The rocker panels on a Dodge Grand Caravan (2010) I'm fixing up are completely eaten away by rust. The inner wall is still solid. The pinch weld where the jack lines up onto is really damaged in certain areas, totally eaten away at points.

I'm completely new to this and have some questions:

[*]Should I make a straight cut in the remaining exterior rocker panel (I put 2 red lines in the image) or use an air hammer to totally break the pieces apart?



I made a video showing the extent of the damage.



The inner rocker wall seems ok. My plan is to fabricate some bent 18g steel sheet into the needed profile, then weld it to the exterior portion and the interior wall.

Tips on fixing the pinch weld would be appreciated too.

drill out the spot welds

tomsteve wrote:drill out the spot welds

Edit: was able to find them but it seems it will add like 6+ hours to the job to drill them all out, then air chisel it apart. The metal in that area seems 90-95% rust free. What's the downside to trimming down below that area (just under the squares in the picture) and welding new metal to that?

Since I'm bending custom metal it seems that would save me a lot of work and complexity on that front as well.

I just need a quick and decent fix that will last a couple years and pass safety inspection.

This forum's crustier than my rocker panels

Not much action around here.

I don't see a video link.
Can you take a couple of more pictures of the area.

The reason it's a good idea to drill out the spot welds is that you can almost guarantee there is rust where the panels meet.

If you really don't care enough about the vehicle to do a proper repair, why go through the effort of welding a patch panel in?

Rocker should be drilled off top row and Bottom Pinch welds. replace it with replacement panel when possible. Unable to see pics or video.

Yes doing job correctly will add Time, BUT at same time restore structural strength to the vehicle. The Rocker panel is a structural piece of the Uni body.

While many may think its just a Rocker panel, The Rocker panel actually forms a BOX like structure a very large square or rectangle Box Tube that runs the length of the body adding strength and Rigidity to the Uni-body construction. Repairing it correctly is paramount to restoring a vehicles Strength.
Think of Rocker panels as a Frame rail because that's the job they are performing in Uni-body construction.

So ya You wanna fix it right, Patching a rocker can be done but it depends on damage and extent of corrosion damage, most times your better off with a replacement panel because cars rust from the inside out.