Rear Door road debris ingress and dog guard

[New2Yetidom]

Hello All

My first post and quite an odd couple of questions.

I had had my Yeti for just over 4 weeks and have noticed a possible bodywork problem.

First let me introduce it a 2l Diesel 140 elegance in regency green, well thats what the brouchure said apparently its malachite green and the touch up paint instructions arent in english.

Anyway back to the main question.

Have any of you vastly more experienced Yeti owners noticed that the rear door seal around the wheel arch allows road debris like salt through the seal.

I notice that instead of the door closing within the wheel arch it closes around it so to speak which means the edge of the door is constantly exposed to road crud.

I have checked this with a number of other yetis and they all appear the same, although all same model year.

I am looking at extra seals, door edge protectors and stone chip sprays to resolve this.

I havent seen a Yeti with the extended wheel arch kit so have no idea if this would assist.

I have only really noticed this problem because I have two dogs who reside on the rear seat of the car, so perhaps most havent seen this problem.

Incidentally I have a Yeti dog guard fitted and well its not the worst one but close, I havent yet figured out how to take the parcel shelf out without removing the guard.

In answer to those who ask why are your dogs in the car and not the boot with a dog guard, its simple really they prefer the comfort of leather seaths to a cardboard boot floor on top of the spare wheel.

Thanks in anticipatcion, I did try to find an answer in the forums but couldnt,perhaps Llanigraham can assist.

[Freshacre]

Can't say that I ever noticed and crud, mud or debris getting inside the car by the back door, and my late Yeti lived in mud and dirt, and had the back doors opened every day.

Yes -you do get stuff on the front aspect of the wheel arch but not through the seals onto the seats or floor.

[Brijo]

....the rear door seal around the wheel arch allows road debris like salt through the seal.

I notice that instead of the door closing within the wheel arch it closes around it so to speak which means the edge of the door is constantly exposed to road crud....

Hello and welcome. Forgive me if I am misunderstanding your description but, yes, the lower rear edge of the door does visually form part of the wheel arch and it does close on to a compression seal on the body along that arc. It doesn't really worry me that the door edge is 'exposed' in that way - the paintwork around any wheel arch is in the same situation. I've just checked my SM's rear offside door and there's no sign of a bad seal. Others, of course, might report differently.

I can't help you re the dog guard, but I'm sure there has been something fairly recently about guard and shelf being 'incompatible'. The dogs, though, obviously have good taste (as have you, for choosing the Yeti!).

[yetiscot]

I think the design of the seal is poor--the inside edge of the door collects mud and grit. I can only assume the designers were somehow constrained by the shortness of the car to do this.

It's one of the things I would like to see improved by creating a proper wheel arch and fitting the door inside it, instead of on top of it when they come to do the facelift. I agree that the paint on the door is no more vulnerable than that in the wheel arch, but if you do collect paint chips and corrosion there in years to come, the repair will be all the more difficult. I can also imagine if you had ladies egressing from the rear with voluminous dresses on they will collect muck on themselves from the bottom/side of the door

There is a plastic foil which protects the front.rear edge of the door and this wraps around to the inner edge, so providing a bit of extra protection, I don't think you need to do anything else, in fact I can't think of anything practical you can do really to improve it.

Apart from the situation I have described the dirt or water is stopped from actually entering the car by the seal. I look after the seal by washing the muck off it and the door regularly and covering the seal with a rubber dressing. So far so good.

[bilun777]

^^^what yetiscot said.

The front wheels do plaster a lot of dirt along the door bottoms(mud flaps make virtually no difference)

You just have to wash inside the door edges occasionally and the sills.

The front doors are nearly as bad as the rears.

Welcome by the way.

[Yety]

Totally agree about the rear wheel arch door seal - poor design.

The plastic wheel arch kit does protect all the exposed painted surfaces exposed to road gravel rash - but only just.

I'm still pondering about how to improve that rear door seal, as I can see the paint being removed in years to come by body shuffle abrasion.

[shrub]

Is that clear plastic protector on all new Yetis now? It wasn't on mine and I picked up a load of little stone chips there.

[Foxyfour4]

Incidentally I have a Yeti dog guard fitted and well its not the worst one but close, I havent yet figured out how to take the parcel shelf out without removing the guard.

I couldn’t fathom this either. Luckily it’s not an everyday problem as I’ve removed the parcel shelf permanently but I could see it grating me otherwise!!

[Freshacre]

Is that clear plastic protector on all new Yetis now? It wasn't on mine and I picked up a load of little stone chips there.

Yes it is, from about June 2010 onwards.

And all Yetis prior to that will get a new plastic protector fitted after a respray of the affected parts, under warranty.

I never bothered as it seemed a load of hassle to get to the body shop etc etc and back - and the relevant bit is always covered in mud and muck!

[shrub]

Yes it is, from about June 2010 onwards.

And all Yetis prior to that will get a new plastic protector fitted after a respray of the affected parts, under warranty.

I never bothered as it seemed a load of hassle to get to the body shop etc etc and back - and the relevant bit is always covered in mud and muck!

Thanks. Good to know.

[New2Yetidom]

Thanks to all who have replied so far. I think Im going to have to research the internet for a possible neat solution, I'll let you know if I find one that doesn't look like it cost 6 old pennies. Yes I can remember spending them at the local sweet shop.

[kibby]

Can only think that regular wiping and an application of some rubber conditioning cream (Autoglym do various versions).

If you really want to view poor door seal design have a look at the arrangement on the Ford B Max...it looks like it has the durability of perished knicker elastic and you can twang it too!!

Over to you Bob!

Edited 16 February, 2013 by kibby

[Norry]

Have any of you vastly more experienced Yeti owners noticed that the rear door seal around the wheel arch allows road debris like salt through the seal.

I notice that instead of the door closing within the wheel arch it closes around it so to speak which means the edge of the door is constantly exposed to road crud.

I havent seen a Yeti with the extended wheel arch kit so have no idea if this would assist.

On my Candy White Yeti with wheel arch extensions I too noticed that area of the rear doors with seemingly unprotected paint. I gave the arc of white showing between the extensions and the wheel arches a couple of coats of black underseal.

With the extensions this looks to have perfectly protected those areas without looking weird.

Without the extensions it would be more awkward to do unobtrusively but not impossible.

No dirt has ever got past the seals into the car interior.

Edited 16 February, 2013 by Norry

[New2Yetidom]

Dog Guard problem fathomed, loosen lower fixing bolts, remove upper fixing bolts swing guard forward shelf can now be removed. Bit of a faff compaired to my volvo xc70 but I dont need to do it very often.

Still working on the other matter.

Edited 30 April, 2013 by New2Yetidom