Rust on a (barely) new mk3.5

[Deleted member 123342]

Hi, today I was cleaning my mk3 (FL) that is only about 1.5y old and apart of being all fine, looking as brand new (car still smells like new) I noticed all of this rust in one of the pipes (see picture 1) that is closer to the pedals.

I gave it a quick polish/clean with 250 sand paper and it went out (see picture 2). However, I wonder what might have caused it for such a new car and what is that tube for, btw. Is it normal?

Thank you!

 

[bahyr]

Yes, mine is the same (4 year old). This is the steering column and it seems to be naked metal without any paint/cover.

 

[Deleted member 123342]

I wonder where the rust comes from as this place usually don't get wet at all (or shouldn't). I will probably give it some rust prevention coating finish to the metal itself as it looks really bad when cleaning the car to find it like that.

 

[LR231998]

I’d imagine it’s just the air in the car/ wet trainers/ car mats causing damp in the air which then settles on the metal.