I thought the shell was galvanised on these - I've had a bad scratch/dent to metal on my sill since I bought it, and it stays brightish, certainly not rusting - 6+ years.

 

But conversely,  underneath, my brother's 1999 pre-face-lift 250K taxi now deceased looked far more robust/better built/less corrosion on acilliary attachments, than my 2004 MY version.

They are but if theres enough wear in a specific area the coating will wear off exposing steel.

put on some galvafroid and you are back to good, as its able to be a primer for overpainting, we use it sometimes to protect bare metal.

Dude keep the faith.... I used to run a classic vw company rebuilding old busses and beetles from as far back as the 50's so I've seen a lot worse...my only advice is cut it out and replace with new buddy or as oet suggests a good cut of another octy..... Best o luck and if u need a hand and I'm not to far from ya I'm up for some work mate

Any word?

Yep all sorted cut/welded with a bit of filler, primer and paint and it looks really good. Cost £290 and I will post up some pics tomorrow

Cool, what did they replace?

A lot of the sill and the bottom of the rear wheel arch

The only thing that has annoyed me about the garage is that they did not cover the underside of the car when they sprayed the sill so now half of the underside of the car is red!

so annoying when they don't mask off for overspray, not hard to do is it!

Bit sloppy & they have not painted the underside of the sill & the 'lip'?  Or is that a load of wax coating they've dumped over it?

 

Id moan!

Edited 19 November, 201312 yr by Liverpool-Lad

To be fair £290 is not bad as if they spent more time masking up then the price goes up, At least the over sprayed parts under your car are protected lol

It's a load of grease/wax that they have put on the sill

Ahh right, on another note is the corner of the door going too ?

Yep I think that needs some attention now aswell!

Blimey mate, not having much luck

just get a cut from a clean car, cheaper than buying a panel

 

 

One would never guess you've got a bay...  

 

OP I hope you get her sorted soon