I need to get my bubbling sills sorted out, how long does a decent repair last? Has anyone had them done & how are they holding up?
If looked after, as long as you want it to last.
Regards
once repaired , signs stay hidden for a year or 2 then the rust bubbles resurface.
Once the rot sets in , time to either accept it or start the hunt for a new motor
Sorry but i beg to differ on that one, my Mk 1 1993 car as been in this country for 9 years now and as had no sill repairs or wheel arch repairs,she is used in all weathers and motorways,she is kept outside and is in A1 condition including inside the box sections,the same as the first day i imported her,as i said before if looked after will last as long as you want it to.
And trust me i am no polish it every week man,just well serviced,and looked after.
It’s all down to preventative medicine at the end of the day
But i think i will have a bigger fight on my hands with my Mk 2 1999(only been here a year and half),the whole gauge of metal is a lot poorier,thanks to good old ford,a lot more cut backs,and i shows,i watch with a weary eyes?
Regards.
wayne, as you have correctly said , your sills are fine and have never been repaired - pat yourself on the back
i think the point we are discussing is that once the rot sets in , what are the options - not how you personally care for your car.
If you can repair sills and offer a guarantee that the sills will never rust again , then you are onto a winner
Hi
It depends on how it is repaired. A cheap basic MOT repair may well last only a year or two. A PROPER repair will last 20 maybe even 40 years. Trouble is most people do not want to pay for a proper repair, they shop round for the cheapest quote and thus get a poor quality job. I have owned one of my cars for 38 years so longevity of repairs is something that is important to me.
Alan
And me
I totaly agree,if you pay cheap,you pay twice.
Depends on the repair obviously. This rather severe restoration (in Japan!!) gives a clear idea of what is affected, beyond the outer metal work:
Replace the entire rear wing, as this owner is doing, then the repair should last a long long time; probably longer than the original panel. When you weld in patch sections, internal finishes (glavanising, zinc electropriming) are burnt off, so you may get an increased rusting risk, if you don’t apply additional rust prevention measures.
Dfr was referring to the longevity of rust repairs, not imports. He’s essentially correct with respect to welded patch repairs.
I’m not sure how you can be sure that the inside of the box sections of your 1993 car are the same in 2010 as they were in 2001, unless you conduct your own endoscope inspections of closed sections.
I’d expect a 1993 car imported in 2001 would be the same condition as a 1990 UK car would have looked in 1999; they both rolled off the same production line, and received the same paint. The first examples of UK cars appearing with rusted sills was about 1998-99.
I’m surprised you haven’t remembered the G-Limited shell at Autolinkuk; big welded on plates on the sills proof that even imports do rust.
Agreed
The box sections are waxed and checked,trust me i know how good these sills are in,me and tin worm hate each other and is not welcome around any of my cars(comes from rebuilding M.G’s and spitfires/gt6’s),and you answred your own question(endoscope),one day andy we may meet and you can veiw my cars and see for yourself,but like i said before i don’t hold as much hope with the Mk 2 to last as long without a lot of work,they are just not as well made as the Mk 1’s,well up untill around 1995
And i stiil say it’s all down to how it as been looked after.
I am not disputing that jap cars can rust out,thats all down to what part of the country they are living in,just like the boom with classic cars from the states in the 80’s they were all not rot free when useing them for reshalling ,but all in all the jap imports are a lot better body wise than there engilsh brothers and sisters for rot,and as i have said before,and i will stand my ground, they do not use salt,but fit snow tyres to cope with there weather conditions which are a lot worse than ares.
And i do agree that a quick patch up job to get it through an MOT will not last,but a well paid professional sill replacement will last a long time when also cared for properlyin the correct way.
Minor point, but Japan does use road salt. its a myth spread by importers to explain the lack of underseal on some models. The real reason being that some models are considered literally throw-away, and consequently aren’t maintained that well.
eg
http://www.pwri.go.jp/eng/result/pdf/2007_27.pdf
All rather irrelevant now; the majority of imports have been here 12-9 years (supply has now virtually stopped). Would you buy any 12 year old car here, and not bother checking for rust?
So how did you rustproof the a-piller-inner wing rust trap? Massive box section.
Ok AT
Seeing that we are well off topic let me run this by you,because everytime this topic comes up we hit logger heads.
I have personally over the years imported some 400 or so units and out of all of them not once have i come across any rust problems ever…thats ever,and i have very high standards,which i pride myself on,i made a phone call this morning to andrew stott at autolink and had a good deep conflab with him on this subject yet again,he as impoted 500 or so units,so between the two of us we have imported some 900 plus units and out of all of them andrew as had …2 with minor rust problems,which came from the coast,so go and work out the maths on that please .i think you will find it’s a good % on the plus side me thinks,would you like me to ring some more importers on this suject ,so we can put this to bed?.
You don’t think i’m telling the truth,so speak to Mr stott?
But this may have change now,because like you have said,they are starting to use salt a lot more ,so i wait to see what condition the 2.5’s and 3’s arrive in,if like you say then there is no hope
I would like to add my tuppence worth, from 2001 to 2004 i imported around 40 units, not on the same scale as Mazdamender, but not one even had the slightest rust problem, in fact a 1991 Pajero was so clean underneath you would think it was new, not sure how it would be now though.
road salt in japan has been used for many years, but ony in the northern regions.
Maybe you have been fortunate with your imports to date being essentially rust free , probably coming from the south of japan and surrounding islands.
You seem to take this awfully personally wayne ? I understand you claim to have high standards , however, when buying a car from an auction in japan your standards go out the window as you are playing on the same field as many other importers.Your standards will reflect the way you prepare the car for sale. Its not like you built the car from scratch and anyone making less than favourable comments about rusty imports , appears by you,to be taken as a slight on your character.
the original post was - i have rust - what are my options.
it seems that the concenus is
-
pay for a proper repair - costly
-
pay for a bodge (cheapest quote) and wait approx2 - 3 years for it to come back with a vengeance
-
accept it and sell the car on
i find it frustrating that so called experts lack alot of knowledge regarding imports and belligerantly argue their point until the others give up therefore the correct information is seen as false and many people reading the thread accept the misinformation as fact.
fact -a minority of imports to date, do arrive with rust issues.
Fact - your car will rust eventually
fact - your car will not last forever
fact - if you have rust issues , unless you pay top coin, the repair will not last.- even that is not guaranteed - welding itself introduces points where rust will start again.
dfr: Have you been to Japan to back up your esteem knowledge of the area? Have you ever purchased a car from an auction in Japan?
Back on topic: Sill repairs or any repairs will give longevity if they are properly looked after, thinking it is now ok is no good. Preventative care and attention is needed to keep the rust worms at bay.
Recent Dinitrol Wax treatment applied to my UK 1996 MK1 verifies the point.
actually , yes on both counts.
And so have i
No, everytime it comes up, its usually an issue because there is a failure to read replies with appropriate care, which is why we’ve ended up off topic.
You really need to read my replies rather more carefully before getting so defensive about your business practices.
There is an obvious explanation why used cars exported from Japan to the UK are rust-free, at least in the past. Cars are brought selectively in Japan. The typical UK importers process; you have an agent in Japan, who is supposed to flag up cars for you based on a spec. I suspect that spec doesn’t include “look out for a rusty car for me”. The importation of used cars from Japan in to the UK is a selective process. The true dross gets shipped to Dubai, where it eventually finds its way to somewhere near Kabul, or Mombasa, or Kingston, or even the Russian Far East. Rusty cars must be imported because of a lack of attention, at one end or the other, to the buying spec. Because rusty Roadsters are rarely exported, it doesn’t follow that there are no rusty Roadsters in Japan. What you receive is not representative of the Japanese used car market.
Still, you must wonder; there’s a good reason why some Roadsters in Japan go to export auctions, and others stay on the forecourt. This rather ordinary looking SR Limited:
http://www.carmakecorns.com/src/search/stock/stock_detail.php?id=146820100120132304&shop=1468
is £3100 in Japan, which I guessimate to be about £5300 landed here, before putting a MOT etc on it…
I suspect if your agent shipped to you a Roadster with rotten sills, you wouldn’t be too happy, and the Agent will be looking for a new business partner. But this thread is not about if Roadsters are rusty or not (most in the UK are by now; the process has started. In the words of Agent Smith, it is inevitable. Rust is a fact of life, and there is not a car on the planet that has not eventually rusted away. Dfr is absolutely right in his measured reply.
So by omitting mention of the Mk1, you admit that the importation of NAs from Japan has become insignifricant.
I expect your instructions to your Japanese Agent will never include the words “get me any Roadster, I don’t care about the condition”, so once again, rusted cars will be excluded from shipment. I note that the standard Japanese AA Inspection sheet includes a code for “rust” amongst body damage (“R”, but sometimes “S”).
Rust in Peace, Japanese style:
Look what they throw away:
Cosmo 110S!
The Japanese countryside is apparently full of abandoned Bedford Rascals:
http://kusahiroexploration.blog107.fc2.com/
Respect
Andrew and Paul