Was washing the car yesterday and noticed a build up of tar around the front of the rear arch, on closer inspection I thought I could see bubbling on the rear arch, cleaned off the tar and yes it appears the paint is bubbling at the small lip on the front of the rear arch.

If left unchecked it will no doubt work it's way round where it will be visible.

I swung by a dealer and had a quick look at some other cars and out of the five or so I checked (same model and similar age) a couple were the same.

I have seen the problems with the front arch and tail gate but it appears this problem might have been overlooked.

Somewhat shocked and disappointed this is the case on a 5 year old car.

Welcome to the forum rodriguez.

Well, there is a lot of road debris thrown up on those wheel arches in five years of driving. And the edges on a returned metal surface [like those in the pictures]are notorious for rusting, because of their very design, they never get enough paint protection on that leading edge.

You say you spotted it whilst washing your car good for you. I always was my car by hand, because that way you see problems before they get worse.

I often wonder how people who moan about unskilled immigrants entering the country, actually queue up at Car Hand Wash stations eager to hand them their dosh

Edit: Forgot to say my car suffered from the same problem, but rectified for now.

There was an indepth right up on this problem posted here. The problem was the mud guard was not a great design and let mud and debris lodge behind it. From what I remember the car was brought to ford who have a modified mud guard to eliminate debris lodging behind it. The owner had to clean out the mud and grud and sand & fill to prepare for paint, which he done himself. This problem was only on mk2 foci's. I'll do a search and see if I can find the thread and will post a link to it, sure someone may know the thread I'm on about and post it before me. :)

H3lly, is this the thread your on about Known rust problems on mk2 Focus front wheel arches :D

rodriguez is commenting on the front of the rear wheel arches, these unfortunately cannot be protected by adding after market mud flaps.

Like I stated in another thread, with the new Mk3 Focus, Ford seem to have addressed the issue of rotting lower wheel arches found on the Mk2/2.5 variants. By adding a composite material sill, that runs uninterrupted from the front to rear wheel arches. With both aforementioned wings sitting on top of the non rot sill.

H3lly, is this the thread your on about Known rust problems on mk2 Focus front wheel arches :D

rodriguez is commenting on the front of the rear wheel arches, these unfortunately cannot be protected by adding after market mud flaps.

Like I stated in another thread, with the new Mk3 Focus, Ford seem to have addressed the issue of rotting lower wheel arches found on the Mk2/2.5 variants. By adding a composite material sill, that runs uninterrupted from the front to rear wheel arches. With both aforementioned wings sitting on top of the non rot sill.

welcome to the joy of galvanised fords lol ahem all fords are the same ive redone mine but after 2 years its coming through again no matter what you do it wont stay away i had mine done by a pro new metal welded in so a whole new lip made it was given 2 thick coats of an industrial derust treatment the rear of the arches were waxoyl and underseales the arch was primed 3 times and then given 3 coats of paint then diamond laquer it takes just a small chip if you look at many at ford dealers for sale they actually bend the lip back so it cant be seen and touch it up though i must admit mines now 10yrs old and i have a few bubbles on the rear arch low down and a small patch on the very bottom of the rear door

Thanks for the welcome Catch, the car only has 28k miles on it and was garaged, it's a very poor design with inadequate (zero) rust proofing, would have thought rolled the whole way round would have been a better idea. How did you repair yours?

Thats the thread that lead me to the forum H3lly

Had a Pug 106 Artscot now that was a proper galvinised car, only rust after 12 yrs and 140k on a pattern wing after about a year, the paint came off the pillar behind the door towards the end and it still didn't rust.

it's a very poor design with inadequate (zero) rust proofing, would have thought rolled the whole way round would have been a better idea.

Yes it was rolled for the most part of the wing, then they splayed it out as it neared the bottom for some reason. Learning to live with rust on a Ford is a bit like having a bedfellow that farts. You don't like it, but their other saving graces mean your prepared to grin and bear it.

How did you repair yours?

I started that thread that brought you here :D

Had a Pug 106 Artscot now that was a proper galvinised car, only rust after 12 yrs and 140k on a pattern wing after about a year, the paint came off the pillar behind the door towards the end and it still didn't rust.

You did well with that car, hope your as happy with your Ford once you get used to living with a bit of rust here and there. Have you checked the rear hatch opening [on the rear bulkhead, centre ] where the washer fluid pipe comes out of the tailgate? It rubs on the actual bulkhead, and can cause rust to set in once the paint protection rubs off. Another design fault Ford are happy to pump out right up to and including the last Mk2.5 they will roll off the production line.

It's got the rust at the back too which doesn't really annoy me that much or as much, I'm sure seen this on other cars!