Rust on Xantia !!

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andmcit
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Joined: 03 Mar 2005, 17:59
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Re: Rust on Xantia !!

Post by andmcit »

I've seen a couple of sunroof s2's bubble on the middle of the rear near side panel about slap bang
in the flat middle if the rear outer panel's skin. The pictures in this thread seem a lot higher up! :?
Nothing moves you like a Citroën
PhilGreaves
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Re: Rust on Xantia !!

Post by PhilGreaves »

ours started to go there. But only after a mercedes sprinter caught it when reversing out of a car park space. :roll: (no no insurance details left..)

it was fine before that. The problem is the shi*tguard isnt fitted to that side. Only to the otherside (fuel side) and front. Due to this water/mud/snow/grit/road muck can spray up there and sit quite happily there until you get the slightest scrape/stonechip which breaks the protective layer/s of special paint..then it rusts like hell.

Every mk 1 a xantia ive seen has this problem to a greater or lesser extent. Some mark 1 Bs ive seen actually rust worse than earlier mk 1 As (dont know why?) havent seen it on any mk 2s..yet. This is one of the reasons why i wanted mum to get a mk 3 xantia- but i digress. But presumably this design fault is there on mk 2s too- though we've never owned one so ive never checked so im not 100% certain.

One thing i will say is although it doesnt look bad on the surface it will look 100 times worse when you take the paint off. And dont let an amateur do any bodywork repairs on this area. Parents did and now im going to pay for it as the fiberglass patch has only stopped the rust spreading forwards. Now its still spreading backwards towards the rear light..or downwards towards the bumper. Its very much like tin worm- once its in its in.

Im not sure that sunroofs are related. Ours has a sunroof, last few on ebay ive seen have been a mixture of sunroof and nonsunroof models. Only other mk 1 a xantia around here is also L reg but a 1.8 petrol lx (so no sunroof) and presumably lower mileage and thats rusting there too, though not as bad as ours. But again i could only do visual checks as i dont think it would be appropriate to shove my hand up someone elses car (!)

One other thing to consider is that my xantia has what i thought was a blown brake bulb. It wasnt. Water had rusted away the back of the plate/light cluster thing on the nearside rear. Ive noticed that when water collects in the boot drain channels it has nowhere to go except at the back of the rear light, and presumably down the rear quarter panel too....coincidence :?: if i keep the car im going to put bathroom sealant on it to stop it from happening. Really it should have been proeprly designed like my BX... :lol:

my dad took some photos when the car got stripped and repaired so if i find them then ill put em up.

I have to say whilst its an annoying problem and if citroen had spent a little more money on a plastic guard and not let water from the boot channel drain there i honestly dont think theyd rust here (unless hit by a a van!). On the otherhand my dad owns an Audi Coupe 1991 which must've cost way more than a xanita when new..and its galvanised and still rusts!! Despite what people say one stone chip and you see a gradual rust spot develope and then the galvanised layer seems to keep it in and trap it so then it randomly rusts somewhere else. e.g. leading edge of front wheel arch gets a stone chip and rusts then back of front wing starts to rust by the door...then the edge/corner of undamaged door. I guess what im trying to say is no rust proofing method seems a 100% effective and citroens is still more effective (IMHO) than some more expensive car's. Oh and citroens are easier to weld too than aforementioned galvanised germanic steel.

Phil
Xantia Columnist xantia@CitroenCarClub.org
1984 Citroen BX 16 TRS (winner now with working PAS!!)
1994 Citroen Xantia 1.9 TD SX (mk 1a. Jan 1994 with antisink valve. Restored by chevronics..new rear quarters fitted etc :shock: )

2009 Citroen C3 1.6Hdi 16v 90bhp Exclusive
toyosoft
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Re: Rust on Xantia !!

Post by toyosoft »

On the dutch Xantia club site we have some topic about rust.
Tekst is Dutch, whit a lot of pictures.
http://www.xantiaclub.net/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=12089" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; page 16
Or thisone
http://www.xantiaclub.net/forum/viewtop ... 91#p287691" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; page 52.

Sorry for bad English, i am dutch

Theo
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