Hey everyone,
I am new to this forum, and I came here in hopes of receiving some information from people who may have experienced this same problem. My girlfriends '99 Civic EX 5-Speed is developing an odd problem. On the rear driver side (about half way between the door jam and the rear wheel well) there are 2 protrusions. They stick out about a half to 3/4 inch. It looks as if a pillar weld may have broken loose and is pushing itself against the sheet metal or something. It started out much smaller, but now they are stretching the sheet metal so much, that strain lines can be seen around them. They just look like little horns or something are trying to grow from underneath the bodywork. Sometimes when we hit a bump while turning, it sounds like metal rubbing together. We've been to 2 dealerships and nobody has a clue what the problem is. Thank you for any help.

I can post pictures of the problem if that would help.

 

Well there isn't a whole lot of stuff in that area that is capable of doing that damage so I think you might be on the mark in terms of a busted weld, etc.

Usually protruding dents occur when something is loose and sliding/banging around inside a big open area (like a toolbox that slams into the trunk wall when the car goes around a corner).

Has anyone pulled the interior panel and taken a look yet? If not it's pretty easy to do but a little time consuming... ...you'll need to remove the rear seat back/bottom and pop the (2) clips that attach the side panel to the rear package shelf support. From there you just pull the whole panel off straight back and off.

I'd pull that panel and look for anything that's amiss.

Good Luck,
-Trevor