Rusting Puma
 

I'm looking for some advice and suggestions as to what to do with our Ford Puma. In true Ford fashion it is rusting to pieces at the arches and we are now in a position where we want to get rid of it.

Mechanically the car is sound and with a little investment it passed it's MOT last week. It has front disks and pads that are hardly run in and would make a great little (and fun) runaround for someone. I can obviously tidy up the bodywork with a good wash/clay/polish and detail the interior. However, the rust is surely just killing the value! It's a 2001/Y with 72,000 miles and we need to get rid of it as it is basically unused.

I just don't know what to do about the rust and I fear it will be virtually unsellable as is (despite the rust being cosmetic only). To what degree is it killing the value compared to an identical car that was rust free? Is there anything I can do on the cheap to repair or cover it? Is this something I might be able to successfully remedy myself (i.e. sand it, use filler, paint, wet sand, polish, etc) or am I likely to make a cod's piece of it? Any suggestions welcome.

Pics below:

Rear Arch

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Other Rear Arch

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Bubbling Rust on Front Arch

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Door Sill

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Car Overall

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No idea how to treat your rust but damn thats atrocious. I sold an X reg '00 astra last year 84k miles and bodywork was immaculate.

Simon

I don't think you'll have much trouble selling it as is as most Fiestas,Kas,Pumas of that era are pretty similar they have got some serious water traps in the arch liners and in the fuel filler cap.If the car is a 2001 Y it might be worth talking to Ford and seeing if their 10 year corrosion warranty applies

ive done loads of theses through my workshop and they all go like this,only thing is to grind back then sand blast,cure rust it and then fill to smooth and prime and paint,on completion of work pile the wax/waste oil in the back side of the sills and arches and you'll see 3/4 years of rust free paint then it will come back as ford don't use very good metal im afraid.

didnt in 1986 and 1987 :D

like the german fiesta shell in comparison with italian,can't believe it could be so different for rust:eek:

the steel they used as with bleyland was sat on the docks for ages and it was rusty

crazy i know,they use steel with rust in it before its even built:eek::nono:

thats why they rotted away so quickly im after a 1987 xr2 in white mint condition as this was the car me and the missus had when we met up mine was a new one looking at paying 3k for a good one

ohhh you old softy lol,thats the only years that will still be original mint condition though

Is the steel they use for fords the same ****e today then ? ???

yep i am :D

Pity thats so rusty, and otherwise its a smart looking little car!

I guess its expected that a near 10 year old Ford will be rusty. What's surprising is how Merc's of a similar age are usually in a worse state rust-wise!

A bit of sandpaper, some filler, primer and paint to finish and you'll improve things for a year or so. I doubt the value of the car is enough to warrant paying a garage to do it properly.

How hard a job is it to do myself and get the paintwork blended in well. I wouldn't want to take such a project on if there is a high probability that it would end up looking worse (i.e. botched repair look)

I've had a crack at it before and it did look a little botched. You could look at doing all the prep yourself and getting a pro just to throw some paint at it???

Is it likely to be worth it though? To what degree is a problem like this going to be killing the value or sellability of the car? I personally wouldn't buy a car with rust....but then I am quite particular about bodywork and appearing (placing it as almost as important as mechanical condition).

Suppose this car was sellable at £2k with clean bodywork, what would it be worth in this condition? What should I expect to get for it?

Tough question. My personal thought that it's probably not worth the cost to repair. Like you - i would avoid a car with rust but i'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would look at the bigger picture. It's low milage, has an mot and has a few new bits - so it ticks many boxes. My vote is to tidy up as much as possible and put it out there :thumb:

Presuming it's the 1.7 version you would be best putting it into auction (BCA best bet) as these are going for more the book price at the minute even with rust. You should get £800/900 for it.

If you did the work on it you should get around £1800.

I'd throw it in the auction for a quick sale if i were you, you will likely get more than what you would off eBay aswell as auction prices are crazy at the moment

Wont look right if you do it yourself, being a Metallic finish with no easy line to spray up to its probably a bit much for an amateur, shame these are so prone to rust as they are a lovely little thing, even if you bite the bullet it will probably come back, are you sure there is nothing hidded underneath as well ?

Not looked, but it passed its MOT and that is good enough for me. I suspected that things would pan out this way, i.e. too expensive to fix properly, too difficult to do a good job myself.

I guess I will have to clean it up as good as I possibly can and put it on the market.

do you live near the coast -- or where they shower the road with salt every week

I'll give u 50quid for it

You could keep it, cut the crap out and fit something like this over the top :)

http://www.pumaspeed.co.uk/showdetai...?productID=267

Depends on how handy you are with the tools.

I have a year 2000 fiesta zetec in silver with much more rust on the arches and sills -seems to have rotted all the way through - but most mkIV facelift Fiestas seem as bad. Silver is the worst colour as the orange rust stands out so much. Pretty poor for 21st century cars to rust like this and I would be gutted if I had had one from new. Got mine cheap as chips but it looks like I am going to have to scrap it due to MOT fail and not worth the fix. Great engine though.

Possibly a bit late for mine, but what is the cost involved?

Just had a quote from a local place full of dodgy Polish guys. They did some work on my mondeo (low down and out of sight) to a reasonable standard (although not perfect).

Basically they will sand, fill and paint over the rust (i.e. hide it) for £150 cash. It won't be the best paint job ever but I'm kind of thinking for £150 it is probably going to be better than trying to sell it as it is.

Any thoughts?

Worth a try

Kenny

Personally, I'd rather buy an "honest" car where I could see all the flaws before someone had tarted them up, than a car which looked prettier on the surface but could be hiding a lot of problems.

If it was me I'd sell it as is - especially as people on the look out for a Puma are likely to be more knowledgeable than the norm.

We nearly bought a racing Puma, but walked because it had seen paint and the vendor (a Honda garage) firstly denied it had had any work done, and then when shown the overspray couldn't explain why. Might have been stonechips, but may well have been much worse (FRPs were bad for rust where the extra panels were atached to the rear wings)

I have to say that I am impressed with the repair job. Yes, it won't last like a full repair would but such a repair would never be economical on a car of this age and value. Having given the car a thorough clean, clay and polish it is looking much fresher than before and I almost have 2nd thoughts about selling it.

Anyway, I didn't take close ups of the arches, but these are some of the pictures I have taken for the sale adds. If you zoom in you should see that the rust is completely gone from the rear arches and sills.

As for DD's comments regards honesty - you are totally correct. However, I'd never try to pull the wool over anyones eyes and anybody asking why the car has had paint will be told why. In fact, this thread can ironically serve as a dated documentation of the work with before and after pics. I hope anyone wanting to buy the car would agree that it looks all the better for the repair and that it was worthwhile.

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looks great mate:thumb: