Why are e30's so prone to rot?

[ross_jsy]

Always just assumed it was an age related thing, but I have been looking at mk 2 golf GTi's the past couple of weeks and even the most ropey examples had barely any tin worm compared to a lot of e30's.

Is the e30's rust protection sub par or have I just been lucky with the mk2's I have seen

[Grrrmachine]

I'd say you've been terribly lucky. Golf's achieved cult status a long time before E30's did, so a lot more of them have been preserved and looked after.

But equally, they were such a plentiful and cheap car in the Eighties that you would see them with the arches hanging off after only a few years, so they certainly weren't made of superior steel or anything.

[Sjoerd320i]

Golf mk 2's had rustprotection iirc.

Mine had a litle ding on the bonnet with the paint chipped of but it didn't rust.

[maggspower]

Its a shame that e30s have some real bad rust traps, the ones that I think are the worst are the lower front wings, rear towing eye, the factory body mounts under the accelerator and pasenger side. These rarely escape the tin worm. Of course all it takes is a clean to get rid of the mud that collects there, and for an eye to be kept on it to nip any thing in the bud.

They are now all at least 20 years old are are bound to of been though someones hands that hasn't a clue.

The VW do seem to fair better than BMWs, I have a mk1 GTI in the work shop at the minute and have put in a small rear arch repair, and the corner of one door, apart from that it is totaly solid. I have seen some bad ones though. And as above more enthusiasts earlier.

It all about how they have been looked after. All new cars are E-coated where the shell is dipped in electricly charged sealer so it gets everywhere and sticks, a bit like how the first part of powder coating works. There is a company that does it in the midlands about £2000 to get it done.

[A18RPF]

My mark 2 golf is a hell of a lot rustier than my e30 I have to say. The BMW has a couple of minor ginger bits coming through, whereas the golf has rot on practically every panel and a huge hole in the boot I had to weld up, in spite of the boot being dry as opposed to the damp one in the e30. I think there are a lot of factors that play a part in how well a car survives, with factory rust proofing being only one of them

[DanThe]

I wouldnt say rust traps, but water traps more to the point, if water/damp gets into a body seam then its pretty much destined to rot, eg wheel arch seam where two sheets of steel are welded together.
Even a seam where an item of trim is attached ie a side repeater or rear numberplate lamp, door moulding etc etc can start to rust if water gets trapped in there, has to be a very high standard of painted edges otherwise.

Best way to prevent it is to stop the damp getting in to start with, which is where BMW failed

[polsta]

are they that prone to rot ?? none more so than any other 80s car and in fact probably better, every older car will rust and rot, how many astras and cavaliers etc of same age are still around en masse

look at the weather and rain etc we have,a car driving in that for 20/25 years...is it that bad that rear arches and lower front wings are rusting after all that time ? , its not that bad really when you look at it, and like above..the biggest factor is how each car has been looked after and what its been exposed too

[nickso]

My cousin runs MK2 golfs and they fair no better up here. Some of his have had horrific rot, and so have some of my e30's. As other have said it's all down to where it's from and who owned it.

Lets not forget there are far more golfs and e30's still going compared to similar era Ford and Vauxhall stuff.

[fuzzy]

i wouldnt say theyre any worse than any other car of the same age.

[ross_jsy]

I must have been lucky with the golfs then, not of them had more than a scab at most

Think I have picked one though, 1.8t bored to 2 litre with 320 hp

[HairyScreech]

just a bit of flavor to the thread, i have had a bit of flaked paint on a bent front wing for over 4 years, not bothered to do anything about it as they are destined to be replaced anyway, 4 years down the line and no rust.

The e30 is actually pretty good compared to some stuff.

[harry_p]

Didn't the Golf have an issue with drainage on the rear hatch? you could always tell by the two black lines through the number plate.

no, they had issues with not enough rustproofing in the hatch, so people fill the insides with waxoil which melts and leaks out of the drain holes in the corners on hot days.

they also suffer from stupid people driling random holes and screwing the plates on with self tappers encouraging rust to start behind the plate and water to get inside the boot.

vw like bmw put nice little plastic inserts for the plate screws to go into, but noone seems to use them

on the whole, i don't think e30s are that bad compared to a lot of other stuff from the same era. i still see a heck of a lot of normal, well used e30s (as opposed to really tidy enthusiast owned cars ) than pretty much everything else, apart from maybe mk2 golfs, than anything else from the 80s.

how often do you see mk3 / 4 escorts, mk2 astras, cavaliers sierras etc? maybe the odd one now and then but certainly not as often as e30s

[Speedtouch]

All new cars are E-coated where the shell is dipped in electricly charged sealer so it gets everywhere and sticks, a bit like how the first part of powder coating works. There is a company that does it in the midlands about £2000 to get it done.

Judging by the way alot of new cars, even premium brands such as Mercedes and BMW rot, I'm not convinced by modern rustproofing methods, although the thin-ness of modern panels probably has lot to do with it.

[Andyboy]

Only the French manufacturers could build cars that resist rust properly. Stuff like Renault 21's, Pug 405's etc had very good bodies. A Mark 1 Laguna is as durable as the pyramids compared to an E36.
BMW's have never been anything special bodywise - even some Italian stuff from the 80's was better. It's a combination of very poor body design and on some cars, sub standard steel. The early E30's could rust like a bastard - I can recall Y/A plate ones being very rough when they were 7-8 years old.

[Kedge]

just a bit of flavor to the thread, i have had a bit of flaked paint on a bent front wing for over 4 years, not bothered to do anything about it as they are destined to be replaced anyway, 4 years down the line and no rust.

I had a dented wing on my iS that went through a whole winter with bare metal and never showed any kind of surface rust at all, yet the 323i I've just stripped rusted up straight away one any metal was left exposed..........we sure iS' weren't galvanized

[Speedtouch]

I've recently been working on a 2006 VW Passat, and when you remove the front wing splash guard, there's a huge block of foam sound-proofing rubber stuck up against the whole length of the back of the front wing. The one I removed was sodden with water - great rust trap!

[HairyScreech]

just a bit of flavor to the thread, i have had a bit of flaked paint on a bent front wing for over 4 years, not bothered to do anything about it as they are destined to be replaced anyway, 4 years down the line and no rust.

I had a dented wing on my iS that went through a whole winter with bare metal and never showed any kind of surface rust at all, yet the 323i I've just stripped rusted up straight away one any metal was left exposed..........we sure iS' weren't galvanized

They most likely were, as were cabs and tourings, but galv only goes so far and its not really anything special.

[aimlessrock]

My neighbour has a 02 E43 that is is daily, and its just a rust trap. The body on my E30 (pre resto) was in better nick than his..

Driving home in my 190 tonight and some guy an in a Rover 75 complimented the car at the lights!...how many modern daily's get that sort of treatment?

[Green]

I think 80's ford's have it a hell of a lot worse.. hell even in the 2000's some are already rotting.