Some bubbling

[Drew20]

Looking for advice on whether to dive into this early, or leave until there are other areas of the car to look at at the same time. Piccie below is the lower front corner of the driver's door. I struggled to get a photo, as without very specific lighting the chamonix bubbles blend very well into the chamonix door!
The door skin is aluminium, so I guess that I'm looking at galvanic corrosion, not helped by the uk weather.
Should I wade in now, or leave it to evolve a bit? I'm quite good with steel bodywork, but I've not dealt with ally/ steel previously. Any tips? I have all winter....

 

[Keshav]

My 2 cents Drew,
What does the other door look like? I’ve honestly never seen so much corrosion on an Alloy door before. It’s an original Csl Alu door or a re-skin on a standard door, difference being the separation of Alu and steel? What does the bottom of the door look like? Waiting can only make it worse and once the metal frame starts to rot, you'll have more than just re skinning on your hands. You could also remove the door cards and take a good look from inside to see what it looks. Also insure that the water outlets are clean and not obstructing the water collecting inside the doors....

 

[teahead]

Bad prep I guess.

Got something going on similar on the aluminum door skin on my Pagoda. Took off door panel...WTH is that?



My issue was collision damage from an old photo that came w/the car. POS body work IMHO.

 

[Drew20]

Yes, think I already knew I need to tackle this asap
The other door, indeed the rest of the car, is rust free (or at least as rust free as you can assume for a uk car), which is why I was so disappointed to see this develop so quickly. I assume some moisture must have come in at the window and sat in this corner.
From the inside of the door there is no sign of this issue

If it was steel, from what I can see, when the paint comes off I would expect to find some flaking and pin prick holes, maybe a larger hole/blister in one place. With ally door skins, will it be the ally or the steel that is corroding here?

 

[m_thompson]

I have some bubbles like that on the right quarter panel. It hasn't gotten any worse in 35 years.

 

[deQuincey]

I have some bubbles like that on the right quarter panel. It hasn't gotten any worse in 35 years.

i would leave that alone, french say "le passage du temps" (probably wrong spelling, apologies)

 

[bavbob]

There have been threads on maintaining drainage in all areas of these cars. Ensure that the drain slots on the door are patent. On my Bavaria, the sound insulation had just peeled off from heat I guess, was sitting in the bottom of the door and blocking the drain slots.

 

[eriknetherlands]

does this not fall under "Patina" as you UK guys call it so eloquently?

If it is limited to just the door then I'd tackle it. A door is nicely doable over winter period. Also you write that it got bad quickly. Likely next winter it is worse, making the repairs quickly more difficult. Reskinning it with a cleaned original steel structure below it is much easier compared to having to replace the steel door (lower) frame and then reskinning it.

is there a good reason to wait? Are you planning to drive over the winter period?

 

[Drew20]

Think I'm going to dive in, because it has developed quickly, and I hope to avoid re-skinning if poss.
I got caught in the rain at Gaydon and I'm guessing my door drains are sub par. I dried the car off, but obviously not inside the doors. Unfortunate....

 

[daddywad]

HI Drew, you can see in my pics why the ally skin goes, and always the same places, water in the doors and the skin being fitted without treatment or insulation from the steel.. My door frames are stripped back here and the bottoms were also too far gone so had to be replaced too.
I understand the Walloth door skin is reasonable but takes some effort to fit correctly.
Not shown on my doors here is the ally panel that goes from back to front at the top of the door to strengthen it.

Good luck

Mark