Right, can everyone who has this problem reply to this post and tell me what the pattern of rust is like (ie where is it, how big, when / where it started etc). If my suspitions are confirmed i think it may be possible to completely halt the rust.
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Rusty Willy / Valver wheel arch
- Thread starter king.stromba
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Right, can everyone who has this problem reply to this post and tell me what the pattern of rust is like (ie where is it, how big, when / where it started etc). If my suspitions are confirmed i think it may be possible to completely halt the rust.
mines started at the bottom of the arch towards the door. its bubbling on top of the actual arch too. pretty much dead centre
http://www.uploadit.org/Deano16V/rearright.jpg
you can kind of make it out. its got a fair bit worse though since that pic.
Used Deans pic, but this is where they started going on the passenger side of my Williams:
http://erc.qmuc.ac.uk/cliosport/gallery/full/1072206594__rearright.jpg
Mine is like that too. I think its possible to kill that rust for good. Ive been working on my willy for the last two days and i may have identified the real problem. I think the trick is to attack the rust from the back of the metal. From the lip of the arch the inner protective lining and the outer metal pass from the lip about 4 or 5 inches before another lip joins the two together again. If you have an improperly sealed lip or a parking dent that opens the lip water can obviously get behind and cause the rust. However, you also get dirt drawn in there and this traps the moisture. I reakon the trick is to remove the dirt completely, or the moisture will just hang around in there. Ive basically only got rust where there is dirst. If the lip is split and water has got in, but there is no dirt, there is no rust. The water probably dries up when it stops raining and no rust forms. But with the dirt the water cant dry out and the rust forms.
i had a long chap with the guy who replaced my 16v arches and it the result of a bont behind the arch, the bit behind (about 2-3"s from the top of the arch is bonded behind the arch and often this causes a water trap behind the arch this is why the rust is so bad because i from the inside out and IMO there is not hing you can do, filler will lift within a year or two, one thing that might be true is that some a worse the others and indeed late ones didbt always suffer like this where thye had resolved it, My 1995 williams 3 has odd bits of rust here and there but not on the arch like my 1992 16v and almost all other 16vs i have seen.
IMO you have two choices -
- New rear quater - £700ish but should look perfect
- New arch only - £250ish which would have to be from a base model but the differnce is nothing but its far more difficult to get it cosmeticaly seemless be bacuse the weld run the length of the arch and is flat so very difficult filler 100% perfect (which is more time consuming and therefore expensive)
On the birght side the clio is genraly very good struturaly, loads of MK3 fiestas are condemedby this age due to MOT failing rust
Hope this helps
I agree 16v-2.0 about the water trap, i can see it on my Willy. But as the rust forms from the iside out, why not treat it from the inside? If you catch it before it rips you a new ass hole in the arch, i reakon it wont come back.
From what ive been reading if you stick some aluminum foil in the gap between the metal and the black sealer layer it should prevent the rust coming back. The aluminium will donate electrons to the iron and prevent it rusting.
Having the same problem on drivers side. Pretty much where DeanRSi has it. Also under the sill on drivers side there is a lot of surface rust. Apparently its where the stonechip cover is attached to the body, moisture can get inside there and basically rots it from the inside out.
Back to the arch though, it was gradually getting worse as the weather got worse, have tracked it down to where the seal is coming away from the arch, cleaned it all out with a knife, got rid of most of the surface rust and filled the f***ker with wax from a can. Seems to have done the trick for now!!
Why iw waxoyl black now? Didnt it used to be cream coloured? Or do they do two different colours?
How generous!
I was thinking, what if you injected a mixture of zinc filings and wax into the cavity water trap (between the lining and the outer metal), and then treated the rust on the surface as normal. The wax protects the metal and the high zinc content act as an electron donor (sacraficial anode metal) to prevent further rust. Then much less likely to get rust growing and thus no new bubbles on the outer paint. Or you could just pack the space with zinc metal. Does anyone know any household objects / easily available objects that are made of zinc? Got a feeling i can get it from a chemical supplier
Isnt it funny that the rust always comes up on the drivers side arch first?
My O/S/R Willy arch has been replaced at some stage, but the rust has just started to come back. When I bought it a few months ago it was almost invisible and I hoped it wasnt going to come up at all. Sadly, the arch has now got about four bubbles about the size of a large ball bearing each - but the rust hasnt broken through onto the surface yet so you cant really see anything. Its still pretty minor (even to my beady eye) but its not going to go away!
Theres very little I can do as far as I can see and it goes to show that even a new arch wont cure the problem for ever!
But why the drivers side? Anyone got rust on nearside?
Could be something to do with the fact that stone chips are more likely on the drivers side from cars going in the other direction? but that doesnt explain why the rust starts on the inside surface. Would the exhaust be able to dry the otherside when it was hot, or is it too far away?
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