Major Rust Problem!

[Chunk11]

Oh dear its bad news I was doing an oil change today and whilst doing that I noticed quite a large area of paint that was bubbling on the rear off side door sill had a look/feel underneath and its totally rotten!

 

Is it likely this could be fixed by welding in a panel or is it most likely going to need a totally new sill?

 

 

 

[VRade]

what worries me is iv never seen an occy rot that bad?

 

It's been badly repaired previously for these reasons i can see...

 

*Overspray on the mudflap - Big give away

 

*Wrong colour match

 

*Looks slightly misshapen in the first picture

 

Id honestly take that to a professional bodyshop and have them take a proper look at it. 

 

It may well require a new whole sill as you do not know the extent of the rust yet, id strip it back as far as the rust goes back to solid metal then assess the situation buddy.

Edited 20 October, 2013 by VRade

[TERKIN]

yeah thats not that bad tbh from pics,how did you not notice till now lol

[Chunk11]

Just out of interest how do you replace the sill?

It is a case of cutting it off and welding a new one on?

[Volvomeg]

Holy feck thats quiet a big hole,

 

Guessing its had a smack on that side at some point in its life and not been repaired right,

 

It will need to be plated but to do it properly will need a new sill or at least the rear part of it but it might be the wheel arch repair plate panel depending what repair panels can be bought for octy,

 

To replace it will be cut out and new bit welded in, then filled and painted, or you can just have it plated but i wouldn't leave it like that for long especially with winter on its way even if its only plated to cover hole

[Chunk11]

Yeah I think I must be blind to have missed all that! Will take it to the local body shop and see what they say

[VRade]

To see the full extent you'd honestly have to strip the whole lot back to as far as solid metal goes.

 

Which could be abit of the sill or the whole of the sill.

 

Rust eats from the inside out mate so the whole sill could be rotten just not enough to bubble the paint yet.

[missingmyvrs]

That is bad but this is due to a previous repai never seen an Octy do this in un damaged form

[mondy1975]

You have my sympathy - there's nothing worse than the sinking feeling of realising that parts of your car have the structural integrity of a bin liner :(  Reminds me of when I stuck some XR2i wheels onto my D reg Fiesta 1.4S back in the mid-nineties - when I jacked the car up, half the sill just crumbled onto the floor.  That car had more filler in it than Isopon's factory.  Hope the repair quote is palatable.

 

[Liverpool-Lad]

Blimey, that looks a mess & looks like it goes further under.

 

How long have you had the car?

Edited 21 October, 2013 by Liverpool-Lad

[thesquiff]

Surely an MOT should have picked that up in the last year?!  Hope it is economically repairable - certainly not normal to see that on an Octy!

[SKODAGLO]

That looks nasty,hope the bill isn't too much ...

[Chunk11]

Didn't get chance to go to the body shop today due to work! I have owned the car for almost 6 and a half years and I have never had it repaired there so it must have happened before I owned it.

Already looking at new cars as I fancy a change...

[Silver Bullet]

Not good,

 

Had a browse around and found this site:-

 

http://www.rexbo.eu/search?q=octavia+sill

 

As our cars are now becoming older im sure there are a few 3rd party replacement panel suppliers.

Find a friendly panel shop and check the amount of work / cost required. Is the other side the same?.

 

Keep us updated, this could be a rot weakness area (as you accelerate any trapped water would run to the rear of the sill and sit there). 

[Liverpool-Lad]

Theres no way this would happen naturally due to the arch liners.  My Y reg has mint sills.

[RoadWarrior]

I know that feeling too well..

 

 

I ended up ditching the sand paper and started removing rust with a screwdriver in the end!

 

My solution was to sand the whole car down, Kurust it and re-paint it... but that might be a little too extreme for you

[Liverpool-Lad]

What the!

 

Whats the story with yours?  Another bad repair?

[RoadWarrior]

What the!

 

Whats the story with yours?  Another bad repair?

 

Nope, just a simple case of previous owners not looking after the bodywork.

 

What appears to have happened, is that over time stones and other crap have been chipping away against the very edge of the arch. With the protective layers damaged, water has got in and the rust has spread under the paintwork and worked it's way further and further forward.

 

 

 

Fast forward 12 years and the end result is a nice rusty arch / sill.

 

Thankfully I got there just in time to save it with Kurust, and then protect it with the new paint job.

[Liverpool-Lad]

Ack.  I have touched a few chips on the arch with mine & luckily got off scot free.

[Liverpool-Lad]

Did you get any further with this?

[Chunk11]

Funny enough mate I dropped the car off today. The plan of action is for the garage to grind all the rust off till they get to some good metal. They will then assess it to see if it is best to weld it or replace the sill and possibly the rear wheel arch

[Oet]

just get a cut from a clean car, cheaper than buying a panel (that way only be available as a whole) ie the whole rear quater inc half the sill

[Bowders1]

I am starting to see this more often on these cars . Let's face it they are now well over 10 years old, well mine is 12.

 

The rear arch area seems to get it bad on these.

 

Christaylors is caused by a very bad repair that seems to have been caused by a knock under the sill as the sill lip is completely crushed. Without a good repair that area is prone. I would just repair that with a cut out of metal and then wax inside the whole rear sill.

 

Also what i have noticed on a lot of octy's is the plastic rear arch liner bottom section is broken or snapped off. This plastic section sits proud of the rear sill. This stop's water and crud hitting the metal sill thrown at it from the tyres. I checked mine the other day and had a broken arch inner and what i could see was slight surface rust appearing on the bottom edge of sill.

I fixed this quite easy by a rub down , rust protector and some hamerite (could be seem as under car.

 

I also removed rear door rubber seal to clean whole door area when i replaced a door loom,  and noticed a spec of surface rust. fixed that too. I think if the rubber door seal is bad when ran water runs down inner door, it can collect at bottom of the door and gets into the rear floor area and into rear door sill(it is double skinned and welded at interval's) that water can sit for long periods inside the sill and rust it from inside / out. 

 

As I am a fussy git i removed my arch liners cleaned out the arch's and touched up and areas suspect before they could get bad.

 

These cars are not so rust protective as i first thought....

[Liverpool-Lad]

Yep, wont stop the inevitable but catching them early will definitely help.  Be interested to see how you get on Chris with any follow up info/pics.  The arch liner extension also seems to wear away the paint at the base of the sill lip as youve found out.  Ive treated mine with rust killer.

Edited 7 November, 2013 by Liverpool-Lad

[Chunk11]

Yep not heard back from the garage yet but will update this topic with further info/pics