16th May 2003, 08:02

I drive an N Reg 1.25 Zetec Si. It has 70000 miles on the clock, only has 1 or 2 very small rust patches, and has just passed through its MOT without any trouble! Except for a slight lack of water in its washer bottle :)

Still a super smooth ride while doing 90 at 4200 rpm.

It had it suspension lowered and 5 spoke body colour alloys added from new, which fit perfectly in the arches.

The only problem it suffers from is an annoying scraping noise occasionally as soon as you get sum1 sitting in the back! Think its been put down to the tyres rubbing inside the arches. But I've never seen any damage.

(Not sure how to stop that scraping without changing springs. Any ideas?!)

23rd May 2003, 13:54

Re: 16th may. to stop the scrubbing of your tyre in the wheel arches without changing the springs, I can suggest 2 things. 1. get lower profile tyres (at the risk of less ride quality and higher costs of the tyres) or 2. don't let the mother-in-law sit in the back! i apologise for any spelling queries, i'm English!

27th May 2003, 08:50

Body rust on any car under 6 years no matter how minor is totally unacceptable. Ford have much to learn on how to build cars.

The same can be said for their crap vans as well, I saw a 2 year old transit with rusty wheel arches that is a disgrace.

29th May 2003, 08:39

And how do you think that Transit had been looked after? Do you think any stone chips and bodywork dinks had been lovingly touched in and repaired? Do you think the driver spent weekends washing and waxing it? Vans get abused. I've seen Mercedes Sprinters in the same condition. Does that make Mercedes crap?

9th Jun 2003, 05:14

If the body was fully galvanized then stone chip damage would not cause rust. Galvanized body structures should be standard on all new cars.

8th Apr 2004, 03:39

As far as wheels scrubbing with passengers in the back goes, you can have the wheel arches rolled, but this will cost about £20 + per arch. Places like R-Tec can help you out with this.

The mk4 1.4 16v engines produce 90bhp.

On the subject of vans rusting... I've seen relatively new VW Transporters, Mercedes Sprinters and Ford Transits with rust, but then I've been led to believe that all commercial vehicles aren't rust proofed to the same standards as cars. They tend to do high miles over a very short time, and are built with the needs of fleet owners etc in mind. They're only kept for a very short time. I know fleet cars are only kept for a short time too, but cars aren't built for the same end user!