Beetle Buyers Advice – Bodywork
Beetle Bodywork. Due to the obvious age of the VW Beetle most will have had some if not a lot of welding already done. Now this can be good welding or bad. If Bad it will usually mean ripping it off and starting again.
Places to look.
Pull out the back seat. Where the Battery sits is often a big rusting point check carefully for rot or badged repairs. Personally if the floors have rot i would recommend replacing the whole floor pan. This is obviously an expensive and big job for a Professional.
Heater Channels These are the main strength of the car and consist of the Ineer sill, Outer sill and Running board mounting panel. The above panels are available seperatley but the recomended way is to put an Entire Heater channel in. This will also mean you have a good chance of your heaters working.
Wheel Well Pull and the spare wheel and look at the bottom. The wheel well if inexpensive to buy and replace.
Front and Rear Bumper Mounting panels. Another 4 places to check. Where the Bumpers bolt onto the bodt. Extremely prone to rusting. Not too expensive to buy and replace.
Inner front wings Again a nice water trap and very often rotting away. Check for previous signs of repair (patching) As the repair panel is very inexpensive and also a fairly simple welding job.
The above is not an exhaustive list but a starting point of the places to check for rusting and bodged repairs. Please see the other guides for other hints and tips.