Front wheelarch rust.

[Perseverant]

Am I unlucky or is serious rust in front arches common? The car is a Mk 2.5 Sport - our second one, and is now 13 years old. I know I can't expect miracles and have had to repair the rear wings where they cover the ends of the sills, the lower rear edges of the front wings and the front chassis rails, but I recently discovered that the front arches were worse than expected, especially the driver's side. The PS wasn't too bad to do and looks much better with some localised patches, but the other side needed some more extensive work which meant removing a section of the top reinforcing bracket (to be welded back) and making some tricky shapes in sections. The underseal looked not too bad and I cleaned and waxoiled it when I bought the car around 3 years ago - bought for a song and only just done 50000 miles. The quality of original paint under there is pretty poor, I think. Maybe it's just our worse climate and more salt up here in NE Scotland, or is this a more common fault? Anyhow, the weldathon is nearly over now, so feel free to ask more details or add comments!

[Flooble]

I believe there is a lot more salt used in Scotland than in England - friends there have cars which seem to rot away the moment they drive out the showroom.