I have on deck phosphoric acid, por-15, etc. Temporarily I syringed some phosphoric acid in between the panels where they crease from the back but I don't think that stuff will wick up.
Also have a mig welder but the last and only time I used it was to weld some exhaust and while it was welded together it looked like absolute ****. That kind of discouraged me and the fact I haven't really had anything else to weld. Honestly I would prefer to stick with non-welding methods since I've never fabricated metal and like I said right now my welding skills are non-existant.

Do you guys think it will result in perforations requiring body filler when I sand it down? Any pro tips to get rid of this **** for good using non welding methods? Thanks.

hate to be the bearer of bad news, but what you see is just the surface and the rust is probably quite a bit more underneath and from the back side. remove the trim pieces and take a look at how far the rust has spread before determining if you want to proceed.
if you want to proceed,toss out the por 15.
then get back and let us know. we might be able to direct ya, but its going to be costly.

whoa indeed you're right.

I thought there might be a little bit under there but it's pretty ugly.



under the trim though I can take a different strategy I'm thinking since it isn't visible. but then again the molding does need something to attach to. most of it still seems like 60-70% firm... **** it who am I kidding it's a mess.

k guys here's going to be my approach when I do this in the next week or so when it warms up a bit more.

1) sand away as much rust as possible front and back.
2) hit it with rust reformer front and back and use a nozzle to spray it in between the panels, the unreachable area that everyone always mentions... literally spray it until it drips out... doesn't matter what it looks like in there as long as the bs is covered and converted.
3) put some rubberized undercoating on the areas that aren't visible under the molding and the back wheel well area and call it a day there
4) do the typical fiberglass filler workup for the areas that are visible.. yet to be seen if there will be perforations requiring filler.
5) paint/clearcoat/blend

let me know what you think, any improvments, etc.

Might as well put it back together and sit on it for a while save some cash and let some one who knows what there doing sounds like to me, Doesn't sound like your skills are up to this yet. Also stop with the rust treatments they interfere with Paint adhesion when not used properly.
Once that is sanded down your gonna see pits and holes through the metal for sure.
It needs to be cut off and new metal welded on.

OR

It can be cut off and you could Glue new metal on with Special metal glue instead of welding with the use of a Backing strip (Fish plate) glued to back side with excess metal left hanging out that you would glue the Patch too.
Either way a New piece of metal will be necessary, Then Sand Prime paint

Materials for this job are gonna be north of $300 closer to $500 if you have to buy every thing, Might be better off finding local guy to help you out some one who does this all the time? someone who has the stuff left over from other jobs and buys materials in bulk can do it much cheaper than you can.

For me I can hand form the Patch and I already have every thing I need to do the repair on the shelf I just have to buy a Pint or two of Base coat to match the car.

im going to be the bearer of a little more bad news:
thats just one wheel well of 4.the other three probably have some amount of rust. not only that, im assuming the plastic trim still on is one of them purdy rocker covers that run along under the door(s). pull that off and, if like most, you are going to find more rust. how much? hard saying. i pulled the rocker trim off my old 96 taurus with 135k michigan miles on it to find no rockers- they rotted away.