Holes in sills

[GrahamU 5]

I have found a hole in each sill, there at the front of it, under the wing and can only be seen from under the car.

 

They are definitely rusty but before I weld over them I would like to know if they started of a drainage holes or has the rust caused them?

[Yandards 0]

I believe you are referring to one of the body cavity holes, there should be a rubber bung in it and they get filled with wax at the factory.

[GrahamU 5]

Thanks Yan, looks like the bungs must have been removed at some point in its life :(

[Yandards 0]

Thanks Yan, looks like the bungs must have been removed at some point in its life :(

 

They tend to come out as folks use that spot to jack the car up causing a touch a panel deformation and then the bungs fall out..

[GrahamU 5]

Got a pic now

 

Its the bottom of the A pillar/sill

 

There is surface rust inside aswell :(

 

[craigowl 0]

This is car over 20 years old?

My wife's from-new Austin 1100 (BMC Leyland) developed rotten sills that collapsed on jacking the car up - I kid you not - when it was 3 years old. (1966-69)

Multiply this experience by untold thousands = British car industry down the pan.

Edited August 26, 2013 by craigowl

[GrahamU 5]

This is car over 20 years old?

 

 

Yeah, I was really disappointed to find rust on a VW that is only 24 years old .....

 

 

 

My wife's from-new Austin 1100 (BMC Leyland) develop rotten sills that collapsed on jacking the car up - I kid you not - when it was 3 years old. (1966-69)

Multiply this experience by untold thousands = British car industry down the pan.

 

 

Not quite to the same scale but my mk5 has just had VW agree to fix the rust on the wings and sills at a 100% goodwill cost

 

When I first took that to the dealer I mentioned I had a Corrado with less rust than my mk5 (it would appear now I was lying, oops)

Edited August 26, 2013 by rado20vT

[paddy26 3]

Are you doing a full shell resto? Have you checked the rear wheel wells - where they meet the sills and around the filler cap.

Also around the windscreen. These are usually the worst areas.

Will you be doing the repair work yourself?

 

It's very disheartening finding and repairing the rust areas but you'll forget all about that when your cruising around again.

 

\Paddy

[GrahamU 5]

The rest of the car doesn't look to bad so far, I plan to fix all the rust before spraying.

 

As for the rear aches, one looks good the other has a little rust, of corse its bound to get worse as I dig around them.

 

The screen looks to have some problems, will know more when I get it out (tried today and cracked it)

 

filler cap is good

 

the only other suspect is around the rear tow hook.

 

And yeah, gonna do it myself

[Jim Bowen 1]

Is that pic taken with a front wing off?

 

Is a hole right at the front for the underside of wing to bolt to., mine totally rusted away.

[GrahamU 5]

Well spotted Jim, Took me a while to cut the wing off and I'd forgotten about the wing bolt, it took the insert with it when I removed it.

 

That's why the hole is a lot bigger than I thought it was when the wing was on.

 

Thanks, that's why I put a picture up.

[Jim Bowen 1]

I had my hole welded up and didn't bother with the bolt for wing. When i was putting the sealant/glue down the edge of wing i just carried it on around the bottom, and its held fine.

[Hofmiester 10]

"I had my hole welded up....."

 

Sorry, made me smile. I am such a child ;)

[Stonejag 10]

You can get repair panels for this area (at frankly extravagent cost!) from the dealership. Each side gives you the complete inner A pillar and top of the door frame to the rear edge of the door aperture, and at the bottom includes this rotten area up to the frontmost part of the sill. I managed to snare an unused pair from on here a while back - lucky find as I've not seen another set since!

 

Mine are thoroughly rotten in this spot - just as bad as yours - so I'm hopefully going to get it sorted during the respray I seem to have been planning for years now :lol: Seems to be one of the worst areas on the whole car as water gets flicked up by the front wheels and trapped behind the arch liner - post-repair it's going to get a very thorough coat of underseal :)

 

Stone