Rust

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » November 9th, 2007, 2:16 am

I've had my MX-3 for a few months. It's in excellent condition, except for one thing. On both sides of the car, the rocker panels have some slight surface rust where they meet the bottom of the doors. The bad part is, the bottom inch of the doors are completely rusted, I can easily break off the pieces.

I've looked at some old posts, and this seems to be a common problem for Canadian MX-3's. I'm sure those of you from the southern states are completely confused right now, and have no idea what I'm talking about.

I've never seen another type of vehicle with such a persistent rust problem in this particular area. It's like the water always wants to sit there. Maybe it's because of bad door seals? I guess the only solutions are to not drive it in the winter, and wipe your rocker panels and doors when you wash the car.

Any thoughts??

Volones · Post by **Volones** » November 9th, 2007, 9:05 am

I'm thinking you mean the area just in front of the door, is that right?

If so open your door and look down there, it collects debris, and I've read a few posts about people saying that this is an area that needs to be cleaned out regularly. Personally, I stuck the vacuum nozzle in mine and got most everything, but less than a week later it was full of leafs again.

Since this will help keep moisture in that area, I'll just have to keep cleaning it out. Luckily I live in a semi-arid climate so the humidity is low and the moisture that does collect there evaporates quickly.

Yoda · Post by **Yoda** » November 9th, 2007, 12:25 pm

This is a common problem with all the 323 based cars. The bigger problem is that the whole 323 family of cars all rust out for the inside out in this area. By the time you see surface rust on the outside, the problem is 20X worse on the side you can't see.

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » November 9th, 2007, 4:50 pm

Volones wrote:I'm thinking you mean the area just in front of the door, is that right?

Nope. For me, the area where the hinges are, in front of the doors is fine. I'm talking about basically the entire length of the actual doors.

Volones · Post by **Volones** » November 12th, 2007, 8:53 am

umcamara wrote:
Volones wrote:I'm thinking you mean the area just in front of the door, is that right?
Nope. For me, the area where the hinges are, in front of the doors is fine. I'm talking about basically the entire length of the actual doors.

Oh great, now I gotta clean in more hard-to-reach places?
Sorry your car is rusting out there, it's sad to see rust take an otherwise great car off the road.