Are rotting floors the death knell? Help needed...

So this older gentleman has a 95 roadie he MAY be willing to part with. The car has been sprayed every year,excerpt the last 2, has very little rust,practically none, the interior is mint,all options,this is a very well cared for car......BUT the mechanic told the owner the brake lines need to be replaced front to back and the floors were rotten.

Is it possible to repair rotting floors? Is it horribly expensive and laborious time consuming job? I have tried researching on the web but not really finding too much info.

Apparently the mechanic told the owner the car would be good for parts but I have seen this car in person and spoken with the owner at length,and it's waaaay to good to scrap, by far.

And, if the car has been sprayed so regularly, how could the floors be so rotten? Owner says the mechanic was able to push a screwdriver up to the carpet. I have almost got him to agree to let me take the car and put it up on the hoist for a look see but I wanted to garner some opinions here as well.

Thanks!

 

So this older gentleman has a 95 roadie he MAY be willing to part with. The car has been sprayed every year,excerpt the last 2, has very little rust,practically none, the interior is mint,all options,this is a very well cared for car......BUT the mechanic told the owner the brake lines need to be replaced front to back and the floors were rotten.

Is it possible to repair rotting floors? Is it horribly expensive and laborious time consuming job? I have tried researching on the web but not really finding too much info.

Apparently the mechanic told the owner the car would be good for parts but I have seen this car in person and spoken with the owner at length,and it's waaaay to good to scrap, by far.

And, if the car has been sprayed so regularly, how could the floors be so rotten? Owner says the mechanic was able to push a screwdriver up to the carpet. I have almost got him to agree to let me take the car and put it up on the hoist for a look see but I wanted to garner some opinions here as well.

Thanks!

 

Rust can come from inside the car. It has been posted before, car has been undercoated and or oiled regular yet and mostly in the rust belt where salt is used come years of winter driving people are getting into there car with wet snowy/slushy boots a floor can rust from the inside out.


As for repairing, everything can be repaired but some times the $ is just not worth it. With out pics showing the rust it's impossible to say. IMO if the mechanic says he could put a screw driver through the undercoated floor, I'd pull the carpet up and see whats under that.



Not the best example, but it will give you a bit of a idea..... My 83 Olds, west coast car all it's life, under the car is almost cleaner than under my carpet...... years of wet feet. I would gamble that a eastern cars driver floor would be in worse shape.

 

It would be worth while on this deal to see for yourself. What might be rotten to one might be surface rust to someone else.

 

Yeah - it's entirely possible that the mechanic doesn't know what he's talking about. Let a good body shop take a look at it. On the other hand, if the floors are shot, take a pass. While they can be replaced, it's an expensive proposition. There's plenty of those wagons out there with solid floors that are still fairly cheap.

 

Wow, what are the chances? 2 members with the same name asking the exact same question, in the same day!

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27396

 

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=266108&posted=1#post266108

 

Really? Cause from the wagons that I have actually gone to see/ read ads then talked to owners......sheesh!

"Oh, and both rear pass windows go down...but not up""..... I can get it started with a boost,just a sec.....don't worry, I have the seat motor for that......the rear wiper doesn't work and neither does the ac......nothing a good shampooing can't fix......it's got some broken plastic inside and the door handle comes off, but all the glass is good"

And so on,and so on.....one was asking 2500!!!!!!!!!! Would accept 1500, was worth....maybe 800... Tops.

So many of these cars in my area have so much "stuff" wrong with them,they are actually project cars and guys want bucks for them. It's frustrating.

Finding a decent daily driver is harder than you think!

 

Sorry, my stupid ipad/ Internet didn't show it as posted the first time.....

 

All in fun

 

It would be easy to pull the carpet aside and look under the padding as well as under the wagon. I do not trust mechanics! Anyone can poke a sharp object thru a floor. Even if there is rust, it may not be so bad that a few patch panels of metal can be screwed or riveted in place after treating the metal with a rust sealer.
The brake lines are not a difficult or expensive thing to change. Might be a good idea to check those and replace whatever looks rusted. An easy way to tell is have someone push on the brake pedal while someone else checks for fluid seeping from tiny rust holes.
My elderly aunt gave her low mileage Chevy sedan to the Chevy dealer supposedly as a charity thing because they told her a new exhaust costs more than the car---80's, was worth. It was a six with single exhaust. Then they sold her a new Chevrolet.
Also please forward this information to the other shnizzle asking the same questions.

 

See my other post........... I'm too busy to repeat.......

 

Oh you guys!!!

Is it possible to lift up the carpet without damaging anything? Popping fasteners and whatnot? I can't damage anything .

 

Yes, yes it is......but that all depends on the currant owner...being it's not your car.

Sorry but Have to Blunt.....PICS of what the.....!!!







BTW......what happened to the last wagon you posted you bout, the 80's Buick? You were all hyped up about it.....then you disappeared for a long time?

 

At newest, these are 18 years old, so yeah, finding a driver-quality one is going to be tough.

I drive old stuff myself, so I know where you're coming from on that...all I can say is a wise friend once told me that you have to go look at every one, because you never know when the right one is going to come along.

And what part of the world are you in? IMO, even at this late date, there are still a lot of them running around in dry climates, and for my money, a guy is better off spending a little more upfront to fly out or ship a nice one to the rustier regions than repairing all the carnage salty roads can cause.