I know Ka's rust, but............

[New POD]

I'd really like to try a Ka, do properly rust free ones actually exist or are they all rust heaps by now? 

 

Hmm, this place is bigging themselves up something proper.

 

I once bought a mini clubman that had been restored by a company called miniman in Birmingham.  Restored or Bodged. A door actually fell off it, because of the amount of the rust.

 

I guess the 30 Rust free Ka's in St Helens will have a warranty as good as the miniman one.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

The comment earlier in the thread about Ford's use of saline solution is correct.

They originally used it underbody and in cavities on all Ford vehicles from the mid 1960s until the late 1980s.

Since that point, they've scaled down the usage on most of their range, instead spending the equivalent money on ensuing their designers create the most woeful exterior designs possible.

In the meantime, Ford have continued to apply thorough coatings of saline solution to all Kas and Transits, just to keep the 'all old Fords are rusty and shit' reputation alive.

[In The Pit]

I think one of the reasons for these rusting so badly is that they are made at Fords Valencia factory in Spain.  Cars made in this factory often appear to rust far worst than those made in their British, German and Belgium factories, possibly the reason being poor quality Spanish steel.

 

Of course alot of cars (of all makes) made since the Millennium are poorly rust protected compared to cars made in the 80's/90's as for one thing they are cutting production costs and another is that they don't expect new cars to last much longer than about 8/9 years partly because of all the electrical crap they put in and partly because they don't want them to last so joe public have to buy new ones.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Having just done a major body job on mine (fuel filler area with new steel), the reason Ka's rot here is because there is no anti rust wax of any sort, anywhere. The inner section rusts away and rain water gets through and down into the sill. By the time the bubbles appear on the outer skin, the inner bit is toast. The Silver Ka here was pretty good on the drivers side. Ford also added big chunks of foam around the fuel cap area. I've binned it on mine. Next weekend it's going on the ramp to have a full rustproofing job, drilling holes in the sills (one per side) and getting a load of Dinitrol in there as well as the whole underside, rear axle mounts and front crossmember mountings.

[nebuchenezer]

there is no anti wrist wax of any sort

 

Made me chuckle that did

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Of course alot of cars (of all makes) made since the Millennium are poorly rust protected compared to cars made in the 80's/90's as for one thing they are cutting production costs and another is that they don't expect new cars to last much longer than about 8/9 years partly because of all the electrical crap they put in and partly because they don't want them to last so joe public have to buy new ones.

Sorry, totally disagree with this. It was commonplace in the 70s and early 80s to see cars with a black 'tidemark' along the side, where the whole bottom half of the car was rotting and had been 'repaired'. Most mainstream marques had real rust issues and it was standard to have plenty of it on pretty much any car under 10 years old. Rustproofing has come a long way since and the longevity of car structures between then and now isn't comparable (apart from Kas and Transits ).

[brickwall]

I reckon it has been very much ups and downs over the years. When costs bite, the quality goes - when competition is stiff it gets better. If a local Austin 14 is on original paint and always parked outside you know something is up.

[In The Pit]

Sorry, totally disagree with this. It was commonplace in the 70s and early 80s to see cars with a black 'tidemark' along the side, where the whole bottom half of the car was rotting and had been 'repaired'. Most mainstream marques had real rust issues and it was standard to have plenty of it on pretty much any car under 10 years old. Rustproofing has come a long way since and the longevity of car structures between then and now isn't comparable (apart from Kas and Transits ).

I didn’t mention the 70’s as being good for not rusting.  Car Mechanics magazine did an article in 2013 looking at cars built from 1998-2008 and they mentioned that cars from this period (and probably newer time will tell) have not been as well rust proofed as cars from the 80’s to mid 90’s.  Mercedes Benz and Mazda are a good example of manufacturers whose cars built in the late 80’s early 90’s are far most rust resistant than the cars they have built in the 00’s.  Statistics show that cars don’t last as long as they previously did with the previous average age lifespan for a car being 12 years this is now 9 years,  mainly due to electrical problems and cost of repairs because of complex layouts hence I mentioned manufacturers don’t rust proof as well as they don’t expect/want their cars to last that long in todays throw away society.

[New POD]

Mercedes had a particular problem 15 years ago when they introduced both water based paints and a 30 year perforation warranty - which was worthless, as the T&C's are well in Mercs Favour.

 

(I was listening to You and Yours on Radio 4 the other week)

[steve_earwig]

ISTR reading that MB actually forgot to rustproof C classes assembled in South Africa in the early 2000's.

 

Also, wouldn't rust be FeO? Hey, that would be the perfect name if Ford ever make one of these stupid little city cars.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

MB would not forget to do anything. It was a combination of less than great steel and early WB paint. The undersealing is quite good and they don't tend to rot from the inside out - it's normally serious scabby rust rather than 'the rear axle just fell out' rot. E Class cars can suffer from rot in the front spring cup mounts on the body.

BMW had an issue with late model E36 saloons made on the S plate, mainly 318iS cars in Avus blue. Whilst the E36 was only average on rusting, those '98 cars were truly evil. They were supposedly built in South Africa but still have VIN's showing German build. BMW only really got to grips with rust on on the Bangle era cars - 7 from 2001, 5 from 2003 and 3 Series from 2005. Models built before that were all known for rust.

[steve_earwig]

 

South African 2000-2001 build quality niggles. Check paint very carefully for starring, particularly solid colours. All W203 C-class to April 2002 (saloons and estates) were manufactured without door / seam sealant. Since August 2002 C-Class models, produced in Bremen, were completely sealed on all panels. Inspect the seam on the bootlid and round the bottom of the doors. Despite the fact that they are rusting from the inside out it is NOT classed as perforation and ONLY repaired.

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mercedes-benz/c-class-w203-2000/?section=good

 

Ok, it was seam sealant. I knew it was something like that anyway. I only looked it up as I looked at an early 200's C class a few years back and it seemed to be rusting through on the doors...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/mercedes-benz/c-class-w203-2000/?section=good

 

Ok, it was seam sealant. I knew it was something like that anyway. I only looked it up as I looked at an early 200's C class a few years back and it seemed to be rusting through on the doors...

 

Even though silver is the worst colour for rusty Mercs? The rust goes back as far as 1995 and the first C Class btw. There were plenty of shitty, rusty C180's on P plates around in 2003.

[Rusty_Rocket]

My neighbour's (Silver!) 1995 C280 developed a knocking at the front.  When he jacked it up, he saw the lower arm had pulled out of its mounting point on the body due to rot.

The car was one of the better* looking ones with minimal scabbyness on the wings/ bootlid etc but was scrapped due to the rot underneath.  This was 5years-ish back so the car was 15 years old, but was a pampered, under 100k miles example.

 

Check them everywhere.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

FIFTEEN YEARS OLD!!! I would be typing a short but to-the-point letter to Daimler Benz AG expressing my deep dissatisfaction. Bastards.

[Rusty_Rocket]

15

[UltraWomble]

 

 

WE UNDERSEAL EVERY SINGLE KA WE SELL MAKING THEM TOTALLY RUST FREE EXAMPLES

Im prepared to call BELM on the last part of that statement.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Nice edit Rev.  You think it's anywhere near acceptable for a suspension component to become detached from a car when it's 15 years old?!  Sure, it's an old car by then and there's no guarantees but..

I remember being surprised by it, put it that way.

My first post was really in reply to your comment that it's only really cosmetic scabby grot that affects these cars.  It isn't.  They need checking everywhere. 

[warren t claim]

I followed one of those SportKa things today and I'm ashamed to confess that I'd quite like one. I can imagine them to be like a mk1 XR2.

[Bren]

I followed one of those SportKa things today and I'm ashamed to confess that I'd quite like one. I can imagine them to be like a mk1 XR2.

Yes - there is something beguiling about the sport ka - I would have one for a cheap hack.

 

I like the idea I could hoover it up at the end of it's life.

[DavidB]

This 2008 one is on 15,000 miles and had it's first MOT welding this year to various bits underneath, though not that bad - filler cap is fine though, and it is otherwise close to like new apart from elderly scrapes. I love these cars, and it smells like my Orion from which I got rid of in 2001.

 

 

[HMC]

On 8/8/2015 at 9:26 PM, HMC said:

Mine was tremendous fun to blatt about in, Id say they are hard not to like especially once driven, and theres a design purity about them that appeals. I can well imagine the (rare) survivors fetching decent coin in 20 years.  Although I must say these rustaceous pics and similar stories were a factor in me ditching it whilst some ticket remained. At 12 years old it had already had one sill skin and the filler cap was bubbling up nicely (not for the first time I would imagine) By and large not bad looking at some of the newer ones on e bay. DVLA says its tested for another year so it was either solid or has kept a welder busy, I never hung around to find out what was going on under the plastic bumpers.

 

Fond memories of my old one. Mine was the endura e with aircon. Quite a noticeable hike in power with it off, I used to prepare for overtakes by switching it off; like an AS version of DRS

[stuboy]

i used to teach friends daughter to drive in her ka, and had avalibility to use it when she was away/6th form.

[RoverFolkUs]

2 hours ago, DavidB said:

This 2008 one is on 15,000 miles and had it's first MOT welding this year to various bits underneath, though not that bad - filler cap is fine though, and it is otherwise close to like new apart from elderly scrapes. I love these cars, and it smells like my Orion from which I got rid of in 2001.

 

 

That's got to be one of the last of them before they all turned into Fiat 500s, I've seen the MK2 Ka on a 58 reg!