Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite

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Fri 10 Mar 2023 14:44
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - GiuliaProtection

Hi all, part of my inner wheel house has been painted with Hammerite (regular, not car-specific).

Before painting, I'm told the car had very, very mild first stages of rust. The car took a hit to its quarter panel. It's a rather recent car (2021).

Would you keep it, or try to scrub it off and cover with epoxy primer + waxoyl or similiar? (I have a shop that can try to get it off chemically, but if not, they'll go the mechanical route)

Pics here:

https://imgur.com/a/zdlMDMp

Thanks!

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Fri 10 Mar 2023 15:00
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - Andrew-T

That looks like a wheel arch (I thought only a boat had a wheel house :-)

Seriously, I would leave well alone unless you simply have to know the condition of what is underneath. Should the arch have a plastic liner ? If yes, fitting one should give all the protection it needs.

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Fri 10 Mar 2023 15:43
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - GiuliaProtection

Sorry, not a native speaker! The wheel arch it is. It does have a liner, it's sort of foamy / plasticky.

Should I not be worried about it rusting underneath?

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Fri 10 Mar 2023 15:59
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - gordonbennet

Most unusual that someone actually bothered to look underneath such a new car, let alone actually take some rust prevention action, so well done the previous owner and you.

Maybe the liner was vibrating or got caught and scraped the wheelarch paint, either way the paint applied won't do any harm, i'd be inlcined to slap some more paint on there, and once dry give it a coat of oily protection be that grease/ACF50/chain lube (not waxoyl) and clip the inner wing back in.

Most people are under the illusion that modern cars don't rust, well they won't appear to if you can't be bothered to get under and have a look, so any sensible regime of regular inspection, regular cleaning after winter salt exposure and taking any necessary action over any rust found can only be to your benefit.

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Fri 10 Mar 2023 16:27
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - veloceman
Wheel arch liners are a known problem easily coming adrift after driving through puddles at speed.
Depends which dealer you go to as to whether they did it under warranty. I guess could well have been driving damaged for a period of time.
More recently they all subject to an official recall to replace all the front liners.
I’m on my third Giulia, the 20plate one had signs of rust where the roof meets the C pillar around the rain channel. My neighbour had a similar problem. Was sorted by the dealer but never happy after that and got shut.
If you looking get at least a 20MY where the infotainment and interior build are far superior.
However I got the bug and have a 22MY Veloce. Far more interesting than my previous 320i.

Edited by veloceman on 10/03/2023 at 16:28

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Fri 10 Mar 2023 17:11
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - bathtub tom

That looks more like smooth underseal than hammerite to me and more likely to be available in a garage.

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Mon 13 Mar 2023 14:30
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - SmithyBilly

Alright mate, first off, how's your overall experience been with the vehicle? As for the rust situation, Hammerite is decent stuff, but if the rust is still in the early stages, it might be worth trying to get it off chemically or mechanically and then covering it with epoxy primer and waxoyl or similar. You don't want the rust to spread and cause bigger problems down the line, especially if it's a relatively new car like yours.

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Tue 14 Mar 2023 01:22
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - edlithgow

Spray it (and, optimally, everything else) with your greasy, oily medicament of choice, and keep an eye on it. Forewarned is fore armed.

I wouldn't overpaint it, since I'd want to know what was going on.

If you havn't (but it sounds like you have) have a good look around and don't fixate on this issue.

Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted.

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Tue 14 Mar 2023 14:33
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - Red Baron
The front wings on a Giulia are made of aluminium I think.
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Wed 15 Mar 2023 05:03
Alfa Romeo Giulia - Part of inner wheelhouse painted with Hammerite - edlithgow
The front wings on a Giulia are made of aluminium I think.

Ah...well, reconnaissance with a magnet would tell you that.

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