Ford Mondeo Mk5 rust inside while arches

[RP64]

I have noticed rust inside the rear wheel arches on my Mk5 Mondeo, shocking for a car that's only 5 years old 😢
How bad is this, how should I have it repaired and how likely is it that a repair can cure the problem.
I'm pretty shocked to see rust on a modern car that isn't very old but it looks the same under both rear wheel arches.

[Belle427]

Looks normal to me, can be dealt with fairly easily if done now but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
May be worth doing if the cars a keeper.
Usual procedure is grind back any loose, use a rust conversion product and then paint or use a black underbody type sealant.

[V8covin]

The sooner you tackle rust the less chance it has to spread,and spread it will do

[Smint]

Looks like shock absorber nut/thread rusting, as they do, can't see any body rust as such unless i'm missing something, have you scraped any of those bubbles to see if its rust underneath or just thick blobby undebody paint?
Quick wipe over with some waterproof grease will do the job fine if its just the bolt.

Have a good look under too many cars @ 5 years old and see the rust starting on suspensions subframes and exhausts, rust hasn't gone away it's just that so many people don't work on (or wash) their own cars any more so never look underneath.

[RP64]

Belle427 said:

Looks normal to me, can be dealt with fairly easily if done now but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
May be worth doing if the cars a keeper.
Usual procedure is grind back any loose, use a rust conversion product and then paint or use a black underbody type sealant.

When you say a keeper, how long are we talking? How long is it likely to take until this spreads and visible outside and becomes more than a cosmetic issue? I mean it's a a 2018 Ford Mondeo, I wouldn't say it has sentimental value as such but I'd like to drive it for another 3 or 4 years.
I'm pretty shocked to see rust at 5 years old but maybe a lot of cars have rust that just isn't immediately visible like you'd have seen in the 90s.
If I took this to a body shop could they fix it? I'm not a DIY man when it comes to this sort of thing, wouldn't even know where to start getting the wheel arch liner out.

[steveo3002]

a dot of rust on the end of a fixing stud? hardly a mot fail is it

[V8covin]

steveo3002 said:

a dot of rust on the end of a fixing stud? hardly a mot fail is it

I'm seeing bubbling under the paint Steve

[steveo3002]

ah i assumed that was rough stonechip type paint

[Belle427]

RP64 said:

Belle427 said:

Looks normal to me, can be dealt with fairly easily if done now but I wouldn't worry too much about it.
May be worth doing if the cars a keeper.
Usual procedure is grind back any loose, use a rust conversion product and then paint or use a black underbody type sealant.

When you say a keeper, how long are we talking? How long is it likely to take until this spreads and visible outside and becomes more than a cosmetic issue? I mean it's a a 2018 Ford Mondeo, I wouldn't say it has sentimental value as such but I'd like to drive it for another 3 or 4 years.
I'm pretty shocked to see rust at 5 years old but maybe a lot of cars have rust that just isn't immediately visible like you'd have seen in the 90s.
If I took this to a body shop could they fix it? I'm not a DIY man when it comes to this sort of thing, wouldn't even know where to start getting the wheel arch liner out.

Difficult to give a time but wheel arch areas take a beating but are very easy to repair as you don't see most of it.

[RP64]

To be clear it's not isolated to the one little area in the image above. I noticed a few bubbles on the lip of the wheel arch when I was washing the car and when I'm looking underneath the paint on the inside of the wheel arch has bubbles in several places although no rust or bare metal is visible. You can't see all of it because a lot is covered by the wheel arch liner.

I suppose my question is how bad is this? How out of character is it for a 5 year old car? Any chance Ford would cover this under corrosion warranty (wishful thinking)! How much will I pay for a body shop to repair this? How long would this repair be likely to last?

[RP64]

Would it be pretty typical to see rust under the arches of a lot of cars? I perhaps wrongly assumed this was a problem of the past

[Belle427]

Normally occurs on the lip due to holding wet dirt but stone chips can quickly run into rust.
I give mine a good hosing down once a month trying to aim the water in visible gaps between the liner paying particular attention to the lower sill.

[RP64]

Belle427 said:

Normally occurs on the lip due to holding wet dirt but stone chips can quickly run into rust.
I give mine a good hosing down once a month trying to aim the water in visible gaps between the liner paying particular attention to the lower sill.

Yes I do the same, give it all a good hose down and use shampoo to clean the whole wheel arch as well as possible. I use a wet wax spray on the wheels and inside the arches as well.

Do you think it looks like I'm going to have serious issues soon? Or have I scared myself by looking deep inside the arches with my camera haha

Edited by RP64 on Sunday 14th May 16:09

[Belle427]

Doesn’t look too bad to me to be honest.
I keep some of this mixed in a spray bottle for use in areas like this.
https://bilthamber.com/product/atom-mac/

[V8covin]

Belle427 said:

Doesn’t look too bad to me to be honest.
I keep some of this mixed in a spray bottle for use in areas like this.
https://bilthamber.com/product/atom-mac/

That will have no effect on rust that hasn't yet broken through the paint

[RP64]

Belle427 said:

Doesn’t look too bad to me to be honest.
I keep some of this mixed in a spray bottle for use in areas like this.
https://bilthamber.com/product/atom-mac/

Really appreciate your advice, thank you!
Is this easy to use and is it messy? Do you literally just spray it inside the arches?

I suppose my biggest concern is that this would spread and I'd have scabby rear arches visible on the outside. I'd like to keep the car another 3 or 4 years without this happening

[RP64]

V8covin said:

Belle427 said:

Doesn’t look too bad to me to be honest.
I keep some of this mixed in a spray bottle for use in areas like this.
https://bilthamber.com/product/atom-mac/

That will have no effect on rust that hasn't yet broken through the paint

How big do you think this problem is and also how well do you think it can be repaired?
I'm reluctantly willing to pay and have this put right but my concern is that it will come back anyway. Do you think a body shop could have a fair crack at sorting this?

[V8covin]

RP64 said:

How big do you think this problem is and also how well do you think it can be repaired?
I'm reluctantly willing to pay and have this put right but my concern is that it will come back anyway. Do you think a body shop could have a fair crack at sorting this?

Rust always comes back if it's not completely removed .
A half ass job is what most people do.
It's not a difficult job at this stage, it's always best to tackle rust before it gets a chance to spread.....there is no definitive answer as to how long that takes.
To do it properly the shields need removing,any bubbling/scabs hit with a grinder and then maybe sandblasted if there's any pitting that cant be removed by sanding alone.Then it's needs painting with epoxy primer followed by a stone chip type finish.....you can paint body colour over this if you want to go the full hog.
You'll need to find a sympathetic bodyshop.
If you leave it,it may not spread much further in the next 3 or 4 years.....or it might, it's anyone's guess

[RP64]

V8covin said:

RP64 said:

How big do you think this problem is and also how well do you think it can be repaired?
I'm reluctantly willing to pay and have this put right but my concern is that it will come back anyway. Do you think a body shop could have a fair crack at sorting this?

Rust always comes back if it's not completely removed .
A half ass job is what most people do.
It's not a difficult job at this stage, it's always best to tackle rust before it gets a chance to spread.....there is no definitive answer as to how long that takes.
To do it properly the shields need removing,any bubbling/scabs hit with a grinder and then maybe sandblasted if there's any pitting that cant be removed by sanding alone.Then it's needs painting with epoxy primer followed by a stone chip type finish.....you can paint body colour over this if you want to go the full hog.
You'll need to find a sympathetic bodyshop.
If you leave it,it may not spread much further in the next 3 or 4 years.....or it might, it's anyone's guess

Any advice on how to find a good bodyshop to correct this for me? I'm conscious that a bad job could probably rust more quickly than the original paint so I don't want to pay to make matters even worse.
Am I just unlucky or do you think this is pretty standard on a 5 year old car?
I'm still going to try to get Ford to sort this under warranty but I feel the chances of that are vanishingly slim