Looking under my Yeti I am astonished at the rusty bits underneath.  Every nut and bolt and forged part is rusty.  I fully realise that it is not dangerous rust but it will make things awkward when any future repairs have to be made.

 

Has anyone else seen the rust under their Yeti?

 

Norry

Nah. I keep mine covered in mud!!

No.
But my Yeti has the Mercasol antirust treatment.  First a complete underbody and cavity protection when new, and then a checkup/respray every 3 years.
This process is a "must" for cars rolling on norwegian roads.  The use of salt dilluted in water on the roads is massive over here.

I used to spray mine with supertrol while it was clean underneath.

Looking under my Yeti I am astonished at the rusty bits underneath.  Every nut and bolt and forged part is rusty.  I fully realise that it is not dangerous rust but it will make things awkward when any future repairs have to be made.

 

Has anyone else seen the rust under their Yeti?

 

Norry

Norry, dont worry about it. When the time comes to remove said nuts, the Air gun will make short of undoing them there nuts.

 

And, if that dont work................a 5" angle grinder will help.

I see what you are talking about but mine is pre-owned and I'm waiting for Spring to Waxoyle and check things over. However, all the vags get rusty fixing screws which I agree look ugly, these are the self tappers that hold on the underside covers and trims (e.g wheel arch covers). I buy stainless steel A2 grade self tappers to replace the OEs. In places where some are visible like the arch liners, some may not like the shiny polish of stainless, but it doesn't bother me and gives the Yeti a cared for look.

 

What I have noticed is 'Alf Alfa' crud trapped behind the rear bumper which I will have to find out how to remove and clean. Wet mud build up in hidden places can cause a future corrosion problems. Based on experience with my VW, I recommend occasionally removing the wheel arch liners which hide body panels that seem to collect mud. Once the liners are removed it is easy to Waxoyle after cleaning. I use a paraffin gun and airline with frequent breaks to dunk the gun in boiling water to keep the wax running free. Behind the liners at the top they usually stuff in spongy foam which sits in contact with the metal arches. When left wet you can get wing corrosion creeping through from behind. Their black spongy foam is there as the last resort bump stop if the suspension spring fails.

Edited 20 February, 201610 yr by voxmagna

Goodness me ... is my lovely Yeti going to become a rust bucket?  I am unable to do anything mechanical (being a 'mere' female of the species).  Even opening the door can become a trial because of all the computerisation!

 

I won't give up on this forum.......but its sometimes scary!!

Goodness me ... is my lovely Yeti going to become a rust bucket?  I am unable to do anything mechanical (being a 'mere' female of the species).  Even opening the door can become a trial because of all the computerisation!

 

I won't give up on this forum.......but its sometimes scary!!

All cars have steel parts underneath that go 'rusty'. That doesn't mean serious corrosion that eats away the metal so fast your car becomes a rust bucket. These days a lot of plastics are used and thin metal body panels are coated and treated. Only when paint bubbling and rust appears on the outside body work should you worry. Most corrosion warranties sold with cars these days require the car to be regularly inspected at service time. I don't go along with that 'hands off' approach and prefer to prevent problems rather than argue warranty terms afterwards. Next time you take your car for MOT, ask the mechanic to show you the underneath when it is on the lift. You will see many parts with surface rust, particularly around the front and rear suspension. Don't worry about what you can't see!

Goodness me ... is my lovely Yeti going to become a rust bucket?  I am unable to do anything mechanical (being a 'mere' female of the species).  Even opening the door can become a trial because of all the computerisation!

 

I won't give up on this forum.......but its sometimes scary!!

Dont worry, Just change the car every 3 years. Simples.

Dont worry, Just change the car every 3 years. Simples.

Oh dear, my Primera was 17 and still going strong - I was hoping my Yeti would outlast me!!

"I was hoping my Yeti would outlast me!!"

 

My Italian neighbour says he can arrange that for a price........

"I was hoping my Yeti would outlast me!!"

 

My Italian neighbour says he can arrange that for a price........

Is that Don?.

Well it seems rust is back in vogue with Skoda.

My car is a year old and a few days.

The other day I noticed a rust stain on the paintwork down on the trailing corner of the front passenger's door. Upon looking closer it appears there are bubbles pushing outwards from the inside. My dealer has inspected the site, measured the depth of paint, taken images and sent them off to Skoda.

Quite disappointed that rust should be coming through from the inside after 12 months 

 

Mike

It's a quite well known problem on this forum but they tend not to use the R*** word as it appears to be caused when the cars are galvanised and bubbles up between paint ,galvanisation,metal but yes corrosion by another name,been keeping my fingers crossed for nearly 2 years.

I like Supertrol as it sprays then creeps and I found it worked a treat with door sills

it then stiffens up as the carrier evaporates and stays put. I even did the whole floorpan

on one of my minis to protect brake pipes and metal fuel pipe.

It's a quite well known problem on this forum but they tend not to use the R*** word as it appears to be caused when the cars are galvanised and bubbles up between paint ,galvanisation,metal but yes corrosion by another name,been keeping my fingers crossed for nearly 2 years.

 

Zinc inclusion spots on the doors and rusty bits underneath are 2 totally separate matters.

Llanigraham.............My post was a response after and solely to the post from ktm690rr about the problem of bubbles in the door panels of his year old yeti where HE referred to a skoda rust problem.

Edited 24 February, 201610 yr by Sad555

Sssh,

never mention the Skoda / VW Paint issue and Quality Control or lack of and the need to claim under Warranty at 

the same time as discussing the Cosmetic Corrosion of poorly treated parts under or on the VWG Vehicles.

 

It might lead some to think that Rust / Corrosion is not a acceptable characteristic of the VW Group Vehicles and 

to be valued as something you get free, where as other Manufacturers that build cars in Europe try to use processes and materials and protection that deprives the buyer of the Rust Experience.

 

Some Skoda / VW Owners get worried that others might think the Brands are devalued by talk of Corrosion that is not a Design Feature of the vehicles.

Vorsprung Durch Technik

(Never quite understanding Metallurgy and protecting from H20)

MY12 Yeti was previously owned. When I showed the dealership my rear edge door rot (call it RUST or whatever), they thought the paint had come off opening the door into something! This is the problem trying to get something done about a problem you never had on other cars - too many get outs!

 

Is this the kind of metal rot (rust) on the rear of the front doors you are talking about? If there is any doubt about whether it is coating, plating or rust, you can clearly see the bubbling bare metal is now brown, which is the ferric compound produced when steel corrodes and commonly known as 'rust'.

Been lucky up to now but there are owners who have had the well known prob so they have better experience to advise but I would guess once the galvanised coating has become detached from the metal/paint and blisters have formed and burst and filled with water that will eventually produce the R***.or it may be caused by the other problem Skoda has on some models with the doors filling with water and perhaps corroding from the inside out.good ere init

Edited 24 February, 201610 yr by Sad555

It is a VWG trait since they changed from Air Cooled.

Difficulty keeping liquids in where they should be like in the cooling system, and oils in the metal bits,

and H20 out of the passenger and luggage compartments.

 

Just them having decades of not getting the hang of rubber, belts, gaskets & seals while trying to get their heads around chains and chain tensioners.

Once they sort that out they can get to grips with Water Based paints, 

and ECU's.

DAS AUTO no more, its all going to be 'Simply Clever' from now on.

 

Green / Electric / Hybrid, what can possibly go wrong with that.

Edited 24 February, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

Yes that's a little unfair but they are pretty good on emissions or is that some other vehicle manufacture I'm getting mixed up with?

MY12 Yeti was previously owned. When I showed the dealership my rear edge door rot (call it RUST or whatever), they thought the paint had come off opening the door into something! This is the problem trying to get something done about a problem you never had on other cars - too many get outs!

 

Is this the kind of metal rot (rust) on the rear of the front doors you are talking about? If there is any doubt about whether it is coating, plating or rust, you can clearly see the bubbling bare metal is now brown, which is the ferric compound produced when steel corrodes and commonly known as 'rust'.

 

No, that is quite distinctly rust caused by the door edges being scuffed and not repaired.

 

The "zinc inclusion problem" is more pimple well away from the door edges.

 

My apologies, "Sad" I misunderstood you.

Thanks, I'm thinking of getting one of these mobile touch up firms around to clean up a few places.  Although I've used my airbrush in the past o.k with single mix cellulose, I'm not that confident to try it with these 2 pack metalic finishes. I don't want to end up with more of a mess than I started with. I've made up my own phosphoric acid rust killer and will paint that on for now to keep it from spreading further. Hmm - perhaps I should passivate the whole underneath.

MY12 Yeti was previously owned. When I showed the dealership my rear edge door rot (call it RUST or whatever), they thought the paint had come off opening the door into something! This is the problem trying to get something done about a problem you never had on other cars - too many get outs!

 

Is this the kind of metal rot (rust) on the rear of the front doors you are talking about? If there is any doubt about whether it is coating, plating or rust, you can clearly see the bubbling bare metal is now brown, which is the ferric compound produced when steel corrodes and commonly known as 'rust'.

 

That looks very like an extreme case of the paint being worn away with contact with the vertical rubber seal between the doors. More action is at the bottom as grit gravitates downwards!

I usually wipe the grit away asap, but as I'm weekly running on gravel roads all day, I've had to repair the lower edge before it spreads to the flat door panels. An aerosol and careful masking makes it invisible so far - 60k miles and more grit on yesterday, today and tomorrow!!!