Rust on an 02 plate BMW !!

[mmm-five]

There are a couple of posts on the Z4-Forum about Z4Cs that have got corrosion on the tailgate - and they're only 3-5 years old - in patches of 1" to 18".

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 30th August 10:48

[rassi]

Wow, that Z4 rust is absolutely shocking!!

On my 2002 M5 that I recently sold, the only rust was within the petrol lid opening and was repaired 3 times by BMW only for it to return a year later.

[mmm-five]

rassi said:

Wow, that Z4 rust is absolutely shocking!!

At least they're being repaired/replaced by BMW under their paintwork warranty - and when it's shut there's no way you could get any external factor affecting it other than water.

Looks like water is sitting in the rubber channel and then finding it's way into the hatch skin.


Looks like part of the solution was to put some holes in the trailing edge of the hatch to let the water drain properly - but I can't remember if mine had them before the repair or not.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 30th August 15:51

[JD2329]

Completely unacceptable. I have heard the switch to water based paints around 10 years ago could be partially responsible for some of this premature corrosion, but I'm not so sure. On close inspection, my 2001 M5 was starting to go in a number of areas, which I was unaware of until I put it up for sale and the buyer pointed it out! It was around the door seams and arches, could be repaired without too much aggro, but I simply wasn't expecting it to start rusting at that sort of age. But you do see plenty of older E46s and E39s rusting plus other marques - Mercedes seem particularly bad. Why are this newer generation of cars no better (or more poorly) protected aginst corrosion than their predecessors?
Btw I thought the E39 had a galvanised floorpan?

[4rephill]

My apologies to the OP, when I first read this thread the accompanying photo's were not shown for some reason so I assumed it was an E46.

[HarryW]

Not common per se for BM's imhe. I've a 99 E39 tourer that has zero rust even exposed stone chips on the bonnet are still bright metal after a few years. Arches can rust on BM's for some reason, perhaps stone chips left with salty crud for long periods accelerates it. I always get my fingers with the hose running and check the inner lip is clear of crud when washing my cars, that definately helps. For some reason boot lids on E39 saloons can rust. Sorry no experience of Z3's myself but imagine them to have been hewn from the same block so to speak.

[Touring442]

Rust is common on most cars now, but E46's seem about the worst. Front arches rot through because of a stupid mud trap design and because there is just a lick of primer - absolutely no anti rust wax at all. The Coupes and Convertibles were worse, and the facelift saloons seem to be bad as well. A lot of these were built in South Africa and imported and they're the worst.

I've seen quite a few mouldy E39's as well.

I have a pair of perfect rust free pre facelift E46 wings (saloon/Touring) in gloss black. I want £80 the pair and can arrange fitting and painting. :-)

I very recently took the arch liners out of a 2006 E46 Coupe and did a complete Waxoyling job - caught this one in time as there was no rust, but another couple of winters would have changed that.

[sparks_E39]

Top tip: run a cloth around the inside of each wheel arch of your E39 and get rid of all the crap that accumulates there. I had loads on mine, and now make a point of clearing it every month or so. Put something over your wheels though like I didn't, brown wheels look rubbish.

[sjj84]

mmm-five said:

Looks like part of the solution was to put some holes in the trailing edge of the hatch to let the water drain properly - but I can't remember if mine had them before the repair or not.

Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 30th August 15:51

Mine has those holes in the bootlid, it's a 2006 model and I assume it's the original bootlid so I think that was always the design.

Agree about the E46 arches rusting, there's a lip which gets full of dirt which you wouldn't really think to clear unless you knew they were there. Always checked they were clean in the two E46's I've had and never had any problem with rust on them.