Rust!

[orangeboy]

Hi Guys,

I have a real problem with my Focus, one which I thought I would never see again.

I have a late 2008 1.8 TDCI Titanium with 39000 miles, in Panther Black.

Both rear wheel arches are bubbling around the whole circumference with rust. I
don't just mean a little stone chip; I mean the rust starting under the wheel
arch itself, and spreading up the rear quarter with large blisters.

Needless to say Ford doesn’t want to know - which I think is a disgrace on a car which
is barely 5 years old.

I have taken it to a couple of body shops, and one even refused to look at it as
they reckon that you can never get rid of rust and it will always come back.

Has anyone else experienced that, and how did you repair it? Is this a known week point? I am annoyed at having the cost of the repair, but even more so if it happens regularly.

This is seriously testing my loyalty to the blue oval, which dates back more than 30
years...

Love to hear your opinions and comments...

Brian

[Fastfordman]

Wow that's not good at all, have ford said why they aren't interesed? Even without the bodywork stamps in the service book unless the cars had an accident ford shouldn't be able to just shirk this.

Have you tried taking to another dealer? I would be threating trading standards if it was me. Previous accident damage is one possible cause apart from that a 2008 car should not rust like that.

[orangeboy]

No, there is not any accident damage.

I took the car to my local dealer, and they refered it to the Ford Customer service Centre, who said it was "wear & tear"......i.e. it's supposed to happen!

As I've said the most alarming thing is the fact that I was told it would keep comming back.

[artscot79]

i have a small patch on my 2006 its not unusual and a body shop will tell you the only way to be sure its gone is cut it out completely i believe the arch liners on the rear are the main cause they get sodden take days to dry out and the whole time they sit against the metal

[jimrex]

My first reference point would be the terms of your warranty. I can't quite remember how long Ford offers for Paint and Body protection, whether its 3 years as per mechanical items, or more. I know some manufacturers offer more.

[MartynS]

Paintwork is 12 years I think.

[artscot79]

12 years if the car was serviced by ford and the paint inspection part of the book stamped

[frostman83]

do you have a photo of the offending area?

[orangeboy]

Thanks for all the replies / opinions.

I have tried taking pictures, but my camera doesn't pick it up proerly.

I called Ford again today to try and force my point, and there is a 10 year anti-corrosion warranty, but only from the inside out, and being the rust on my car had been caued, in their opinion, by stone chips, this is not a warranty claim, but wear and tear.

How on earth people are supposed to drive and avoid stone chips is past me, and when I asked the girl at Ford this, all I got back was " sorry I can't help you any further Sir, and thanks for calling Ford ".

As I said above, the most alarming thing is not the fact that it has rusted, but that a really reputable body shop has refused to even estimate for a repair, saying it will always come back......GULP!

[frostman83]

Thanks for all the replies / opinions.

I have tried taking pictures, but my camera doesn't pick it up proerly.

I called Ford again today to try and force my point, and there is a 10 year anti-corrosion warranty, but only from the inside out, and being the rust on my car had been caued, in their opinion, by stone chips, this is not a warranty claim, but wear and tear.

How on earth people are supposed to drive and avoid stone chips is past me, and when I asked the girl at Ford this, all I got back was " sorry I can't help you any further Sir, and thanks for calling Ford ".

As I said above, the most alarming thing is not the fact that it has rusted, but that a really reputable body shop has refused to even estimate for a repair, saying it will always come back......GULP!

get the name of a manager, send letters/emails this will get you noticed and may work.

[artscot79]

You wont get anywhere thats from experience they always have an excuse as you say stone chips my old man had all the fords and they all rust hence why he doesnr buy them anymore i had a 12 year old punto that was properly galvanised and hand on heart not a rust spot on the car even the arches

ford will state that at every service you should pay for a paint check where any chips are touched up with a touch up kit if not you dobt have a leg to stand on even if you had a leak into the car ford state its trim so only covered for a year by the time you find the leak any rust is put down to the leak so not covered.

I to do the job properly a bodyshop has 2 methods first remove the whole rear quarter panel and respray time consuming and not worth there hassle 2nd to cut out the rear arch and weld in a new piece apply filler smooth it all and repaint again not worth the hassle rust kure etc doesnt work on stuff like that for long i believe tge rear arch liners are the cause

[bt_cav]

i have a small patch on my 2006 its not unusual and a body shop will tell you the only way to be sure its gone is cut it out completely i believe the arch liners on the rear are the main cause they get sodden take days to dry out and the whole time they sit against the metal

I agree, these arch liners just hold on to the moisture.

Can they easily be removed......are plastic inner wing covers available? or just remove them and clean out and dry out then waxoil the inner arches?

[orangeboy]

Thanks folks, I'm off the see a couple of body shops this afternoon, so fingers crossed.

I've had a couple of quotes so far - a "one man band" body shop who said he could sand and bead blast the offending area's, then seal, waxoyl and paint for just over £300, and from a nationwide Ford Dealer, Evans Halshaw, who have just estimated for rubbing down and painting for a whopping £598.......

We'll see what the other 2 today say, but I like the idea of Waxoyling under the liners.

[orangeboy]

Just had a conversation with a manager from the Ford Relationship Centre - my car has a 1 year anti-corrosion warranty, and a 10 year anti-perforation warranty, so no joy there.

However, they are going to speak to Evans Halshaw with a view to giving partial financial assistance.

Watch this space!

[artscot79]

ill be honest from my mk1 it will be back in 6 months or so it wont go away no matter how much waxoil etc they put on evans halshaw wont do much they usually are the ones who cover up the rust using smart repairs only for owners to find it return later

theres no plastic liners what i did was buy some plastic tubing or rubber hose about 1mm thick remove the liners and waxoil and underseal combined the rear of the arches inside then slit the rubber tube down the middle so it would fit around the edge of the liner lip where it meets the body replace the liner a bit fiddly then waxoil underseal or stone chip spray the liner so water doesnt stick it prevented any more rust so far that was 18 months ago

[Justin Smith]

On ‎03‎/‎04‎/‎2013 at 8:04 PM, orangeboy said:

 

Hi Guys,
I have a real problem with my Focus, one which I thought I would never see again.
I have a late 2008 1.8 TDCI Titanium with 39000 miles, in Panther Black.
Both rear wheel arches are bubbling around the whole circumference with rust. I
don't just mean a little stone chip; I mean the rust starting under the wheel
arch itself, and spreading up the rear quarter with large blisters.
Needless to say Ford doesn’t want to know - which I think is a disgrace on a car which
is barely 5 years old.
I have taken it to a couple of body shops, and one even refused to look at it as
they reckon that you can never get rid of rust and it will always come back.

Has anyone else experienced that, and how did you repair it? Is this a known week point? I am annoyed at having the cost of the repair, but even more so if it happens regularly.

This is seriously testing my loyalty to the blue oval, which dates back more than 30
years...

Love to hear your opinions and comments...

Brian
 

How did you get on with this in the end Brian ? I`ve got a 2006 Focus which I bought in 2013 and it had a bit of rust on the underside. I haven`t looked closely for a while to see how much worse it`s got though ! I thought the Focus was supposed to be galvanised ? That said there`s galvanising and galvanising, pre galv (av thickness 20microns, but can range between 7 and 40)  isn`t a patch on hot dipped (55 microns)..... Does anyone know how thick the galvanising on a Focus is ?

My loyalty to Ford is waning too. I`ve had Fords for 25 years but my wife`s Toyota Yaris (2008) has been more reliable than my Focus and has hasn`t got any rust on it.

[Dave1981]

Just seen this thread. My 2010 has started to show signs of rust on both rear arches. Paint beginning to bubble. Luckily its not gone yet and its goin in tomorrow for the front bumper respray and the bodyshop is going to grind back and respray and laquer both arches to stop it before it act starts. But i agree ford seem to try whatever they can to avoid claims on bodywork

[Commencal24]

18 hours ago, Dave1981 said:

Just seen this thread. My 2010 has started to show signs of rust on both rear arches. Paint beginning to bubble. Luckily its not gone yet and its goin in tomorrow for the front bumper respray and the bodyshop is going to grind back and respray and laquer both arches to stop it before it act starts. But i agree ford seem to try whatever they can to avoid claims on bodywork

I've noticed mine has started to do similar, how much have you been quoted for the work?

[Dave1981]

Im payin £250 for bodyshop to respray front bumper and grind back an respray both arches.. also had a quote of £350.

Went in this morning should have it back friday. 

[Commencal24]

5 minutes ago, Dave1981 said:

Im payin £250 for bodyshop to respray front bumper and grind back an respray both arches.. also had a quote of £350.

Went in this morning should have it back friday. 

I expected it to be around that price, I've noticed a few bubbles on both arches, so gonna get a few quotes to look at getting the arches done during the summer when I've a fortnight off 

[isetta]

it always seems to come back through. once it has rust on the back of the panel it seems to keep eating through with more rust rubbles, or if a layer of filler was put on it you might get the filler lifting . sorry to sound negative.

[Dave1981]

Ur not lol. Im lucky in that its only the laquer thats started to show signs of wear due prob to rd dirt salt etc and fords lack of layers lol no actual rust hence me wantin it takin back to besr metal n re painting before owt bad sets in but i agree once its set in its in to stay 

[Commencal24]

I had it happen to my mk1 too, after it was sprayed I painted the inside lip with car under seal then wax oil over the top of that and it never came back. I'll try the plastic tube trick too once I've got mine done.

[orangeboy]

My car was repainted this time last year. Cost was about £250 for both the rear arches to be done.

However it has started again on the drivers side.

I've has this problem fixed 3  times now. I'm not sure what the problem with the rear arches is, but think its a combination on the felt arch liner holding moisture next to the metal, and if the rear bumper moves or vibrates then it could scuff the paint off allowing moisture to get in in the area where the bumper and the wheel arch meet.

One thing that seems to have slowed the rust down is that I've plastered the inside lip of both rear arches with Dinatrol cavity wax that I got from amazon. This stuff seems to be much better than Waxoyl although it is messy to apply.

It would be good it vulnerable areas such as this wee galvanized, but to the best of my knowledge the Focus Mk 2.5 inst galvanized at all.

The really annoying thing is that I've seen much older cars from other manufacturers with no rust at all.

 

[Commencal24]

On 26/04/2017 at 3:03 PM, Dave1981 said:

Ur not lol. Im lucky in that its only the laquer thats started to show signs of wear due prob to rd dirt salt etc and fords lack of layers lol no actual rust hence me wantin it takin back to besr metal n re painting before owt bad sets in but i agree once its set in its in to stay 

How did the spraying of the arches go?

Ive started to get quotes first one being £400 which could rise to £550 if they need to blend in the doors 😳