For a while I’ve noticed my trunk getting a little damp when it rains. I always just kept items away from the spots that I saw get wet, but recently I took a look in the spare tire well.

It’s not good when there’s standing water in your spare tire area, especially when you have a lot of stuff stored in there. I don’t know how long it’s been holding water, but the cardboard boxes things were in were completely ruined.

I took everything out of the trunk and spread it across the driveway. I had to uncoil my 80 feet of parachute cord and leave it in the yard to dry out overnight, and I ended up just removing the entire trunk carpeting and throwing it out because it was wet and disgusting.

To get the water out of the spare tire well I just took my drill and punched a couple 1/8″ holes in what I thought would be the lowest spots, and it drained for about ten minutes.

At first I had thought the water was coming from leaks around the trunk lid, but I think it’s actually from the rust holes in the rear fenders. I’m going to have to figure out a way to block those off.

When I was searching for a car to buy, many Craigslist listings mentioned “Honda rust”, which is rust on the rear fenders above the wheels, and my car definitely has that. While it’s not a structural problem, it does seem to cause an issue for keeping your trunk contents dry.

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-Dan