Easy fix?

[madfish]

I am considering getting this MR2 turbo ive got my eye on (amongst a few other cars) and the current owner has kindly sent me a pic of his sills...





Not having owned an MR2 before is this bad? Am I looking at a large bill here?

Any tips appreciated

Thanks,
Mark

[fingers99]

That pic really doesn't tell you much. Look behind and further up the wing. See if it'll support the jack at the jacking points, pull the foam by the seat belt mount, peer down.

As is, if that's all the rust damage, looks as though it could simply be sanded out, treated and re-painted, but it's a bit like seeing a partial picture of a carrot that's starting to go mouldy at the sharp end.

Some stuff here, but a search here and MR2OC will throw up plenty more.

[madfish]

Ok, cheers for that...

This car is at the opposite end of the country so not in a position to take a view but ill pass this info onto the seller and see if he can provide extra photos etc including one with the car jacked up...

its been in this country for the past 12 years so im kind of expecting the worst...

[fingers99]

Mind you, mine has been in this country for 24 years. Sooner or later I'll get round to the sills, but it looks pretty much like that car in that place!

[thomp1983]

where is it maybe someone local could have a quick look

[Ryan S]

from that photo alone they look fine, mine were way worse than that and it wasn't structural. i'd take the advice offered though, see if you can get somebody to look at it, where is it out of interest?

[MartinF]

Mine are in a similar condition and no worse rust. Easy to treat from behind and at least slow things down considerably.

[madfish]

The car is in Essex...

if someone could take a peek that would be great

[JD]

It seems in the last few years there's been a wave of panic over the sills on SW20s, with some finding rot inside and being quoted well over the odds by body shops to sort it out. All it generally takes is a look inside, using a little USB endoscope camera if you like to see how bad it is. Bubbling on the outer skin doesn't necessarily mean that there is anything more than surface rust on the inner sill, but it's always better to catch it early and of course get rid of the foam. Once it's done there are some effective rust prevention treatments you can use as well like Dinitrol or Dynax S50. Prevention is better than the cure. You will also tend to find this problem more on the T-Bar models because of the way water drains inside.

[Ryan S]

It seems in the last few years there's been a wave of panic over the sills on SW20s, with some finding rot inside and being quoted well over the odds by body shops to sort it out. All it generally takes is a look inside, using a little USB endoscope camera if you like to see how bad it is. Bubbling on the outer skin doesn't necessarily mean that there is anything more than surface rust on the inner sill, but it's always better to catch it early and of course get rid of the foam. Once it's done there are some effective rust prevention treatments you can use as well like Dinitrol or Dynax S50. Prevention is better than the cure. You will also tend to find this problem more on the T-Bar models because of the way water drains inside.

i see this on here too, total panic!! Mine looked really really bad, muuuch worse than in the photo here, but it was just surface rust.

[snooplotty]

Doing the sills on mine didn't scare me one bit even when it was my first go!
Repairing them was a lot easier than I thought