Buying a car with rusty arches

[Justin Cyder]

General rule of thumb - don't buy trouble. If the arches are rusty, how well cared for is the rest likely to be? Plus, rust is a pain, it's not like swapping over a spark plug or an alternator.

[CaptainSlow]

Justin Cyder said:

General rule of thumb - don't buy trouble. If the arches are rusty, how well cared for is the rest likely to be? Plus, rust is a pain, it's not like swapping over a spark plug or an alternator.

+1

There are loads about without rust for not much more. Import models tend to have less rot.

[Typhoons]

Consider how long you want to keep the car. Figure on around £350 a side for a good as new repair (should last another 10-12 years) and £100 for a cut out rusty bits, weld metal and redo in 2 years time repair.
Keep the drain holes clear and beter still, dril a couple of bigger ones and dont forget to cavity wax the sills.

[Typhoons]

Well if its a keeper, I would probably look for rust free car. A car with rusty sills is also likely to have corroded suspension, rusted in bolts etc...

[The Geographer]

There are two type of mx5s, one on which the sills must be sorted out, and one on which they have been sorted out already

[Typhoons]

My sills were 'sorted' because it was a 2011 import from salt free Japan









Those are pictures right after I got it, no extra rust proofing or underseal since it left the factory in 1994. The first thing I did when I got her home was to Dinitrol it.

[A2Z]

Typhoons said:

Said: Stuff that makes you envious...

Well done there. It's amazing how good the last 17 years were for it.

[CaptainSlow]

The Geographer said:

There are two type of mx5s, one on which the sills must be sorted out, and one on which they have been sorted out already

Well that's complete twaddle.

[The Geographer]

CaptainSlow said:

Well that's complete twaddle.

I wish it would be... otherwise my search for an mx5 would have been much much shorter.. and I was looking mk2.5s
Compared to other mk2s mine is in relatively good state but it needs attention pretty soon as well. of course there will always be a small proportion of exceptionally looked after cars with less (VISIBLE) rust.

[Eighteeteewhy]

I'll just add my experiences from when I was hunting for mine. (mk1) All the UK models I looked at had rust issues, as did some of the imports but not as many. One thing to look out for with the imports is a recipt for undersealing/rust proofing when it was imported.

There are so many for sale it's just not worth buying one that is rusty, it really is a buyers market.

[CaptainSlow]

My mk1 is rot free. The best way to avoid rot is to go for mk1 imports.

[The Geographer]

I agree, Imports are better. Once I was looking at a UK 2004 Euphonic and managed to negotiate 300 pounds off because of the rust on the drivers side (i didn't buy it at the end). So that could be an upside

[Riknos]

CaptainSlow said:

My mk1 is rot free. The best way to avoid rot is to go for mk1 imports.

And check when it was imported. A 94 Eunos that was imported into this country in 95 is going to be no less rusty than a 95 UK model.

The longer it's been in Japan for, the less rust it will have. Imports can rust very quickly in only a few years in our stty climate

Another reason why I wish I lived in Japan.