Editing Footwell Corrosion (section)

==Fill and Paint==

Useful if the floor has suffered minor corrosion with minimal pitting and you want to have the floor visible. This gives a cleaner, near factory finish for a reasonable cost and a few hours work.

===Filling===

Remove the remains of the double sided tape from around the edge of the floor. I used a hot air gun, glue remover (solvent) and a razor blade scraper.

I made sure the floor pan was completely dry by leaving a small heater under the floor pan, this is important because you don't want to trap any moisture.

The pitting was then filled with some chemical metal which is just an epoxy type glue available from most DIY shops. I did this by scraping it in with a Stanley knife blade to leave a nice level finish. There was only 2 very small holes so I stuck some tape to the underside which stopped the glue from going all the way through, it can hardly be seen from the underneath.

[[Image:M111 - Footwell Treatment - Step 3.jpg|thumb|center|400px]]

===Painting===

To paint fully prepare and paint the floor you may want to pick up a [https://www.frost.co.uk/black-por15-por-starter-kit.html POR15 Starter Kit], which contains appropriate marine cleaner, metal ready primer, and POR15 paint.

The floor needs a good clean with a solvent panel wipe to remove any dirt or oils that would react with the paint, you could probably use brake cleaner for this.

Most paints wont stick to aluminium very well so use the metal ready or a special primer is required. This is called an etch primer and contains acid to help it key into the surface. Some primers are a 2 part paint so needed to be mixed with an activator.

I applied 2 coats of primer with about half an hour gap between using a small foam roller to get a nice even & smooth finish. I would not recommend using aerosols because the over spay would go everywhere.

[[Image:M111 - Footwell Treatment - Step 4.jpg|thumb|center|400px]]

After being left to dry the prime needed to be lightly sanded with a fine Scotch Pad or Wet & Dry, then cleaned well with some panel wipe to remove any dust or dirt. If you were really fussy & wanted a perfect finish more coats of primer could have been put on giving a thicker coating which would allow the primer to be wet sanded to a perfect smooth surface for the paint. The final paint finish depends on the preparation.

The silver paint was then mixed up with a small amount of thinners and applied in the same way as the primer.

I gave it 3 coats this time and it seems to have covered well. Because of the cold weather I left a small heater under the car to help the paint dry.

If the time and effort is put in a perfect finish like the outside of a car can be achieved if that's what your after.

The main thing is the corrosion has been stopped so I shouldn't have any more problems with it.

[[Image:M111 - Footwell Treatment - Step 5.jpg|thumb|center|400px]]