Inner Rocker panels ???

[ducrnd]

01 exp, 4dr. Looking for Inner Rocker panels.
I have an outer and was told by the body shop that the new rocker panels are a heaver gauge steel
and you can do away with the inner panel. since they are no longer available from ford and no aftermarket place sells them, could this be true ??/

 

[Mbrooks420]

Just because you can’t get something, doesn’t mean it’s not needed structurally. All of the replacement rockers I’ve seen were about the same thickness of the metal that was cut out.

 

[J_C]

I had a shop do mine a few years back, maybe 8. The !@#$ things are starting to rust again so their work wasn't any better than factory. I should have undercoated the he!! out of that but they said they had even taken a wand up in to coat the inside of the panels.

Anyway I vaguely recall the shop said something similar to me and that their guy would be making an inner box-rail piece from scratch to do the inner. I *believe* that he did, seems like I saw it when I got it back, but it is the pre-fabbed outer where I'm noticing the rust starting to bleed through the paint again.