So, a week ago the rocker panel cover on the passenger side fell off. Oops. Before slapping it back on, I decided to go ahead and examine the panel for any rust spots and clean them up and re-paint them. That is, until I found a squishy spot in the back near the rear wheel. Some prying and poking later and I was able to remove most of the rust and leave a hole in the rocker panel. Yay.
And then I pulled off the driver side rocker cover.
Even worse, and it had rusted through to the rear wheel well space. And a ton more dirt around the rust hole. I blame that little shelf in front of the rear wheel where dirt seems to easily accumulate. So, what do?
I could still just clean up the edges and paint them and keep a hole of sorts so dirt doesn't get trapped in the rocker tube space. Or, I could bondo the holes shut. Don't have a welder to weld it closed.
I thought I could bondo it closed, but part of the problem was there was a ton of fine sandy dirt in that spot, moist dirt that probably caused the problem. So I considered that I could just clean up the edges, paint and seal the edges to prevent more rust, and put the covers back on, and that would give a place for dirt and moisture to escape.