Roof rust

davewithington · Unread post by **davewithington** » 30 Apr 2010, 10:33

When I was cutting and polishing my Xantia at the weekend (never realised the white was quite THAT blinding) I noticed a few blebs on the roof, close to the front corner of the sunroof. Anyone seen any roof rusting, like the CX used to have?

Did think that maybe the drainholes had blocked, any clues to where they might be?

Brigsygtt · Unread post by **Brigsygtt** » 30 Apr 2010, 13:48

Old cars now mate, My xantia has a fair few bits of rust setting in after last winter!

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 30 Apr 2010, 14:32

Xantias seem to do well for rust, i rarely see a rusty one. Mainly on the rear of ths sills inside the rear doors seems the most popular place for body rust.

Wheel arches on estates seema bit more probe to rust than hatchback.

They are getting on though, just look at a mondeo of similar age and see if you can spot a pannel without one. Well if you can find a mondeo of similar age, i think thats what merc was making there cars from during the 00s. Rust buckets!

Citroens generally stand up to weather very well.

Seems an odd place to rust around the sunroof though. Has it had any paint damage around there? Might be blocked drains.

davewithington · Unread post by **davewithington** » 30 Apr 2010, 15:49

It's not an unusual spot for cars with a sunroof, and knowing how bad the CX can rust in that spot, I'm thinking the worst.

Need to find the roof drain channels and have a poke.

Oh, and this is a very new car for me, it's only 17!!

handyman · Unread post by **handyman** » 01 May 2010, 06:17

The reason why the CX suffered so badly with rust around the sun roof was that the cars roofs were never painted inside!

Even though the factory offered fitted sunroofs, they were always an option and were added late into the production build, usually after the body had been through the paint shop.

In consequence, as the sunroof is not a watertight component and relies on draining water away through the channels in the roof, condensation is the inevitable corrosion factor, forming on the nice, unpainted interior surface of the roof panel. The only real cure is another roof panel without rot. Takes about three hours on a CX to strip out an old one and fit a new one, plus painting and retrimming.

If your roof is not too bad, remove headlining, treat with a rust inhibitor and a galvanic paint. It may give you a few more years, but the panel is mighty thin at about 1.5mm thick.

Handyman

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 01 May 2010, 08:29

If you pull the headlining down on a Sunny Xantia during moist weather you may well be surprised at how much condensation gathers around it and yes, the paint is not exactly thick...