6 year review and potential rust areas

[Gray_Panther]

Hey fellow vdubbers!

Finally got around to putting on the winter setup and wanted to take off the fender lining (T25 screws) and see the status on the body after six years of upstate NY winters.

Starting in the rear, VW did a great job with using their wax gum coating thingy they use that runs along the wheel well edge. I found no traces of corrosion which is great. But. The bottom corner of the wheel well, the side closer to the front, is where the dirt and salt gathers. What’s worse is when the slushy snow infused with salt gets into that crevice and it’s where rust can form. Come springtime I am going to VW to use their 12 year corrosion warranty.

Other than that. The rear is pretty durable and well protected. But I would recommend cleaning this area every spring and spraying some kind of coating in that area to keep it protected.

Now at the front there were two areas of concern. Right behind the front wheels and where the fender meets the front bumper. The fender meeting the bumper concern is that I just think how the bumper was slapped on, either by me when I upgraded headlights or at the factory. The bumper could have scratched the paint off and left it more vulnerable. The picture shows a slight orange discoloration. Right behind the wheel, if you pull away the fender lining you will see some rust that already occurred. I’m not sure VW will cover this but I’m thinking since it is behind the fender lining I can grind it away. After I can smother some wax or tar to keep it protected from further rust.

The reason I am looking at this stuff is my Mk4 GTI rusted really really bad especially in the front fenders because so much slushy salty snow got wedged in there and I never cleaned it out so rust hit hard!

I also hit up my brake calipers with an old sock and some heavy cutting compound to get six years of gunk off that wouldn’t come off with sonax and brushes.

See pictures for reference. And clean behind the fender linings every spring!!!

Edit: All pictures are from passenger side of car for reference.

 

[dequardo]

Rust has to perforate an exterior panel for any coverage.

 

[Supermoto]

Rust has to perforate an exterior panel for any coverage.

Perforate? By that time I will be dead

 

[SRGTD]

If VW’s US corrosion warranty is anything like it is in the UK, corrosion warranty cover is limited to the rusting through of internal body sections or panels from the inside out. Surface rusting isn’t covered, nor is corrosion where the outer surface of a panel is damaged by an ‘external influence’ such as stone / rock chips leaving bare exposed metalwork.

 

[dequardo]

Perforate? By that time I will be dead

The rust then will no longer matter.

 

[ElectricEye]

I'm old enough to remember when cars rusted through in just a couple of years.
Practically every other car on the road had rust around the wheel arches, often large areas that broke through.
Rocker panels rusting through...
Cars were better in the old days, old car guys will tell you.
They're delusional.

 

[1ashchuckton]

I'm old enough to remember when cars rusted through in just a couple of years.
Practically every other car on the road had rust around the wheel arches, often large areas that broke through.
Rocker panels rusting through...
Cars were better in the old days, old car guys will tell you.
They're delusional.

Boy that is the truth. If you listened closely you could hear them rusting.

To the OP get some cans of Fluid Film & after you've cleaned all the crud out spray away.

Fluid Film

 

[Gray_Panther]

Boy that is the truth. If you listened closely you could hear them rusting.

To the OP get some cans of Fluid Film & after you've cleaned all the crud out spray away.

Fluid Film

I got the bottles ready!! I just haven’t sprayed those areas yet! Thanks man

 

[Daks]

I have two small spots in the same place you do on both sides of mine on the rear. I am actually going to VW for that, and a few other things, before my CPO runs out in Feb.

 

[Mandatoryclutchpedal]

I'm old enough to remember when cars rusted through in just a couple of years.
Practically every other car on the road had rust around the wheel arches, often large areas that broke through.
Rocker panels rusting through...
Cars were better in the old days, old car guys will tell you.
They're delusional.

(Mazda enters the chat)
"So you are at least a teenager?"

 

[ElectricEye]

Boy that is the truth. If you listened closely you could hear them rusting.

To the OP get some cans of Fluid Film & after you've cleaned all the crud out spray away.

Fluid Film

I was (still am) a big fan of Datsun Z cars, Particularly 240's, 260's, and 280's.
I wanted one of those cars so bad when I was in my teens and early 20's.
But they rusted in real time.
Right before your eyes.

 

[ElectricEye]

That's horrible.
Though, we are looking at 20 year old cars here to be fair.

(Mazda enters the chat)
"So you are at least a teenager?"

s

 

[Mandatoryclutchpedal]

That's horrible.
Though, we are looking at 20 year old cars here to be fair.

s

Partially joking in 2022 with a random grab of pics from "ze webs" but as a former Mazda owner, we always considered ourselves lucky that our Mazda (back when we owned one) wasn't as bad as others.
At the time, the folks complaining about rust were complaining about 5 year old cars.

 

[dtfd]

I was (still am) a big fan of Datsun Z cars, Particularly 240's, 260's, and 280's.
I wanted one of those cars so bad when I was in my teens and early 20's.
But they rusted in real time.
Right before your eyes.

I had two of them, one s30 and a s130. Can confirm this.

The s130 was a fun beater but it had a hole in the passenger floorboard that you could literally see the road below you. I eventually took a piece of sheet metal and a rivet gun to "fix it" because I used to keep my smokes and zippo on the passenger seat and every time I braked hard enough they would go flying forward and be lost forever. I lost 3 Zippos before I did something about that one.

The S30 I actually cared about so I got a fabricator to fix the frame rails and other areas. I'm attaching what it looked it underneath. Keep in mind this was a Florida car that had never seen a Chicago winter.....I can't imagine what one would look like after seeing salt.

 

[KevinC]

What are they putting on the roads where you guys live, Drano and sulfuric acid??!!