Dirt/grit in back doors

[Delanor]

I have noticed that a lot of dirt/grit is finding its way into the inside edge of the back doors where it meets the back wheel arch, mine is a Scout so has small plastic arch extensions and there are rubber seals on the arches and on the doors but where the two seals meet is inline with the tyre so any gap between the two is allowing any water and road grit thrown off the tyre to pass and collect on the inside of the door.

 

Some of the roads I travel to my daughters house are past farms so the roads get a bit dirty but are all Karoq models the same with this problem or is it just the Scout because of the arch extensions I feel long term the fact the doors are getting shot blasted inside is not good in addition its difficult to remove this build up of grit off the paintwork.

[Apprentice]

Yes I noticed this back in February after collecting the car and driving back home a journey of over 300 miles plenty of grit/salt on the wintry roads found their way into that area, poor design with little thought a case of "Simply Clever" ... NOT.

[Gomezz]

Think it's been noted from the word go! It's not good. I travel on some tracks and forest roads and get a right build up of crap in the doors.

[Rooted]

A design failure that has been on other Skoda models in the past and yet the same 'fail' that Designers / Engineers just carry on designing in.

'Simply Clever', do all the R&D and be sure not to check out the stuff that is important to owners of cars not just Factory Testers.

[Delanor]

Had a look and the seal on the wheel arch is not doing anything there is a sufficient gap to allow  the water and grit to be sent straight through to the door looks like a solution to this is more effective sealing or a paint protective film on the inside of the doors.

 

The rubber seal allows for it to be compressed to form a seal but not when the door is not contacting it.

 

I can`t believe something as simple as this in terms of body protection has been allowed to happen - not good.

[Nicky_P]

This cropped when karoq's were first released and we're not alone......

 

https://www.atecaforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2286

 

[Delanor]

Well the reply from Seat seems to be its an area designed to get wet so no further action has been taken apart from a few individual owners attempts to stop it happening.

 

I don`t get it for Seat to say it is an area that gets wet when there is a seal which is there for a reason presumably to stop the ingress of dirt/grit water etc

[Delanor]

I have had a good look at this and there is a plastic strip with a small lip stuck on the inside of the door which is supposed to make contact with the adjacent rubber seal on the wheel arch when the door is closed well obviously it does not work as all the crud is getting past it, I reckon it just needs an additional strip of small "D" section rubber seal stuck on the edge of the plastic strip to meet the wheel arch seal, an alternative would be a strip of clear stone protection film stuck on the offending part of the door it won`t stop the crud but it will protect that area when cleaning it.

 

I`ll try both to see which works the best.

[Berisford]

I'm surprised those industrious folk in the east haven't come up with a aftermarket solution for this problem..............

 

[don_kiddik]

1 hour ago, Berisford said:

I'm surprised those industrious folk in the east haven't come up with a aftermarket solution for this problem..............

 

 

I believe a Mr. Hu Flung Dung is working on the answer !😂

[Karock]

Our 2019 Build 1.5 SEL does not appear to suffer this problem.

 

We live on a farm so every journey involves travelling over a muddy gravel track, a good test.

 

We do have mud flaps fitted perhaps that is helping?

Edited 20 December, 2019 by Karock
punctuation

[Delanor]

Mud flaps will only stop anything that is thrown off the tyres to the back pf the arch not the front of the arch where the seal is,  in your case If the doors are a tight fit against the arch seal then dirt etc shouldn`t get through I intend to see how much if any of a gap there is between the seal and the door, it may even be possible to adjust the door catch to reduce any gap depending how much is needed.

[silver1011]

Be careful modifying the seals. If they exert more pressure against a painted surface then as the car is driven and the doors continuously move, any grit caught between the seal and the paint will act like a grinding paste, quickly removing the paint.

 

I witnessed this on our MkII Octavia rear doors.

[DieselDriverVRS]

I have just cleaned our two cars this afternoon... Well the sun was out and they look great clean in the sun.  Anyway, with all the rain and muck on the roads the rear door seals this time were very dirty.  I had to wash them with the bucket and sponge.  I always thought this was by design?  As the door are longer so you don't get dirty legs when getting in and out the car? 

[shyVRS245]

This is a design fault with the Karoq's rear doors and every couple of months when I clean the areas around the 4 door frames I ensure to remove the grit that has collected in the rear door seals. Simply not clever Skoda.

[Delanor]

I am amazed at how much dirt collects pretty quickly and the size of the grit that comes with it, I had to prise out some large lumps of grit that had wedged themselves in the door drain slot and under the door seal - have got some  stone chip protection film to line inside the door along with some small stick on "D" section rubber seal to stick on the edge of the door that will butt up to the existing seal on the wheel arch,hopefully that should keep it  clear.

 

Skoda`s attempt to deal with it seems a bit half hearted.

[Rockinghorse]

Mines a 2019 1.5 SEL DSG and the rear wheel arches are exactly the same - full of mud and grit after only a couple of days - terrible design!!!!!!

I have to say I am rather disappointed with this car - MPG is rubbish, paintwork below standard and poorly built features crop up all the time.

Its a shame cos I loved my Octavia - faultless.

[croquemonsieur]

Ashamed to say, yesterday I washed my MY19 SE Tech DSG for just the 1st time after 6 months ownership and nearly 5,000miles.  In London Transport red, it's since been impressing the neighbours , sitting as it is between a line of black 4wd Range Rovers, Audis, BMWs + a Porsche - I'll have to do this more often.  There was some gritty dirt around the rear door inside, as the subject of this thread - not obvious on 1st looks, but some grit is clearly getting a short way past the outer door seal, collecting in the bottom rear corner by the door drain and going a bit up the vertical part of the abutting seals.  It washed off easily with a sponge.  I don't carry many passengers in the rear, so can't say for sure, but the dirt doesn't seem in a place where it so easily catches on clothes, but I may get put right here.  Even so it would be better designed out, but I'm not overly concerned.

 

Dirt doesn't get beyond this area and there was none on the bulbous curved part of the wheel arch of the main bodywork, where it would very easily catch on clothing.  I've had that with at least one previous car (posh one I think), or perhaps it was dirt on the external part of the body rear wheel arch (front part that doesn't exist on the Karoq & that some people seem to miss) - that did get very dirty and catch on clothes.  So maybe there's some good aspects of this Karoq rear door arrangement, but arguably not an ultimate set-up.   There's a 2nd rubber seal halfway along the door thickness, but dirt doesn't get near this on mine.  Being a model rather more than a year after the first Karoqs rolled off the the production line, some teething problems may be overcome now, including door + seal fit tolerances.  I certainly get minimal wind noise that a very few have noted slightly and the car does seem fairly effectively sealed against the noisy outside world.

 

Irelevant to the main issue under discussion, but I note that I had short mudflaps fitted from day one and they have been very effective in reducing dirt being thrown up to lower parts of the bodywork behind the wheels - front and back.  I expect there's a slight aerodynamic price paid though.

 

Whilst writing, the other day, a SEAT Ateca was parked near me in a car park and I found myself comparing the design and detail design bits for a few minutes.  The door panels front and back do look identical, (crease lines of the pseudo aero-ruling hollowing in - as in old beautiful Blackburn Buccaneer strike plane - look the same as do window frames).  (Maybe this area ruling isn't so pseudo & does have beneficial aerodynamic effect).   I've no problem with them sharing a door - very sensible in fact as they come from the same factory.  I do prefer the slightly more rounded overall Karoq appearance - on first impressions the car looks like many other x-overs & SUVs, but the lines are a bit more subtely interesting to me.