Rusty bumper mount on wing.

[davemar 16]

I'm still gradually working my way through my car cutting out old rust and welding in new metal. Progress has been pretty slow, but I've worked to the front of the car now.

I removed the front bumper to see the state of what's behind it, and found the mounting part on the wing is very rusty as you can see in the photo. The one on the passenger side is nowhere near is bad as this.

Obviously I can't leave it like this as it's very crumbly; but I'm not sure what approach to take. The rest of the wing seems fine, so it'll be a shame to remove it for the sake of just this part. However, making my own piece to match this shape would be very difficult due to all the sticky-out bits. On the rest of the car I've managed to make up my own patches as the shapes have been reasonably simple. The only panel I've replaced with a proper part is one of the sills.

So do I go for a new wing (so spending money I don't have a lot of at the moment), or make something up which might do the job but may not have all the right curvy bits?

 

It's also worth mentioning the inner wing is pretty bad, so I'm going to have cut out and replace some of that anyway.

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

The inner wings are available on eBay. Arie Plonk makes them. If you can't fabricate that part cut it off and take it to someone who can.

[Tom Fenton 1,524]

I don’t think the pressed “donut” bit serves any purpose on a GTI. Base models use it for bumper mounting but the GTI uses the spacer arrangement. I think you could cut that off and make a new bit out of flat steel and it would be ok.

I have repaired similar before but had a scrap wing to cut the pressing off. Just go steady when welding so as not to warp the panel with the heat.

[DamirGTI 323]

I agree with Tom , since that part is mostly (well by 90%) covered over by bumper there's no need to fabricate some "exceptionally beautiful" patch panel out of sheet steel to fix that , as majority of it wont be seen with the bumper on .

 

As for welding , i always have an wet/moist sponge or rag (clean one , not old oily one or something like such) near when welding thin sheet metal such as door skin , bonnet or similar ... as usual for thin metal , weld by quick short pulse weld by stop-and-go and cooling the weld asap while it's still red hod with moist sponge after each pass , really helps reducing the thin panels heat distortion ... more precise welder settings helps also (with MIG , more precise wire speed and voltage setting)

 

D

[Leslie green 80]

Use 1mm steel for the repair which is a bit thicker so will add some strength and join in on the horizontal part with a few plug welds.

[davemar 16]

I've got loads of 1mm steel having done quite a lot on the car already, so have got used to welding with the flimsy metal. I'll try and fabricate a piece.