On 2/14/2026 at 12:52 PM, skotbites said:

Hey all. Thanks for this thread.

I've just discovered a similar issue in my 62 plate focus zetec. Shopping wet carpet both front and back passenger sides.

Mine was caused by a split in the mastic in joins in the around the tailgate, especially at the top where the roof joins. In my case you could actually lift the joins between the panels and could see a gap between the 2 pieces

The split also had a extended along in the mastic under the roof bars.

The way I proved this was to put a bit of meths on the splits under the roof bars and could smell where it was coming in.

As a temporary fix, I used some Plumbersmate on the cracks which appeared to stop the leaks, so when the weather was better, I bought a tube of Tigerseal and covered all the joints.. Whilst I have the ST Steath (Grey) colour, I bought "Grey" Tigerseal, but its almost white and looked horrible.. So i covered it with some Stealth paint and its come out OK.

Just after I did this, we had a drought and I was never sure it fixed it.. But a year on, with all the rain we have there is no sign of any water so I think I fixed it..

So if its not the bungs behind the bumper, check all around the boot at the joints.. The problem is pretty obvious.

I have attached some photos to show my fix.. Clearly the car needs a good wash.

On 2/18/2026 at 10:41 AM, jweaver said:

Mine was caused by a split in the mastic in joins in the around the tailgate, especially at the top where the roof joins. In my case you could actually lift the joins between the panels and could see a gap between the 2 pieces

The split also had a extended along in the mastic under the roof bars.

The way I proved this was to put a bit of meths on the splits under the roof bars and could smell where it was coming in.

As a temporary fix, I used some Plumbersmate on the cracks which appeared to stop the leaks, so when the weather was better, I bought a tube of Tigerseal and covered all the joints.. Whilst I have the ST Steath (Grey) colour, I bought "Grey" Tigerseal, but its almost white and looked horrible.. So i covered it with some Stealth paint and its come out OK.

Just after I did this, we had a drought and I was never sure it fixed it.. But a year on, with all the rain we have there is no sign of any water so I think I fixed it..

So if its not the bungs behind the bumper, check all around the boot at the joints.. The problem is pretty obvious.

I have attached some photos to show my fix.. Clearly the car needs a good wash.

I'll have to check those next. I've done the seals behind the bumper and it's made a massive difference. I've cleared all the water from boot and passenger footwells. But after but of overnight rain it still seems to be getting in on drivers side of boot.