Need Advice.

Keir Anderson · Post by **Keir Anderson** » September 19th, 2005, 6:12 am

Hi,

Recently my car failed mot due to minor things so i invested a lot of money fixing it up and upgrading parts. I'm now told that the car is in a very advanced state of rust (how i dont know cause it's only done 48000 miles) and if i want to keep it on the road it'll cost me between £200-300 at every mot from now on to keep it running. I knew our cars were prone to CV's etc but how can it be costing this much?? this year i've replaced/upgraded all CV's, bearings, drop links, new exhaust system, brake pipes, pads/discs, struts/springs etc etc pretty much all the wear&tear parts.

I've just got the car the way i want it and i would give anything to keep it but i gotta be realistic, its not gonna be worth it in the long run. should i cut my losses??

And how come its in such a bad state?? i know in scotland we get crappy weather so theres alot of salt etc on the roads but i've never seen a car in this state.

Thunderstorm · Post by **Thunderstorm** » September 19th, 2005, 10:12 am

Hi Keir,

Just how old exactly is that MX-3?
How many owners has it had, and where has it spent most of its life?
To the best of my knowledge, rust has never been a problem on MX-3s.
Well, not the ones I have seen anyway.

A lot of MX-3s of various ages are still operational in Canada, where there are also severe winters & the roads have to be salted too.

Very strange indeed, you may want to investigate fiurther re: rusting.

Where exactly is this rust? How bad exactly is it?

Thunderstorm

Keir Anderson · Post by **Keir Anderson** » September 19th, 2005, 10:48 am

Hi,

The car is a 96 N. Its only had 2 owners (the second being me).

The car has always been looked after well, the lady i purchased the car from lived only a few hundred metres from her work so the car was only used for social trips and was always parked in a garage.

I got it in 2000 so although its nearly 10yrs old you'd expect some rust, but i wasn't expecting this. its only been recently that the arches began to rust and that was next on my list after the MOT. I got the guy to have a look at the arches and then he asked me to go to the garage and have a closer look at it. its everywhere, under rear seats, underneath the car is pretty awful, where the spare tyre is kept its pretty bad too. it can be repaired but at the rate its developing the now i'll be forking out every year. is there anyway i can protect the car fully with some sort of underseal??

MikeUK · Post by **MikeUK** » September 19th, 2005, 11:20 am

Hey there, it sound a little shabby. Im not too sure if there are any sealants. Think you better ask some of the canadians, I supose they have to deal with stuff like that much more than us.

Good luck

garfy1981 · Post by **garfy1981** » September 19th, 2005, 1:24 pm

Sorry to hear about that mate! you cars not an ex-flood damage is it !!
That seems really weird. Seen a few on ebay with rust around arch, bottom of door and one around windowscreen but not that bad !!
Ive got a M reg with 120K on it, and there is no rust what so ever on it. And its never seen a sheltered garage before !!.
Maybe it would be easier to cut you losses and by a cheap mx-3 with high mileage but good bodywork ( usually plenty on ebay ) and transfer parts over. Of course this is gonna be of some cost. Worse comes to worse you could strip it down for parts, plenty of demand for good used parts on the mx.

Keir Anderson · Post by **Keir Anderson** » September 20th, 2005, 4:23 am

Ok thanks for the help. Like i said i'd do anything to keep it and after spending money time & effort on it i'm just gonna bite the bullet and get it repaired, even tho it'll ruin me!!.

cheers.

Wilhelm_Fink · Post by **Wilhelm_Fink** » September 20th, 2005, 6:03 am

my 1991 mx3 is the same, rusted to feck.
...but keeps passing MOTs

garfy1981 · Post by **garfy1981** » September 20th, 2005, 2:32 pm

Wilhelm, where is you car rusting.?? Just out of curiosity. Gonna take my wheels and arch trims off, and clean them all up at weekend. Will also check and clean out crap off arch lips. Hopefully i wont find any rust !!!. Still gives me an excuse to plan for a paint job if i do

.
Is there any way of protecting the paint/body work. I tend not to drive the mx in the winter, think i will chuck a breathable car cover over her this winter ( if anyone knows of a manufactuer of one Pm us, otherwise will have to be a dodgey universal one ).. Cheers

Wilhelm_Fink · Post by **Wilhelm_Fink** » September 21st, 2005, 6:45 am

the bodywork rust is around the rear wheel archess, its pretty severe, front edge of the bonnet too.... but thats just the bodywork, the underneath of the car is worst.

rsroadkilla · Post by **rsroadkilla** » September 21st, 2005, 6:47 pm

any1 know where u can buy new rear arches from, as mines rusting on the off side arch, and i got a major respay comin up! Dont wanna get it al sprayed, and then get some bubblin!!!!

any1 know if u can get em???

BADMX3 · Post by **BADMX3** » September 22nd, 2005, 6:24 am

i too have rust on the rear arches >>> wasn't a problem but for the last 12 months my car has been pretty much sat doing nothing.

i just bought some fender flares and gonna have thhe rust cut away and rebuilt..

rsroadkilla · Post by **rsroadkilla** » September 22nd, 2005, 1:21 pm

u got a link???

snellgrove · Post by **snellgrove** » September 23rd, 2005, 9:56 am

The offside (right hand side) rear arch on mine is suffering too..

Had a look under the car and it does look like a '97 car under there..

but nothing really to worry about.

You can get cars cleaned up underneath and undersealed, but I dont know where.

My friend got a Japanese import Mitsubishi Pajero, and he had that undersealed to prevent the UK road salt eating it alive, during winter months.

garfy1981 · Post by **garfy1981** » September 25th, 2005, 12:38 pm

Well i stripped and cleaned all the front wheels and plastic arch trims and the crap that i found was amazing !!!. Especially the front trim on the V6 models that sits on the sills. I removed this and found a MASSIVE pile of thick black crap !!! that was stuck behind the arch

. Ive also found evidence that the car has been previously under sealed, so im chufffed someone has looked after it before me

. I found no rust spots anywhere !!!

just to make sure ive undercoated all around the arches.

Materials/ Tools used;
Can WD40 for existing bolts on arch trims.
Can Waxoyl Aerosol Clear Halford £5.99 ( underseal )
Wonder Wheels ( to clean alloys )
Clit Bang Degreaser ( Tescos, cheers for pedro for recommending this i used it everywhere and striped all the grime right out !! £2.99 )
Wire Wool ( scrubbing, just had pile laying around so thoought i used that )
Pressure Washer ( A must have !! )
Turtle wax tyre gel ( shinny tyres !! )
Socket set, & crossed headed screw driver.

Im definately gonna make this a yearly thing and would recommend it to any mx'er.
Trust me you will be amazed at what you find behind that V6 front sill trim