Sills removed - my rust findings

[TriggerFish]

Hi all,

Today I was planning to change my front droplinks, so thought it would be a good idea to drop the arch liner to clean/waxoyl the front arches while the wheel was off. While there, I also thought I'd remove the side sills and see what I found.

Does this look too bad to you? In my mind it's not too bad (but I know nothing!). There's also a couple of bits of bubbling on the inside of the rear drop well (where the kick plates sit). I've got a quote to get the rear arches ground back/resprayed, but I don't know anything about paint/body work, so was wondering what the consensus on the state of this is.

Cheers,

Joe

URL=http://s660.photobucket.com/user/TriggerFish91/media/e46%20330d/DSC_4627.jpg.html]

[mjn]

Grind it away, treat it, and paint it?

Most of the rust is not visible parts of the car, you could get the arches rolled once treated, hide them from view?

[Ragamuffin]

I am guessing your car is at least 10 years old? If so, that is not too bad considering the grief and crap cars get. Its usually where you cannot see that rust will develop, after all, you cant see most of those bits, so moisture and salt get trapped, never gets cleaned off, and rust develops.

[TriggerFish]

Yep, it's a Sept' 2002, so nearly 11. If that's all it needs, just grinding and treating, that's good news! I was dreading it all needed cutting/welding, which I'm not sure would be worth it.

I was planning on rolling the arches first for going lower/different wheels. The paint guy said to do arches etc. before taking it to him, so any cracking paint or whatever can be rectified.

[Phantom Mark]

I am guessing your car is at least 10 years old? If so, that is not too bad considering the grief and crap cars get. Its usually where you cannot see that rust will develop, after all, you cant see most of those bits, so moisture and salt get trapped, never gets cleaned off, and rust develops.

Pretty crap when you consider a bargain bucket Vauxhall or ford of the same age generally has less rust, Mercedes and BMW are among the worst rot boxes you can get now sadly

[Phantom Mark]

Fwiw both my 2001's are in a near identical state, sills on both are not anywhere as bad as yours tho....

[TriggerFish]

Yeah, it is gauling. My 13 y/o Polo I've just sold was 100% rust free. Crafty VW and their galvanizing!

[Ragamuffin]

Yeah, it is gauling. My 13 y/o Polo I've just sold was 100% rust free. Crafty VW and their galvanizing!

It does make you wonder why expensive cars like the BM for instance, don't do the same?

[mjn]

Yeah, it is gauling. My 13 y/o Polo I've just sold was 100% rust free. Crafty VW and their galvanizing!

It does make you wonder why expensive cars like the BM for instance, don't do the same?

It's the Germans, they ain't got a f**king clue about engineering

[mit]

If I had rust like that on my car I'd want it sorted. Depends what sort of person you are though. If you're not that bothered this rust is relatively minor and you can probably leave it for years before it will cause you bigger problems...

[MRyan]

Pretty bad, would definitely get it sorted! How do you remove the plastic sills? I want to check mine

[Lewis330m]

Most E46's over 10 years old will have a bit of bubbling behind the seals, just grind down to bare metal, rust treat, zinc prim, fill and paint...

[TriggerFish]

Pretty bad, would definitely get it sorted! How do you remove the plastic sills? I want to check mine

Very easy to do, easier with the car jacked up though (more space). Along the length there are a series of plastic push rivets underneath. Use a screw driver (and pliers if needed) to pull the head/pin out. Once these are all removed I just started pulling from the rear, then just levered it out along its length. Very simple, but you might need to replace a couple of rivets.

I also had the front arch liners out. I can't remember if these clip over the sill, so they might need losening first.

If I had rust like that on my car I'd want it sorted. Depends what sort of person you are though. If you're not that bothered this rust is relatively minor and you can probably leave it for years before it will cause you bigger problems...

The sort of person that priorities issues My clutch is slipping, so that's defiantly the first on the list as it affects me daily. Assuming nothing else pops up though this will be the next thing to focus repairs on, I just wanted to know if it needed imminent work, or work in a couple of years.

Edited August 4, 2013 by TriggerFish

[MRyan]

Definitely going to whip my side skirts off and underseal the bejesus out of them next weekend!

[TriggerFish]

Well, nearly bang on two years later, and I've still not done anything with these! Given the state of the sills was likely to determine if I scrapped this car or not, I thought I'd have a look given I'm still off work until Monday. (I've kept this thread alive as it's easier to see how things have progressed.)

I've not touched anything under the car, except to sweep dust/mud away, and to poke the two bubbles around by the sill clips, to see how solid they were (quite, but I wasn't using a very sturdy tool). There's more rust underneath that I couldn't photograph too (car's not high enough).

Driver's arch has progressed badly!

(Yes, the wonky BMW badge is bugging me too!)

Passenger's side has got worse, but not as much.

Rear driver's sill - I was expecting the arch rust to carry on down here, and that this would be mostly metal flakes.

Driver's side again:

Driver's side rear jacking point (worse in the flesh)

Driver's side front

Passenger's side front, which isn't as bad. The whole side of the car is much better in general, which was surprising, although also echoes Ben's findings...

Anyway, the car's on 235k, is rusty, needs a raft of new bushes, and a new turbo pipe ideally. There's rust bubbles on the boot lid, roof/pillars, all four doors - the only bubble free panels are the bonnet, and the driver's wing. Not sure if it's worth fixing it up, or just letting it go... Heart says keep it, logic says replace, long term wallet says keep...

(Yes, I know it's filthy! It's not usually that bad, as it's covered in gravel dust and a lot of bug kill, but it's never kept clean, which likely hasn't helped the situation)

Edited August 6, 2015 by TriggerFish

[mjn]

That's a lot of rust.

[simonlpearce]

Drive it until it either dies or fails an MOT, then break it and recoup as much as you can before moving on to the next.

[bennno2005]

I think you've seen the state of my sill.

The corrosion on mine was a lot more developed than your's but was confined to a much smaller area so was a pretty easy fix (my arches were fine)

If I was you I'd start to run it into the ground, just doing bits when they become dangerous or for MOT purposes.

If its been 2 years you obviously don't care about the car cosmetically so just use it till it fails its MOT or lets you down.

I can't see the rust on it being an MOT failure at the moment.

Its worth less than a hat full of cold piss so you may as well use it till you have to scrap it.

Edited August 6, 2015 by ben.embrey

[TriggerFish]

Mot is in September, but those bits will all be hidden by the sill covers

It had no advisories (except tyre/tracking) last not, so hopefully it goes through. If it is replaced, it'll likely be with a factory ordered lease car, so I need to consider lead times too...

If I put it in early, so I know where I stand, and it fails, does the current mot die there and then, or does it run to the original expiry date?

[bennno2005]

Pretty sure it runs till the original date.

[StuBeeDoo]

Pretty sure it runs till the original date.

This ^^^

That's the whole idea of putting it in 30 days before expiry - gives you time to fix it without taking it off the road.

I know the grief you've had with the E30, Joe, but FWIW I'd say the rust on your E46 isn't much to worry about. The M57 can go well past 300k, if looked after, so IMO that's reason enough to tidy the car and keep it a bit longer - if it doesn't owe you much.