Rust. That thing you do?

[Pumacat]

Luckily my puma has no rust on the rear arch's. I've read on here or somewhere that there is something that gets blocked which causes the archs to rust. What is it and where do I find it. Not sure if this post makes much sense. I want to prevent rust forming in the rear arch's.

 

[vekma]

from what I have read its condensation forming on the inside, on my puma I stripped the rear trim panels and sprayed waxoyl everywhere, there is probably other stuff you can use i also took the wheel arch liners out and sprayed there as well even did the fronts,

 

[mauritis]

Yes from general reading its a combination of the arches having a lip & the felt inserts holding water/moisture.

I too have removed these & used a protective paint but have also noticed an increase in noise & of corse stones & grit hitting the insides. Also removing the front ones I noticed some of air filter & screen wash bits exposed. I tend to put them back on after some changes. ie trim back the bit that touchs the outer arch.

Also on front archs the ammount of road dirt/sand it traps behind the felt near the door is eye popping, I was scooping out handfuls! So get behind there and have a look.

 

[DerbyDan]

With regard to the rear arches - I used to think that it was the wheel arch liners that was causing the rust by holding grit/gravel & water against the inside, but on removing the liner from one side it was apparent that the actual inside of the lip was rust free - so it seems its purely caused (in the case of my car anyway) from moisture building up on the inside of the panel. There are some holes on the inside behind the liner so I guess water can get in through these too? I did cut back the liner back before putting it back on (so it wasn't held tight against the lip) But I wouldn't recommend leaving them off all together without properly coating the arch in a stone chip protection like Gravitex [sp].

What it needs is a drain hole somewhere as well as a vent of some sort to let air in to dry it - most three door cars have one somewhere of sorts, but not the Puma :?