Righteous Kombis have been lucky to have the opportunity to transform Ginger into the bus she deserves to be.
Our customer came to us wanting to repair some rust in Ginger. Unfortunately as is common with these old beauties, Ginger was a bit of a can of worms. As we started digging we kept finding more and more old and poor repairs hiding rust and other hidden issues.
As with many Kombis, we had to do all the typical areas including window and windscreen sills, front doglegs, front door and repairs to the front nose.
One major problem we found was a lot of cracks in the old paint. When we see cracks in the paint we always know they are hiding some sins, usually in the form of poor bog repair. If you have cracks in the paint on your Kombi we suggest attacking it now. The reason for this is the cracks are letting are and moisture in behind the bog and all that is festering and causing the metal panel behind to rust more and more each day.
The other issue we faced which is common with the deluxe microbus is rust behind the chrome side trim. If you have a later model deluxe microbus you can probably relate. We find the holes where the deluxe trim goes rust out over time. If you leave it long enough you will be dealing with issues much worse than a few small holes.
We always suggest now with the side trim is removing it and replacing it with stick on side trim. We have found that the clips in the holes on the original trim cause the rust to start. If you refit the same trim you'll just be asking for more rust issues.
Despite the cost blowout we were lucky we were able to tackle it now as if it had been left longer it would've been an even bigger can of worms and more of a major restoration.
If you'd like to know more about rust repairs to your VW Kombi or what to look for when buying a Kombi, get in touch with us now.