Rear wheel well liners

[Intuit]

Came upon this thread - I have a 2013 Fiesta where my right rear wheel well has rusted terribly. It seems the cloth liner is just making things worse, and more pressingly it's in the way of my attempted repairs.

The car is old and already at 183,000 kms.

Is there any real risk/downside to just removing the one liner and spraying inside the wheel well with a rubberized coating?

Even though they're meant for sound-deadening, it seems like they've helped in my case. But I also spray behind them during the Winter months. I figure they help block the rocks that breach the paint.

Anyway regarding your question, have to use a layered approach. In my experiences with my prior vehicle the undercoat is good until there's a breach. The undercoat then holds the moisture beneath. Address surface rust. Etching primer, primer. Thick layers. The 3M undercoat may be best. Then use the wheel well liners but make sure they're properly secured.

https://www.feoa.net/threads/upper-strut-mounts-lasting-12-months.117467/post-1123300
Much of the ass-end of my prior car was rusted out. But no one could tell just looking at it because the OEM undercoat was still intact. I could tell by knuckle-knocking around back there with my fist. Oxidation processes accelerate when the materials are exposed to higher concentrations of oxygen. (such as liquid H²O) Heat also accelerates the oxidation process.

 

[XanRules]

Bump from the past. In doing my brakes last night I learned that my driver's side rear fender liner is totally shredded and the passenger's side one is barely hanging on. They don't appear to be that expensive to replace, but is there anything I should do while I'm in there as far as layering some extra sound deadening/undercoat/etc behind them? There is, mercifully, no visible rust behind them or anywhere else on the underside of the car, but if this is a great time to spray some additional undercoating or slap on some asphalt mat for sound deadening, I might as well do it all while I'm in there.

 

[LostInTransit]

I miss the days of plastic wheel well liners.. Not sure about the FiST but our van came with this fabric mesh type liner and it suxs.. I've had to completely remove the rear liners and brush painted bed liner on the exposed areas. later I need to add another coat to this. As for the fronts, again the mech fabric liner but this time I'm cutting away parts of this liner because it's bene collecting dirt, leaves and debris. Plus I'm looking to add a home made brake cooling kit tot he front with larger rotors etc.. So bed lining seems to be the best options I have for the rear wheels wells.. not so sure about the frotn wheel wells.

 

[XanRules]

Forgot about brush-on. Yeah, might as well get that whole area as clean as I can and get some undercoat in there before I put the new ones on. Can’t hurt.