The dreaded tin worm

[jakethesnake]

While washing my 16V this afternoon a flake of paint came away from the lower forward edge of the rear arch. Closer inspection revealed some rather nasty rusting .

I can't believe I've not spotted this before as I knew there were a few small patches.

I'm annoyed really because the car is only 6 years old and I look after it and keep it clean. It's a shame because when cleaned up it looks really mint.

It's the wrong time of year to treat and paint it, so it will have to wait until spring . I'm tempted to get it in a body shop and have the arches stripped back and repainted cos touching in small patches with a small brush never looks good up close.

Are the mk5 gti's galvanised ?.

[Josh_PoloGTi]

Hi mate...

I had the same problem with my 6N... Rusting under the rear arch.

It got quite bad... I tried to keep on top of it, but it ended up having to go to the bodyshop. They stripped it back and repainted it.

The very latest 6Ns have rolled rear arches that are filled with gunk.

On the earlier models, dirt could accumulate behind the arch and start to rust through.

Yes, the 6n2 GTi's are fully galvanised. Glad!

[Nelson_Wilbury]

Don't the 6n's come with a ten year paint warranty? Or is it six? Can't remember now

[jakethesnake]

I always clean the arches out every wash. You won't find much dirt in the arches of my car !.

It's just stone chipping or poor paint quality finish allowing rust to form at the edge and slowly creep under the paint.

I can't afford a new car at the moment so this one has got to last me a bit longer yet. I'm happy with it, it's cheap to run and good fun to drive as it's quite fast for a 1.4 Just annoyed with the rusting .

[jakethesnake]

6 year rusting through waranty on the 6N. Mine's 6 1/2 years old.