C5 -- likely rot box ?

[onthecut]

IN the course of fitting a new tow bar to my 05 facelift estate, I have been staggered by the paucity of underbody protection around the back end of the car.

Other than the paint finish, there appears to be no extra protection behind the rear arch liners and on mine, where the liner has presumably been rubbing, there were two well developed rust spots that would be holes inside 12 months, if left untreated.Surface rust also forming in spots near the Eolys top up pipe, even though shielded by the liner.

I've seen countless discussions about rust / galvanized panels etc concerning the XM and quite a reasonable few about Xantia sills, arches and door posts, but nothing about the C5. Having had a few Xantiae and quite a few XMs, I would say both were incomparably better underbody proiected than this C5 I've acquired.
The one area that is a noticeable design improvement is the bottom of the A posts, behind the mud shield. There is no scope for a build up of wet mud, as its pretty much open to the ground -- a definite plus.

I really am finding it a curate's egg of a car --- some genuine and thoughtful improvements over the Xantia and XM, offset by some less than top notch interior fittings and plastics, pus a high potential for corrosion, I suspect.

Mike.

[Northern_Mike]

I've heard of loads of Xantias but no C5 being scrapped due to rot

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[CitroJim]

It's a good point as I've never heard of any C5 with rot problems.

Mind you, until relatively recently that was the case with Xantias barring strut tops of course.

It would be very interesting to go over a very early well used C5 that had been living in Scotland or Northern England to see how they're doing in the rust department...

That'll give us a very good idea.

[Northern_Mike]

There's none on this 02 plate one I have, and that's been up in Hartlepool for years and has 166,000 miles on it. There was none on the last one I had either, similar age, similar miles, nor the 03 plate my brother has that has about 125k on it now.

[myglaren]

None detected on mine, originally from Buxton, >196,000.
Parked next to a much newer Ford last week that had very crusty wings and sills.

[daviemck2006]

I have yet to see a rusty c5. Including the one I have seen in a scrappy. It was Y reg and a bit bent.

[Peter.N.]

I have had two, both 01 'Y' reg, no sign of rust on either of them.

Peter

[CitroJim]

That's excellent news all round Bodes very well for the future....

[onthecut]

Oh goody --- perhaps I have a Friday afternoon job !

I haven't seen any displaying externally visible rust; the rust points I found on mine were all in normally hidden areas. I am also curious about the finish on the front subframe. It's not the usual crappo thin black paint. At first glance, I actually thought the subframe was made of ally, but as it's magnetic that rules that out. Perhaps they have used a zinc rich paint ? Anyone else noticed ?

Mike.

[THELABMAN]

The C5 is going to the scrappy because of stupid electrical failures that cost more to sort than the cars worth.......