Author Topic: where do mk3's rust the most?  (Read 5854 times)

Offline robo22sri

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where do mk3's rust the most?
« on: 24 June 2012, 22:26 »
As title, mine has a little in the door shut and front wings
but i noticed inside behind the passenger rear light is rusty! :(

the seam sealer has split and is rusty on the outside around the light also  :rolleyes:

bloody hate rust!

Offline GolfGL

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #1 on: 24 June 2012, 22:33 »
For there age mk3's seem quite bad with wings, sills, lower 3/4 and door sections, tailgate below window and probably a few other places
Adam
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Offline search

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #2 on: 24 June 2012, 22:58 »
yeah lower wings on mine. and some under the door.
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Offline CJA321

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #3 on: 24 June 2012, 23:05 »
Everywere.  :tongue:

Offline kahunajb

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #4 on: 24 June 2012, 23:33 »
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Offline twotwofour

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #5 on: 25 June 2012, 12:07 »
Mine has rusty front wings and that's it. The stickies suggest its dependant on year of manufacture to how bad it will rust
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Offline thai-wronghorse

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #6 on: 25 June 2012, 12:43 »
All the above really, pay particular attention to the inner sills especially if it has evidence of been jacked up on the edges and has GTI sill covers which trap moisture inside.

Offline Wayne

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #7 on: 25 June 2012, 13:52 »
Frome what I have read early ones were a lot better, later cars do seem to suffer more rust

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #8 on: 25 June 2012, 20:40 »
Where the door rubber joins at the bottom at the top edge of the sill- need to pull rubber up to have a proper look

Jacking points, fronts are worse as the jack does not sit on the plastic trim very well and slips off.
If the front points are bent you have rust, on the inside and outside of the of the tubular section.

Rubber floor bungs, rot out every where. not so bad in the pan area as they can be patched easily, the ones on the inner sill are a little more tricky and tend to rot the whole sill out from the inside due to water ingress

Around the windscreen, nice square leading edge around the top of the screen, just what you don't want to avoid paint chips, also a pain to get done as the screen needs to come out.

Under the roof strips, from racks and damaged clip lugs.

Inner wings, ABS grommet. Dont let your inner wing rot out!

Behind rear light cluster, three nuts to check.

Boot lid grommets, where they join the roof area tends to rot behind the rubber.

Roof Ariel, can be fixed, always comes back

These are the hidden spots I always look in as they are structural and are £££ and ball aches.
Wings and doors are never a problem to sort out.
Everything else is a case of looking for the obvious, I find Mk3's are either really rotten or really Clean with trimless models fairing very well on the sills.
You can list a million places to look, but if its obviously rusty when you buy it, you most likely have a rot box anyway :grin:

Offline search

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Re: where do mk3's rust the most?
« Reply #9 on: 25 June 2012, 20:51 »
Thinking about it my boot was getting soaked because the boot lid up by the struts have rusted tiny hole so i had to seal it up.
Golf mk3 1.4 (sold)
Golf mk2 1.3 (sold)
Golf mk3 1.6