sills

[towelie]

hi just found at the back of the drivers side sill a bubble in the paint(from rust) will this need repairing or can i just fill it with rust convertor and then preventor?

cheers

[JFReturns]

I imagine it will depend on how far the rot goes - remove the rust until you get through to metal, and then if it is just surface rust you will be able to treat and repaint. Any deeper and you might need welding done.

[71notout]

If it has started coming thru to the outside, then you can bet it'll be worse on the inside!

I would say fresh metal, otherwise you may find yourself repeating the process regularly.

[towelie]

doesn't sound good.. only had the car a few months an there where no signs of rust when i bought it... so am i right in thinking £200 quid to fix it.. when it gets a bit worse?

[Timberwolf]

If it's relatively new (to you) it all depends on the previous history - having a car with rusty sills myself, I can see how easy it would be to make it look as if it's perfect even though the rot would keep spreading underneath. On the other hand, there are plenty of these cars that enjoy "pride and joy" status, undersealed in every crevice and kept in the garage on every rainy day.

Generally if there's nothing obvious like a chip or dent the MX-5 is an "inside out" ruster.

They're rarely unrecoverable though. A basic MoT fix is pretty cheap; it's only if you want it to look like new or (more importantly) banish the rust for as long as possible that things start getting expensive, and even then only to the tune of a few hundred quid. I seem to recall there's even a guy on Nutz who'll do the latter for something more like the price of the former if you're in the SE of England and ask nicely.

[skinny]

you got any pics?

[molineux1980]

Where are the drain points on the sills? Just bought an MX-5, and need to have a look to check mine are clear.

[skinny]

running along each bottom edge there is a lip. on the outerside of this lip you'll find two bumps at the front about 2 inches apart, and the same towards the rear. poke something up inside these bumps into the sill.

also, in front of each rear wheel there is a rubber tube which sticks down, there is a metal flap inside so get a finger in there, pull it down, and stick something up there too - this one drains from the roof so gets filled up with dirt etc quite easily. make sure you don't pull the rubber tube down as if you pull it off you won't get it back on again.