Hi All,

 

Would really appreciate a response on this.

 

I recently purchased a Fabia VRS Mk1. I didn't check at the time (as I really didn't expect it) but noticed the paint had started to peel off the sills and the surface was starting to rust.

 

Unfortunately I wrote that car off but now find myself after another Furby. Blessed with the knowledge of things to look out for on them now when looking for another I have been to see two (a 56 plate and even an 07!) and both had this issue of the paint peeling/surface rust on the sills.

I'm now wondering, how common is this on the VRS?

Taking notice I have seen a couple of old Fabias from a distance (y plate, non VRS) and could not see any rust which you would expect to be really bad so is this just a VRS thing?

 

I would be really interested to hear some feedback on this, its stupid but its really putting me off buying one. Assuming I find one without this issue I'll want to adorn it with mudflaps and smother in Waxoil from the off....

 

Cheers all.

 

Fabias are very rust resistant, I've seen loads of them and never any rust on the sills.  I saw a MK2 Octavia with surface rust on a sill, but it was obvious that it had been accident repaired.  Look out for marks in the underseal where the car has been clamped in a body jig.

It is just starting to happen on my 55 plate Octavia vrs on the sills behind the front wheels there are a few blebs that have come of with the jet washer and a bit of superficial rust underneath. nothing too serious but i have but a pit of zinc paint on it and then touched up with primer and paint. I put it down to lots of torque and front wheel drive spins the front wheels when pulling out at junctions this ejects stones at the underside of the sills Stands to reason the paint gets damaged i guess thats why some have mud guards fitted. Would imagine the fabia vrs having the same issues not so much on the non VRS.

Yeah my sills on my 05 Fabia vrs are peeling bad behind front wheels too. I have been meaning to get them rubbed back, treated then re-done for a while now before winter. I also think stone chips are to blame, I live out of town and theres alot of debris on roads from farmers e.t.c. Mudflaps are the way to go. Think it is a common problem as there was a topic started a few months back and they were going to skoda to see if it was under corrosion warranty. Not the only one

Must only be an issue for cars without front mudflaps!

Neither my 2 fabia vrs's had any bubbling / chips but both had front mudflaps fitted from new

The bodyshell is common to all Fabia hatches so it can't be a 'VRS thing'.

 

It's far more likely to be from the severe winters we've had since 2008 and whereabouts the car lived, the extended road salt exposure leads to rust.

 

Mine is a low-mileage 2000 model from the southeast and has no rust at all, little old ladies tend not to drive much during bad winters.

The bodyshell is common to all Fabia hatches so it can't be a 'VRS thing'.

 

It's far more likely to be from the severe winters we've had since 2008 and whereabouts the car lived, the extended road salt exposure leads to rust.

 

Mine is a low-mileage 2000 model from the southeast and has no rust at all, little old ladies tend not to drive much during bad winters.

 

 

Are you trying to tell me you can spin up the front wheels in second? with less than 100 horses i doubt it. A vrs has enough torque to do this and thus stones are ejected at the sills so yes the engine torque is a factor. Its not as much to do with the winters i dont think. The bodies are all galvanised these days which is not a coating but its actually a process which create an alloy which is much more resistant to the weather. However this alloy is only about 100 microns thick and if a stone chips the surface it allows the general oxidisation process to take place (rust). without any impact the painted surface would be good for decades. 'even little old ladies would struggle not to spin the wheels occasionally in a VRS'.

Spinning up the wheels?, seems like lack of driver control or a nanny electronic system has broken.  They're the same bodyshell, same construction and finishing processes.  If it's purely a VRS thing, maybe it's down to shoddy bodywork repairs, which I suppose would confirm your opinion that it's to do with the torque and power of the engine.

...i dont think...

 

FYP

 

I don't even...

Spinning up the wheels?, seems like lack of driver control or a nanny electronic system has broken.  They're the same bodyshell, same construction and finishing processes.  If it's purely a VRS thing, maybe it's down to shoddy bodywork repairs, which I suppose would confirm your opinion that it's to do with the torque and power of the engine.

 

What? The road surface is generally less than perfect at T-Junctions which is generally where a higher powered car will spin up when trying to get out into a space in the flow of traffic. All them stone chippings that get ejected will hit the body of the car faster from a car with more torque to the wheels. Its stands to reason the effect will be less on a lower powered vehicle. Every action has an equal and oposite reation remember physics 101. I specialise in Mild Steel Galvanised and painted surfaces its my job. Trust me if the painted sills had no high speed impact from projectiles (Stones) they wouldn't be rusting. Its not shoddy repairs or inclement weather or a Skoda paint problem its just that they should have mudflaps fitted on VRS models.

 

Analagy - Oil rigs are coated with Polysiloxane Paint which was developed for a marine environment and is garanteed for decades they are submerged in salt water and the coatings hold up fine. Shoot the surface with a shotgun loaded with grit and come back a few weeks later and the rig will be underwater.

FYP

 

I don't even...

 

Come again?

Fabias are very rust resistant, I've seen loads of them and never any rust on the sills.  I saw a MK2 Octavia with surface rust on a sill, but it was obvious that it had been accident repaired.  Look out for marks in the underseal where the car has been clamped in a body jig.

 they must have forgot to do mine in factory then mines just come back from skoda warranty after having alot of work done :

tailgate, 3 doors, both rear quarters, both wings and both sills.....

 

the lads at the bodyshop did say tailgates, sills, and where the rear bumper meets the rear quarter are the common places to go on a mk1 fabia 

Went looking for another cheap car to replace Fabia 1.4 8v 2001, was looking at Honda,Toyota around 03-05, they had loads of rust, no rust on the skoda, stuck it through MOT passed 1st time, guy said it looked good underneath and sees much worse on later cars.

will be keeping for a few more years me thinks!

Our 11 year old Fab is as far as I can see rust free.

 

Wish I could say the same of the Felly!!

The drivers side sill on my 06 plate vRS is quite bad with flaking paint and surface rust, I cleaned it off and gave it a few coats of Hammerite gloss black!! Done trick anyway lol

Thanks for all the replies on this guys.

 

So it looks from the comments that it is indeed an issue. From what you have said about the non VRS and from what I have seen on the nons I reckon its deffo to do with the torque, ive even seen a couple of y plates with immaculate sills..

 

Looking at the poll too,

 

Yes - quite a bit (1 votes [5.56%])

Percentage of vote: 5.56%

Just a bit of paint starting to flake off/surface rust (10 votes [55.56%])

No rust what so ever (7 votes [38.89%])

 

It seems its more the norm than not.

 

Interesting what holmesie said, Skoda told me to naff off with mine.

 

Now im wondering of all those who have repaired theirs, how many have had the rust come back through.....

 

Thanks again!

I checked mine the other week after it came back from the menders. No rust whatsoever on it (53 plate) with 125.7HP and 220ft/lb of torque that can also spin the wheels in second if I wanted to :p

 

Oh yeah, no front mud flaps either

Haven't looked closely but when i fitted my front mudflaps a few weeks ago, i didn't have any rust. Had the car since 2004 without mudflaps.

 

Started to get a couple of rust spots on the boot though. :(

My fab vrs is bad on the sills bubbled paint going to do it soon it looks s###e and get some side skirts too

Sorry to dredge, I spotted that my sills have some very light rust spots when cleaning recently. What methods have people used to fix it... has it worked over time?

 

I’m awaiting delivery of mudguards, so I’m trying to figure out if I should get it stripped back and repainted professionally before getting them fitted or having a go myself. My fab is silver so I’m interested to know if anyone has been successful with silver hammerite.

 

Thanks.

In 2013 the answer would be "None at all". However 5 years on answer is yes sills have rusted. I have used Hammerite Kurust which chemically changes the rust and turns it black (I have a black car). It don't think it's stopped it, but has slowed the rusting process down.

 

In saying that my mums 2003 TDI comfort dosn't have any spots of rust on sills at all (hardly any on body either).

Edited 12 January, 20197 yr by Jim H

I personally think on any of the cars it can be luck of the draw re the quality of the metal at the time of build. 

 

• I (well my son now) have a 2001 Octavia that's amazingly rust resistant but I've seen other ones with bad rust especially sills.
• My previous 2003 Superb had rust popping up in quite a few places (sills, wheelarches, wings and rear numberplate light mounts). Not too serious but you had to keep on top of it. Mechanically was/ er still is bullet proof!

Both looked after in the same way and owned from new/nearly new

  

Even in the past 

• My wife had a 1984 Polo owned from new , kept for 19 years showing very little rust especially underneath the car.
• My sister had a same model 1990 Polo family owned from nearly new - rusted really badly, not just the usual places but random holes popping up in the A pillar and in the doors. Front / rear valances just about vanished. As for around the fuel flap.

 

 I've seen some Fabia I's around with welded patches on the sills but there are many around that are in amazing condition. I suppose with the passage of time if you find a good original one it may stay a good one re bodywork (look out for tarting up though). I wouldn’t recommend a welded one though as unless it's been done really well, prepped and proofed inside and out it's the beginning of the end! I used to restore cars and previous MOT patches were usually a nightmare as they seemed to start a rust chain reaction to everything in the area from the welding heat and by the time I got my hands on a car this had usually become really bad!

 

Re the request "I spotted that my sills have some very light rust spots when cleaning recently. What methods have people used to fix it... has it worked over time?" - This depends on the rust.

1. If very light rust then just clean and dab a bit of Ku-rust on them and then keep using proper wax pushed into them - if light this can hold for years. 
2. If you are going to get them sprayed then I'd get it done professionally - you really have to get the metal really well prepared or else it will be back soon after - the other problem is this can sand through the remaining galv protection - If very light just do as in 1. above

 

 

 

 

Edited 12 January, 20197 yr by bigjohn

Anecdotally, the earliest models rust the least, I suspect this is because Skoda were trying to overcome their reputation for sloppy build quality with the Fabia, VW pushed a value engineering process onto the range after a couple of years of production and standards slipped, my old 2000 1.4 is still showing no sign of tinworm at all.

Edited 12 January, 20197 yr by sepulchrave

20 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

Anecdotally, the earliest models rust the least, I suspect this is because Skoda were trying to overcome their reputation for sloppy build quality with the Fabia, VW pushed a value engineering process onto the range after a couple of years of production and standards slipped, my old 2000 1.4 is still showing no sign of tinworm at all.

 

This may explain why my old 2001 Octavia is tinworm free re the body (Suspension parts, subframe and rad surround excluded from this statement ) .

 

The value engineering probably involved buying cheaper metal!

Edited 12 January, 20197 yr by bigjohn

It's not only the rust you can see (sills) when i started having a closer look  i found that the factory underseal type stuff had been damaged in certain areas allowing water to get in between the metal and underseal causing rust which wouldn't be seen unless that area of underseal was removed. 53 plate.