Ford Focus II (2004 - 2007) - 05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix'

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Tue 23 Sep 2008 12:20
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - digiblue
Hi All,

I noticed some rust at the back of the front wheel arches on the focus estate I have just bought. From the car-by-car breakdown it appears a this is a common fault:

"Rust appears on the back of the front wheel arches. The underseal in this
area is inadequate and Ford has introduced a fix which involves a small strip of plastic that runs the length of the under sill and front wheel arch."

I have seen later focus IIs with a plastic strip running along the sill and I enquired at my local ford parts centre if these or similar were available for my car. They could not find the parts for my car, but did have the parts for later focus IIs, although they said I would need square holes in the sills to fix these on. part details are: wheel arch protector: 1440535 (RHS) 1440536 (LHS). plastic that runs sill length: 1380593 (RHS) 1380594 (LHS)

My questions: Has anyone retrofitted these parts or similar, or is there an actual fix available for my car?

I can't see ford requiring you to make square holes to install a post manufacture fix.

thank you
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Wed 24 Sep 2008 15:16
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - gandaulf
ford should sort this as your car is still under manufactors paint warrenty
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Wed 1 Oct 2008 14:24
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - digiblue
Thanks for this gandaulf, the paint warranty of ford focuses is only for the first year, after that, the bodywork is covered by the 12 year anti perforation warranty. There appear to be quite a lot of exclusions on this 12 year warranty as well - the rust has to come from beneath the paint rather than on the surface etc.

Even so, I'll probably write to ford quoting the sale of goods act 'fit for purpose' requirements. I'll have to demonstrate that the car had an inherent fault at manufacture that caused the problem. Maybe HJ's focus II page which describes the wheel arch fix and the fact that later focus IIs came with the fix as standard will persuade ford to act?

Edited by digiblue on 01/10/2008 at 14:25

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Wed 1 Oct 2008 15:23
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - Robin the Technician
Absolutely no point in quoting the Sale of Goods Act. This is a contract between you 'The Purchaser' and the seller 'The person you bought the car from'. It is this person you have redress against. Ford did not sell you the car - a Dealer/Independent/ private person did. The fact that the vehicle is 3 years old also kills the arguement that its 'fit for purpose'.
By all means write to Ford pointing out the problem and noting the mods they've done to overcome the problem. They 'may' offer a contribution - but as a second owner purchased well outside the warranty period they are well within their rights to advise you to seek your repair costs from the seller. Did the recent seller offer you any warranty? If it was a private sale you 'may' be able to get your money back if the vehicle was advertised as 'immaculate' when clearly its not.

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Thu 2 Oct 2008 14:03
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - digiblue
Thanks for pointing this out Robin. I'll still write to Ford with what you suggest.

I bought the car used from a trader, with a one month warranty, which still has a short time remaining, so i'll contact them and see what they say.

The rust is still very minor and on the surface - obviously where the paint is exposed to crud thrown from the wheels. I think it'd be easy to fix at this point and I don't mind footing the cost for this. My concern is that because there is no protection in this area, the rust will quickly re-occur, so I'm looking for the fix to be provided by Ford.

I still feel strongly that a car that is only three years old which has been well maintained and had full and regular ford dealer service should not be rusty after three years - i.e. it is not fit for purpose, but understand that in this situation I can't take this argument as I bought it used.
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Mon 6 Oct 2008 21:54
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - TurboD
Not related to Focus problem, but I had an Escort that rusted from inside rear wing, which I found at 5.5 years old. The Ford dealer replaced the rear quarter of the car- at considerable cost - under the then 6 year guarantee. I would be back to a Ford dealer if it is 'proper' rust= perforation- otherwise you may get a brush off.
I have another 9 years to watch for on my Mondeo, and I will.
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Tue 14 Oct 2008 17:46
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - digiblue
Thanks TurboD, unfortunately the rust is not at the 'proper' stage. It's surface rust, caused by the lack of paintwork protection at the vulnerable point where the front wheel arch meets the sill and dirt and stones are thrown up from the wheels. Looking at other cars, most have some kind of protective strip or coating from this point all the way to the back of the car along the sill. Ford must have omitted this and then realised it was a bad idea when people were complaing of rust after a short time. The later focus IIs have a plastic strip covering these points.

When I get chance I'll write a letter to Ford and see what they say. If they won't help I'll just fix the rust myself and try and retrofit the strips. If it comes to this I'm hoping that no or only minor mods will be required to fit them, I can't see that Ford would have wanted to make any significant changes to their manufacture processes at the middle of a model's life.
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Tue 21 Oct 2008 01:39
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - mikev
You could fit mudflaps. The Ford accessory flaps cover the wheel arch area affected
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Tue 21 Oct 2008 22:10
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - digiblue
Thanks mikev, I'll have a think about doing this. Do you know if the ford flaps' edges (that cover the fold on the wheel arch) go under the wheel arch liner to keep the dirt out of the sill?
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Thu 23 Oct 2008 02:17
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - mikev
The flaps are moulded and fit over the wheel arch liner using one of the liner fixing screws together with plastic clips/brackets. It's difficult to describe without seeing it.
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Mon 18 Apr 2011 17:19
05 1.6tdci front wheel arch rust 'fix' - flipcat68

Hi all, i too was very disappointed to be rubbing rust off my 5 year old focus after having two sierras that were adequately protected in that area years ago.

I rubbed surface rust off with wire brush and wet or dry paper then applied hammerite anti rust primer then hammerite stone chip protect. I then bought ford mud flaps which fit very well but unfortunately tend to hold a mass of wet debris on the metal wheel arch lip almost out of sight, allowing it to corrode the metal again!

Left them on all winter and removed the other day so as to hose out the debris with water, and sure enough the rust has started to appear again!

I think this is bad cost cutting by ford and has put me off buying another.

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