Oh dear, wheelarch rust

[Dude]

Just found some rust bubbling up on the front offside wheelarch, 10 o'clock. Very very disappointed. XC60 D5, 59 plate, 70,000 miles. Not what I expect from any Volvo even if 9 years old. Not as bad, but just starting on nearside too, same position, 2 o'clock on n/s. Clearly a design fault, probably improperly sealed or perhaps a poor panel shape or join, coming out from underneath the wheelarch guard. Always been dealer serviced. Owned from new.

Anyone else seen similar?

[DT19]

My S60 isn't 6 years old yet and it has surface rust on some exposed areas in the engine bay. It previously lived in Aberdeen, maybe all that sea air isn't good after all

[GMcL]

The 2011-18 S60 isn't the best for presentation. I previously had an 05 model year car which still had a clean engine bay when I sold it at 9 years old approaching 100k miles.

My 2011 year car looks like it's been through a few ditches when I lift the bonnet, the cross member under the radiator looks like it was welded by a group of 16 year old trainees.

[DT19]

Ah yes, that weld, mine has it aswell. You'd think they could have made it without leaving that showing, I wonder why it's there.

[Dude]

UPDATE

Well, after a long drawn out battle with Volvo (most of 2019 to date), we came to an arrangement and got the front wings replaced. Won't go into the details, suffice to say we won't be buying a Volvo/from that dealer again. The saga involved an alleged mouse attack. No, seriously. The corrosion will have started on the surface (at the very edge of the wing), so the anti-perforation warranty is of no value, according to one expert (outside of the dealer's).

Which however then posed the question what about the rears - which are a lot harder to replace? As if by magic I then spotted another car (exactly the same age and same colour as it happened) with a lot worse corrosion, including corrosion of the rear wheel arches. We quickly ran our car in to an approved body shop who have just reported that corrosion has indeed started at the rear, though fortunately it's early enough to stop it and stop it progressing - we want to keep the car a fair few years yet. So that's another chunk of money, which I rationalise by the new-car-would-be-more-expensive argument.

So, if you have one of these, or similar, get the wheel arch liners taken off, early, and inspect the edge of the wing lip, and take action as appropriate.

Whilst this is not an unusual problem with even modern cars, I do not expect it from a Volvo. How long has the industry been making cars, for Pete's sake? It's also why I bought an XC70 with full wing-edge protection.

Photos attached, of ours and the other one I saw.

[CC42]

That's disappointing to see will have to keep a close eye on mine, only 4 years old though so hopefully I won't be in for any unpleasant surprises yet.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Dude

UPDATE

Well, after a long drawn out battle with Volvo (most of 2019 to date), we came to an arrangement and got the front wings replaced. Won't go into the details, suffice to say we won't be buying a Volvo/from that dealer again. The saga involved an alleged mouse attack. No, seriously. The corrosion will have started on the surface (at the very edge of the wing), so the anti-perforation warranty is of no value, according to one expert (outside of the dealer's).

Which however then posed the question what about the rears - which are a lot harder to replace? As if by magic I then spotted another car (exactly the same age and same colour as it happened) with a lot worse corrosion, including corrosion of the rear wheel arches. We quickly ran our car in to an approved body shop who have just reported that corrosion has indeed started at the rear, though fortunately it's early enough to stop it and stop it progressing - we want to keep the car a fair few years yet. So that's another chunk of money, which I rationalise by the new-car-would-be-more-expensive argument.

So, if you have one of these, or similar, get the wheel arch liners taken off, early, and inspect the edge of the wing lip, and take action as appropriate.

Whilst this is not an unusual problem with even modern cars, I do not expect it from a Volvo. How long has the industry been making cars, for Pete's sake? It's also why I bought an XC70 with full wing-edge protection.

Photos attached, of ours and the other one I saw.

That is absolutely shocking , despite seeing dozens every day i have never ever seen this before or heard of anyone having this problem .. One thought are you 100% sure that the car has not been repaired with substandard parts ? It could have been repaired before you bought it or before it was delivered to keep costs down Volvo wings should be zinc plated and be embossed with VOLVO on the top .... Worth considering .. and also worth taking to volvos Technical Centre for their opinion ...

Take the arch liner off and see what kind of finish is on the back hidden from view

[nigellittleton]

I have same problem front wheel arches rusting in same spot. Volvo said today that it must of had a repair so not 13 warranty. Car never had a crash. Has anyone else had this problem? Cheers. Nigel.

[RDesign4Life]

Originally Posted by nigellittleton

I have same problem front wheel arches rusting in same spot. Volvo said today that it must of had a repair so not 13 warranty. Car never had a crash. Has anyone else had this problem? Cheers. Nigel.

Most XC60s I looked at when I was buying (10 out of 12) had these front wing issues at 10 o'clock drivers side and 2 o'clock passenger side to some degree. Looks like the plastic liner rubs against the lip of the panel at that location and wears the paint and primer down to bare metal over time then corrosion can start. Clearly a design manufacture or assembly fault by Volvo. Seen too many with identical rubbing or corrosion in identical positions for this to be anything else.

Also when you take the liner off you may find a bunch of wet sludge retained at the bottom where the wing meets the sill. Again just crap design with no basic common sense applied to allow effective drainage.

Perhaps the advancement of the corrosion on a given car is a function of mileage and whether garaged or not.

If you have an XC60 ease the plastic liner away from the wing at this position and I bet you'll see at least evidence of rubbing if not some rust.

[Dude]

I personally think all this is akin to the well-known phase Mercedes went through when the accountants were specifying the rust protection.

I've seen several XC60s locally with exactly the same problem, a 12 plate a neighbour has, some while back another the same age as my wife's, plus others. It's clearly a weak point on the mk 1 XC60. I've not yet seen it on other P3 cars, but haven't particularly been looking hard. And I've also seen older P2 cars last a whole lot longer before any rust starts, so they must have been (/were known to be) better built.

It's partly a problem of design, the plastic under-arch guards don't reach the edge of the wing, leaving a small gap of unprotected paint subject to the mercies of sand blasting by road grit, plus allowing water ingress to find any weak spot in the coatings. Then there is insufficient base metal protection beneath the now-universal water-based paints.

Many cars have this feature which is down to aesthetics and styling vs. the needs of rust prevention. Non-body-coloured plastic wheelarch guards are unsightly and style these days oftem supersedes function.

I repeat my original position that one should be able to expect better quality from Volvo. For such a known rust risk area, since cars grew wings a century ago, it should not be down to the owner to spot this happening early enough to get it rectified. It is also not entirely corrosion from outside, or maybe even any external corrosion at all? I have had sufficient older cars in my 50 years of motoring to know when a rust bubble is coming from underneath, and my wife's car was exactly that. I'm sure Volvo know it's a problem and that's why they try to duck responsibilty. Mercs when they started having this problem were inspected at each service (provided it was at a franchised garage) and if the dreaded rot had started they were pulled in by the dealers and corrected. I had an old P-reg E320 that went through this.

I note that more and more cars now are using body-coloured plastic arch protection.