How to prevent rust on a Ford SportKA???

[melvster]

I am looking at getting into a Ford SportKA soon, having read the reviews on them they seem a fun and cheap little car however, i looked at an 05 plate example yesterday, 30k miles and there was early signs of rust around the fuel filler cap. What i could not believe is you can actually put your hand under the wheel arch and feel where the water sits behind the fuel filler. I am very tempted to buy one but the rust issues are putting me off, what is the best way to prevent it from happening?

[Rawwr]

Selling it to someone else before it gets hideously bad.

[_Batty_]

do what my O/H did.
Throw it through a hedge, on its roof
Lovely cars, ruined by Fords inability to rustproof.

[cptsideways]

Buy a Mazda2 instead

[melvster]

_Batty_ said:

do what my O/H did.
Throw it through a hedge, on its roof
Lovely cars, ruined by Fords inability to rustproof.

sound advice there mate, thanks

[RobCrezz]

Get one that hasn't started rusting yet and cover all the vulnerable areas in underseal and waxoil. Then cross fingers.

[kambites]

Treat it like a classic I suppose - properly clean all of the underside and wheel arches, grind/wire brush out any existing rust and weld up the holes if necessary, prime and paint everything, and then cover them in underseal of some kind.

[melvster]

Thanks RobCrezz and Kambites.

[RobCrezz]

Also heard great things about high zinc content anti corrosion paint.

[kambites]

Practical classics (I think) did a long-running review of rust prevention stuff - they got an old Sierra, stripped all the paint off the bonnet and painted stripes of different rust preventatives onto it, then left it for a year. Possibly worth a proper read if you can find it.

[Silver940]

Only car the MOT tester I use says they still have to do welding on!

[davepoth]

Move to the desert. Seriously, the Ka shell (and all of the derivatives of the Mk3/4 Fiesta) is renowned for rusting so you may as well budget for it if you want one.

[Astra Dan]

Jesus. I'm book marking this thread. If anyone ever laughs at how old Astras rust, I'll point them to this thread. My Mk2 didn't need patching till it was 11 or 12, and about 110k.
A six year old car with visible rust? Really?
Makes the 9 year old Merc (the compact hatch thingy) I saw last week that had 4 rusty arches and boot lid seem almost reasonable!

My experience is that once rust has got hold, you can't stop it. My approach is to ignore it for a bit, then get the whole area cut out and replaced. I've tried Waxoyl, Hammerite, various rust killers, even regular sprays with WD40.

The way the SS Great Britain is preserved is the ultimate way. The owners are convinced salt and moisture is so far absorbed into the iron hull, the only way to keep it in one piece is to seal it off from the outside and run two massive de-humidifiers 27/7. They're called Deep Thought I & II. This might work!

Edited by Astra Dan on Tuesday 6th December 11:54

[McSam]

davepoth said:

Move to the desert. Seriously, the Ka shell (and all of the derivatives of the Mk3/4 Fiesta) is renowned for rusting so you may as well budget for it if you want one.

This. It's horrific, and happens in a completely unreasonable amount of time. Fuel filler is most comment, but it also spreads itself across the bootlid if you're not careful, from the rear wiper mount. Any stone chip of significant size will bugger them too. Quite incredible, really..

[bicycleshorts]

McSam said:

his. It's horrific, and happens in a completely unreasonable amount of time. Fuel filler is most comment, but it also spreads itself across the bootlid if you're not careful, from the rear wiper mount. Any stone chip of significant size will bugger them too. Quite incredible, really..

Yep, also the bottom of the doors furthest from the hinge. And the A-pillar.

My boot lid hinges were so rusty it came off in my hand . Still, great cars for running about in!