Rust in the sills

[franksm]

Anyone else suffering rusty sills ? I see more and more MK1s afflicted this way - it seems to take effect in the panel at the end of the sill in front of each rear wheel.

Also at the bottom of the front wings - this part is easily fixed though, just needs unbolted at the bottom and crud removed from that trap behind it. Even with clearing the drain there with a screwdriver, you'll still find leaves, mud and crud.

My car is now starting to bubble on the lip of the rear arch, which is a surprise. There's a double flap of metal there where the inner wing is welded to the outer wing - the rust is barely visible on the paint outside, but is working its way between the twp bits of metal and is causing them to bulge. It almost looks like mechanical damage to the lip.

Anyway, the sills... I have had mine patched once already but see that more rust is forming in the same place - I bet it's because the sill is rull of crud plus maybe the welding material itself is prone to rust since it isn't coated ?

[franksm]

Here's something I am going to do to remedy it: if you remove the road wheel, then unbolt the plastic wing liner, you can see a big gromit here (yellow arrow):



Pop that out, then use a Waxoyl kit to flood the whole thing with Waxoyl - that should help kill any rust in there. Not sure what other options there are.

While I was in there, I noticed that the rust proofing material within the arch itself was wearing thing, so I Hammerited it. Finished product:

[Steve]

class, looks great!

My sister has issues in the same area with her last car (a mk1). Her otherhalf is handy enough so fabbed up + welded in new sections. Must see if I can dig out the pics.