean they run on fresh air!

Good luck.

[Leozack]

Yeah it's fine I am just after recommendations where possible as I know lots of people have good connections and that's worth its weight in gold.  I've had this car for many years now so I'm not surprises the problems are mounting up I just want to be sure I don't throw money at the wrong things is all.  Unfortunately I'm an IT engineer not a mechanic, so my skillset doesn't let me diagnose and resolve problems on a car in the way I'd like 😉 Infact I plugged a new ODB2 WIFI adapter in yesterday and couldn't get it to read me the fault codes but now my TRC and VSC lights are stuck on and the button doesn't have any effect, so I'm on a roll  😄

 

[rich1068]

I'm glad you took my post in the spirit it was intended.