my mk4 polo! (moved, was posted in wrong forum)

[rustmobile]

ARGH! i'd written a massive long thing and then when i clicked post, turns out i'd been logged out! so i lost it all! ohwell, i'll start again..

anyway, i'm michael, 17, and from the arse end of nowhere (near blackburn) and i thought i'd say howdy!

my mum gave me her old 6N after i passed my test and she bought a new car (honda accord 2.0 executive... dribble... ) which unfortunately hadn't been looked after very well. she hardly ever cleaned it and it fell victim to rust over time. if i'd known that she was going to give it to me, i would have looked after it for her, cause it's a top first car.

anyway, i thought i'd have a go at getting rid of the rust (at least cosmetically - i don't know how far advanced the body rust is) and started on the edge of my doors, which ended up looking pretty nice so i was going to go around and bit by bit do it up, and hopefully make it look sterling. and i spent about a week doing the back bit of the car where 2 medium sized patches of rust were lingering, took it down to bare metal after removing the filler, using a flap wheel attached to a drill to get all the rust out, refilled it, primed it, repainted it, it looked pretty damn good if i do say so myself :p anyway... after about a week, i've found that the rust has made a crack through the filler and it's coming out onto the paintwork. needless to say, pretty pissed off!



the black stuff on the bumper is just the remains of wax i put on ages ago to prevent any more moisture getting in before i did the rust up.

i realise that fixing it up is going to require a lot of time, and possibly money (of which i dont have much, skint!!), so i'm tempted to sell it, apart from the fact that i had a new clutch put in about a month ago which cost me £180 altogether, and my mum spent about £600 servicing and MOTing it before she gave it to me. mechanically, it's brill, but the body needs attention.

so i'm just after your general advice and opinions really!

and i thought i'd introduce myself and get to know y'all

some more general pics of the car, including a few bumps!















michael!

[bstardchild]

anyway, i'm michael, 17, and from the arse end of nowhere (near blackburn) and i thought i'd say howdy!

Hi and welcome

anyway, i thought i'd have a go at getting rid of the rust (at least cosmetically - i don't know how far advanced the body rust is) and started on the edge of my doors, which ended up looking pretty nice so i was going to go around and bit by bit do it up, and hopefully make it look sterling. and i spent about a week doing the back bit of the car where 2 medium sized patches of rust were lingering, took it down to bare metal after removing the filler, using a flap wheel attached to a drill to get all the rust out, refilled it, primed it, repainted it, it looked pretty damn good if i do say so myself :p anyway... after about a week, i've found that the rust has made a crack through the filler and it's coming out onto the paintwork. needless to say, pretty pissed off!

There seems to be always rust in this area - I think the shell flexes thats why filler falls out

i realise that fixing it up is going to require a lot of time, and possibly money (of which i dont have much, skint!!), so i'm tempted to sell it, apart from the fact that i had a new clutch put in about a month ago which cost me £180 altogether, and my mum spent about £600 servicing and MOTing it before she gave it to me. mechanically, it's brill, but the body needs attention.

so i'm just after your general advice and opinions really!

I think for what it owes you and the history you know about it I would keep it - body work takes practice and might as well practice on something that owes you not a lot

Don't buy spray cans from Halfords for a "candy white" Polo it doesn't match at all - get it from VW it's a much better match - I know

[rustmobile]

hey ta for the advice!

ahh, i see. what do you suggest i do for that bit? or does it need taking to a garage?

yeah, you're right. i think i'll run it till it dies/becomes too expensive to keep going. and i can practice on it without a huge fear of fecking up!


ahh rite, i thought the match wasn't very good... but thought it was fading of my paint.. i dont think im going to go to halfords again, its a ripoff and the stuff isn't great quality either..

[bstardchild]

hey ta for the advice!

ahh, i see. what do you suggest i do for that bit? or does it need taking to a garage?

I reckon the only thing that might work (I've not tried it) is seam sealer as it can be over painted but you need to get all the rust out again first

yeah, you're right. i think i'll run it till it dies/becomes too expensive to keep going. and i can practice on it without a huge fear of fecking up!

Good reliable base and I'd do the same if I was in your situation - Polo's aren't expensive to keep going

ahh rite, i thought the match wasn't very good... but thought it was fading of my paint.. i dont think im going to go to halfords again, its a ripoff and the stuff isn't great quality either..

I wondered if that was a halfords paint - it's well over a shade out - the VW stuff is much closer as I said

[JoeG07]

i doubt youll have any luck with this but its worth a try - you can try www.breakeryard.com or similar sites and see what body parts you can pick up already in white, fit them yourself might save you a bomb. After my red polo was hit from behind, the bottom back panel (metal bit, possibly called a rear valance?) was dent to peices, i pciked up a mint condition one in the same colour for about £15 delivered, fitted it myself, voilour job done, a whole lot cheaper than buying a new part and spraying. Give it a go

[DanDiesel]

welcome to the forum Michael! good start off car to have!

as for rust, my missus' car has plenty of that and her car is the same colour as yours! hers is booked in for a full respray in the next month!

rust around the rear side windows, bottom of both doors and at the top of the roof line, plus both bumpers now but they are going to be replaced with 16v items luckily!

[rustmobile]

I reckon the only thing that might work (I've not tried it) is seam sealer as it can be over painted but you need to get all the rust out again first

whats seam sealer? where can i get it from, and is it easy to use?

i doubt youll have any luck with this but its worth a try - you can try www.breakeryard.com or similar sites and see what body parts you can pick up already in white, fit them yourself might save you a bomb. After my red polo was hit from behind, the bottom back panel (metal bit, possibly called a rear valance?) was dent to peices, i pciked up a mint condition one in the same colour for about £15 delivered, fitted it myself, voilour job done, a whole lot cheaper than buying a new part and spraying. Give it a go

yeah i need a new valance, i might have a go round breakers yards near me actually.

welcome to the forum Michael! good start off car to have!

as for rust, my missus' car has plenty of that and her car is the same colour as yours! hers is booked in for a full respray in the next month!

rust around the rear side windows, bottom of both doors and at the top of the roof line, plus both bumpers now but they are going to be replaced with 16v items luckily!

cheers dan! yeah, i'm glad i've got it - especially as it was given to me

yea white is an unfortunate colour to have on a rusty car hahaha. if it gets resprayed, will the people who are respraying it get rid of the rust before they respray or is that something I have to do myself?

[DanDiesel]

the quote that she has been given includes the bodyshop prepping the entire car and making sure that it is rust free before the go near it with the paint!
they believe that most of the rust is surface luckily and so shouldn't require too much work, although as the rust is around the windows, this means they have to pop the windows out to treat it, which requires a specialist to do this!
best of all, after the car is finished, they guarentee their work for quite a while!

[rustmobile]

niiiiice. would it be rude to ask how much she's been quoted?

i'm thinking of getting it done too now! were you charged for the quote? cause even if i don't end up getting it resprayed, they could tell better than i can how far the rust is advanced into the body.

[quality name]

ello mate, my first car was a polo (stil gt it like bt got a new daily driver !) im juz 18 now and i dne most my learnin on my polo, they really gd first time cars and all u need to do is lower them imo .
as far as rust goes i had my share, on both front wings, corner of the windows and below that bottom rear light too! it cost me £25 for a new wing then £60 to get it sprayed so it ent too costly . keep the beast its teh way forwards .

anywhooo thats my rant ova , tata