Front wing rust

leontsibob

Active Member
Feb 6, 2014
216
19
Buckinghamshire
Hi everyone, I had my car cleaned yesterday and when I went to collect it the detailer showed me the bottom of the wing near the drivers door and there is definitely signs of rust, is this common, he did say the paint is in very good condition, he was surprised how good it was, is rust a common thing?

Thanks


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SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,750
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Are you able to post a picture of the area in question that’s showing signs of corrosion?

I can’t remember reading of other instances of corrosion but that’s not to say there haven’t been any - I seem to remember reading your car’s a 19 plate so it’s around six years old, so I dare say there will be some cars of a similar age to yours with corrosion, e.g. those that spend much of the time being driven on poorly maintained roads and any resultant stone chip damage has been left un-repaired etc. (checking for - and repairing - stone chips is part of my weekly / fortnightly car washing routine to stop the onset of corrosion)..

The area you’ve described that‘s showing signs of rust is directly behind the front offside wheel so will be subjected to a certain amount of ‘abuse‘ from stones / other road debris, spray and road salt thrown up by the wheel. So if there’s ever been any stone chip damage in that area that’s not been repaired, then it’s quite possible corrosion could start. Edit; alternatively, maybe the area of the wing showing signs of corrosion has had previous paintwork repairs that weren’t carried out to the same standard as the factory-applied paintwork. Your detailer ought to have a paint thickness gauge; assuming they do, they could measure the paint thickness on the lower wing and compare it to the paint thickness on surrounding panels. If the paint on the lower front wing is noticeably thicker than on surrounding panels, that would suggest it‘s had previous paintwork repairs.

I doubt the corrosion on your car would be covered under Seat’s corrosion warranty as the warranty would only cover corrosion resulting from manufacturing defects (even then, there‘ll be warranty exclusions); there won’t be any cover for corrosion caused by an ‘external influence’ - e.g. where corrosion is the result of stone chip damage to the paintwork caused by loose road chippings flicked up by the wheels.

Haven’t you only very recently bought your car? If you bought it from a garage, you could always see if the dealer would pay for - or contribute to - the cost of repairing the damage. If they won’t, then IMHO it’s important to get it fixed sooner rather than later to stop the corrosion becoming a bigger problem.
 
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leontsibob

Active Member
Feb 6, 2014
216
19
Buckinghamshire
Hi thanks for the reply, spoke to the dealer today, they are going to repair the car, cover the cost too, I love the car and the way it drives, think because the car is white, I think it shows it more


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leontsibob

Active Member
Feb 6, 2014
216
19
Buckinghamshire
IMG_6988.jpg



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leontsibob

Active Member
Feb 6, 2014
216
19
Buckinghamshire
I think the paint peeling on the inside of the door/wing is a paint defect, I don’t think it’s bad at the min, but don’t want it to get any worse


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SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,750
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The edge of the wheel arch normally hidden by the plastic wheel arch liner looks quite bad. Good that the dealer is going to repair it.

Once it’s been repaired, I’d certainly keep an eye on it in future in case the corrosion comes back; it might be worth applying an anti corrosion product such as Bilt Hamber Dynax-UC to the wheel arch flange and reverse side of the wing after the dealer has done the repair (https://bilthamber.com/product/dynax-uc/). The reviews of the product at the link are very good too.

It would also be worth periodically clearing any accumulated dirt out from behind the plastic wheel arch liner.
 
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leontsibob

Active Member
Feb 6, 2014
216
19
Buckinghamshire
The edge of the wheel arch normally hidden by the plastic wheel arch liner looks quite bad. Good that the dealer is going to repair it.

Once it’s been repaired, I’d certainly keep an eye on it in future in case the corrosion comes back; it might be worth applying an anti corrosion product such as Bilt Hamber Dynax-UC to the wheel arch flange and reverse side of the wing after the dealer has done the repair (https://bilthamber.com/product/dynax-uc/). The reviews of the product at the link are very good too.

It would also be worth periodically clearing any accumulated dirt out from behind the plastic wheel arch liner.

Definitely agree with you, I will definitely try check it and definitely apply some product to protect it, I just hope the seat dealer will do a proper job, I will order some of the product you recommended, thank you


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Seriously?

Active Member
Apr 20, 2018
1,459
1,058
I've noticed on ours that quite a lot of crud accumulates at that point behind the arch liner. It is worth regularly cleaning it out as it holds moisture.