School Bus Wheel Well Repair: Cutting It Out and Welding

School Bus Wheel Well Repair: Cutting It Out and Welding In a ReplacementCustom Bus and Truck Panels · 2026-07-09Wheel wells rot from the lip inward, and the inner fender is usually worse than the part you can see. Here's the cutting pattern, why you do both at once, and where to get the panel.Wheel wells live in the worst neighborhood on the bus. They eat brake dust, road salt, gravel, and slush every mile, from both sides at once. Rust nearly always starts at the outer lip, the flange wrapping the opening, and works inward toward the floor. By the time you can see it from outside, the inner fender behind it is usually further gone.Check both sidesLook at the outer arch for bubbling paint and soft metal at the lip. Then get under the bus and look up at the inner fender, the panel on the cabin side of the wheel. That's the one people forget, and it's usually the one driving the job. If one well is rotted, plan on all four being somewhere on the same path, and check them before you order so you're not making four trips.The cutting patternA wheel well is a stamped shape with a flange around the opening, so a clean patch is hard and a replacement section is the usual answer. Mark your cut at least two inches past the visible rust all the way around. The rust you see is the tip of it, and the metal nearby is thinner than it looks. Cut with a plasma torch or a thin cutoff wheel, grind the edge to bright steel, and dry-fit the panel before you light it up.Do the inner fender at the same timeOnce the outer well is out, you finally have a clear shot at the inner fender, and it's almost always worse. Doing both now is a couple extra hours. Doing the inner one later means cutting your fresh outer well back out to reach it.Welding it in

Clean the parent metal to bright steel on both sides of the seam

Clamp the panel in and tack it in four spots, then check the fit again before you run a bead

Stitch-weld around the seam instead of one long bead. It keeps the heat down so the thin panel doesn't warp

Grind the welds, hit the back with rust converter, and prime

Seal the lip and any road-facing seam so water can't get back in behind your new steel

Where to get the panelWe stock wheel well repair panels for Thomas FS65, Blue Bird, International, and Thomas C2. The FS65 well is one of our deeper sections. Order by part number if the old panel still has one, or send measurements and three photos and we'll match it or bend it.Find your wheel wellsWe stock wheel well repair panels for FS65, Blue Bird, International, and C2. Browse the ones that fit your bus.

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