Your post made me dig up old posts I had bookmarked, I know I was looking into the issue a while ago and forgot about it.

It starts from the inside out, so grinding the outside won't help it will just pop up again in a year. I messaged a few people that had it repaired locally and the rust eventually came up again. Most of the time it's just the outer skin that is rusting. BTDT sells an outer skin but the outer skin (non-structural) is right next to the inner skin (structural). So depending on how bad the rust it the structural part might be rusting too, the only way to know is to cut out the outer skin and see how bad it is. If the inner skin is badly rusted it would be best to get a the whole section from a donor car and weld that in probably. The inner part is thick so if it has surface rust that can be fixed. This is just based of the stuff I read in the past hour lol. My car still has rocker panel rust.

Here are some links if anyone is looking into why this happens

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=259016 <more links on post 18
http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=274642
http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=210664

That's the reason I don't want to drop $1000 on a body shop to patch it up, just for it to come back in a year or two. I'd rather spend the money on parts, autox and track days right now.

 

yeah plus its direct swap since im a 1.8.. at least thats what i read from m.net.

 

yessir i've seen all these threads.. i know about btdt's replacement rear quarter panel as well. right now it looks like it could be just the surface.. idk how to approach it but i'll have aaron examine it. if its the worst, then i have vinny from kenosha who does really well cut and weld jobs for cheaps. also, i noticed that keeping water out of the drains must help.. hence, i figured keeping a hardtop on permanently will prevent that area from rusting again.

 

I saw Vinny's work on JDMC forums, good stuff. I already ditched the soft top, I have to find some kind of oil to spray in there or something to slow the rust down in the meantime.

 

yeah man i'm really hope mine is just all surface ----.

 

Looks like tech day on Friday is going to be at Adam's house? I'll have him confirm on here with a time.

 

I'm free after 3:30

 

Are you guys hitting up any HDPEs this year?

 

if i'm lucky to afford and sneak out to go to one, i will later this year.

 

Going to do at least one a month.