Possible rust point

[safetyman]

While running my amp power wiring through the guard area (thank you to the gents that provided the excellent tips), I came across this:







Gave it a good clean and came out with what I'm guessing would be 4 years worth of buildup. I'll be cleaning the other side out tomorrow.

[Tarq57]

Sorry for being thick, but that's the back of the left front guard we're looking at?

[safetyman]

Yes it is.

I'll be checking the rear on the other side today.
Should be fairly similar.

[Tim]

If you think thats bad you should have seen what come out of my 15 year old mk3 Golf the other day from that same area

Definately worth having a peek in there every couple of years if you plan on keeping the car long term.

[safetyman]

Yep, I agree.

Most cars are similar in design in that area.

When I checked that area on my son's 1990 MX5, I found two seized nuts and the metal from the panel clipping it on down there, completely rusted through.

I'm fairly anal about washing under the mudguards to prevent this but this shows it can still build up behind the guard.

What I did notice that could alleviate the problem, is just enlarging the area to the left of the bottom mudguard screw mounting point that is facing us in the bottom picture.
There is a very small 2-3mm gap but it's not enough, as all of this crud came from the vent area ahead of the windscreen.
There is a large hole at the top of the chassis which is the drain hole for the vent area, and this empties all of the leaves and associated crap over the top of the plastic mudguard which then flows down to this point and effectively has no where to go but out of that tiny 2-3mm gap.

[sssstew]

yeah exactly the same on my dads mk4 golf as well