Well, it can happen over the span of 7 years where salt has its way with the metal. It's in the wheel well where rocks can fly up and chip certain parts of the body, exposing the metal to the elements. Over time, the metal will start oxidizing which will cause what I am seeing. Overall, this is the only spot on the car that I have this issue. It was most likely struck with something during my daily driving, like a rock that flew up in there and this started the corrosion process.

Well, I was hoping to have an update on this this morning. I don't. The guy that I made an appointment with blew me off. Nice. He didn't show up. I called him, didn't answer. Apparently the economy is so good that he can blatantly blow his customers off. I just love when people waste my time.

 

Weak.

 

I have the same exact problem, same spot but on drivers side,, 03 with 112k miles
I live in North Jersey, i say its not only the weather but it might be the car, My previous cars never had this problem driven the same amount of miles and all year long.

 

eghh I'm glad I live south....

 

What the F*** are you talking about. Did i mention anything about you saying anything about a fender. Usually when some ones first post doesnt make sense people usually dont read the 2nd 3rd and so on. If you made a mistake theres a button called edit

 

Yeah I understand that but its just not a common problem that I've noticed with the z33 but your absolutely right

 

Many Zs do not see the winter and the salt. I drive mine all the time (I bought it to drive it, right?). So, it is likely that I will see more wear and tear than other Zs that sit in a garage during winter months.

 

UPDATE: got some quotes from 2 different shops. Both places described the same solution. The corroded piece has to be cut out, a new one has to be inserted in, the area has to be repainted and blended into the door.

First shop is a volume shop, lots of cars going through the place. I was to told that they would need the car for 3 days, total cost: $725. I've had my wife's car repaired there before when she got into a minor accident and the work was decent.

The second shop is a smaller mom and pop place. Again, they told me they would need the car for about 3 days, total cost: $500. The guy visually inspected the area, talked about the main challenge of this particular work as getting a good color match and doing the blend as low as possible such that it is not noticeable. The good news was that the door is a good place to break the blend. He wasn't concerned with fabricating the metal piece to match the curve or rolling the fender.

Decision time

 

you can buy my nismo flares and it would cover it right up FS section