Rust on the Sill

[Willni]

Won't be repaired on warranty (vw say it's my fault) they'll pay 50% of the cost to fix it so £150 looking to trade it in now

[alexperkins]

Ouch. Dissapointing result from VW. You could fight it with VW CS, but theyd probably take the dealers side given the location.

[haflidij]

So here is how my front bumper looks like.
This was like this when i bought it but i didnt notice until recently.




Im a bit dissapointed in the paint work if that is normal on newer polo's.

[alexperkins]

did you buy it brand new?

[haflidij]

did you buy it brand new?

No i bought it late 2014 and its a 2013 model.

[alexperkins]

The finish of the clear coat looks like it might've been resprayed there

[haflidij]

The finish of the clear coat looks like it might've been resprayed there

So you are saying that it was maybe damaged before and was repaired and finished like this before i bought it ?.

[alexperkins]

Quite possibly yes

[Willni]

The front bumper is plastic so you shouldn't worry about rust on it, it's probably the paint bubbling. Yeah I know my dealer is very nice about it he said why they couldn't and they could send the car back to germany but in the end they'll refuse it because of a 'cause' for it in that there was holes in the paint which would have caused it

[craigboardman]

Hey, I have just come across rust along the sill in the exact same spot. Up on further investigation I have found holes on the underside of the sill front and back. I am assuming it rusts below the front doors on the sill first because the spray of the front wheels will chuck water inside the sill very easily! I am going to bring this up with a Volkswagen garage this week and argue it is corrosion from the inside and not a paint defect.

[craigboardman]

Hey, I have just come across rust along the sill in the exact same spot. Up on further investigation I have found holes on the underside of the sill front and back. I am assuming it rusts below the front doors on the sill first because the spray of the front wheels will chuck water inside the sill very easily! I am going to bring this up with a Volkswagen garage this week and argue it is corrosion from the inside and not a paint defect.

[amer6R]

2K epoxy primer, filler ( if needed) paint, clear + layer of wax 1000% never going to rust.

These cars have a fault, the fender is rolled and welded, it doesnt have any seam sealer over it. Dirt sticks and weld fails ... Rustt

[veteran]

Willni et al,

Here's my penniworth. Although the metalwork of pillars and doors are also prone to rusting through in the end and require adequate wax protection at the factory stage, all cills on a car - not just Polos of the last decade - are vulnerable to scratches being made in the cill threshold paintwork from drivers' and passengers' footwear when getting into or out of the car. These then become starting points for rusting. So, on cills, don't assume that rusting always occurs from the inside to the outside. Often, it can be the other way around. Stones and grit carried on the soles of shoes of the driver and passengers will very quickly damage the cill paintwork unless a conscious effort is always made to avoid stepping on the cill. A means of avoiding this restriction would be to fit, where available, a stainless steel over-cill.

I have a mixed view on whether box sections, especially cills, should be fully sealed up after factory-waxing, or whether instead they should remain permanently aerated. Clearly, if the vehicle ever got well-immersed in water, you'd want that water to readily drain out of the cills and various box sections and eventually dry off, so I think, design-wise, a compromise has to be struck between fully sealing up versus leaving some holes for drainage and aeration. On the other hand, leaving designed-in holes will make the box section (or whatever) prone to rusting unless every single inch of the interior of the box section is 100% protected by injected wax or underseal, a situation that'd be rare, I'd wager. Certainly, on my 2017 6C, there's a gap at the very front of each cill (the gap facing the trailing edge of the wheel) that could allow quite a lot of surface-water thrown at it by the tyre to enter the cill and slosh around. In that regard, the fitting of mudflaps could conceivably prevent some of that water from entering the cills, although they'd not help much if the amount of water in the vicinity was considerable.

[SRGTD]

Willni et al,

Here's my penniworth. Although the metalwork of pillars and doors are also prone to rusting through in the end and require adequate wax protection at the factory stage, all cills on a car - not just Polos of the last decade - are vulnerable to scratches being made in the cill threshold paintwork from drivers' and passengers' footwear when getting into or out of the car. These then become starting points for rusting. So, on cills, don't assume that rusting always occurs from the inside to the outside. Often, it can be the other way around. Stones and grit carried on the soles of shoes of the driver and passengers will very quickly damage the cill paintwork unless a conscious effort is always made to avoid stepping on the cill. A means of avoiding this restriction would be to fit, where available, a stainless steel over-cill.

I’m personally not keen on those stainless steel will kick plates - IMO they don’t look good if they get scratched over time from careless car occupant’s footwear when getting in and out of the car, and depending on the method of attachment, there’s a risk that they can be a water trap - water can ‘creep’ under the kick plate from washing the car or when it rains hard. If I was going to fit some form of sill protectors, I’d always choose the stick on black or clear vinyl type of protectors.

Part of my car cleaning process is to check for paintwork stone chips, and if I find any, they get repaired immediately. By doing this, it minimises the risk of future surface corrosion issues like those in the pictures of the sills earlier on in this discussion thread.

[Trebor1313]

I just purchased a 2012 Polo with the same issue. The dealer told me that it’s a regular problem caused by the sponge-like material near the a-post becoming water absorbent and holding water in the cills. He costs in cill replacement for this age of Polo