i know what you mean mine is starting to bubble in exactly the same place so im not really looking forward to uncovering the rot and seeing what lies beneath! coming off the road in shortly when the tax is up to assess what needs doing so im just enjoying driving it at the moment thanks for the photos and info will be really usefull when i come to sorting mine!

Old thread i know, in most cases is this arch rust structural or just the outer body skin? Mine has a few small bubbles on the very edge, just wondering if it will affect it's MOT because it will need one soon.

:thumb:

I presume this went no where

Now sold so didn't get round to doing anything with the arches but like the previous posts state the rust usually attacks from the inside it turned out the rear end of the sills on mine were really bad but you couldn't tell until you take the plastics off which is why I sold it in hindsight I wish I had kept it and persevered with cutting out the rust as it was a lovely car to drive but at the time it was the rust problem that did it for me don't see many kicking about now mine was a 2000 wagon 280bhp .......just reminiscing haha good luck with yours!
Cheers paul

Both my arches have gone and also the windscreen pillars on both sides.
Thought i would try to repair them myself.
Its gone not too bad but the paint stroking and blending is quite hard from an aerosol. I also have to laquer the areas as well.
So wish me luck !

Brave man....!

My advice for painting would be to buy a 2 part paint in cans. Lots of sellers will sell you a can of basecoat and a separate can of lacquer. With this you can better spray sections in and blend it into your existing paintwork. Apply lots of coats over the bare area and then allow some slight over-spray onto the original paint around this area very lightly. Once dry, paint with lacquer and t-cut to finish.


I've achieved bodyshop quality repairs myself doing this.

Hi a dont know if this will help anyone or not but i have a set of replacement arches for a impreza turbo 2000 classic had an idea to fit these on but thinking now of getting some flare fenders instead like i say if anyone is interested in these let me know thanks, my email address is bigcalv84@gmail.com and i live in Carlisle cheers

Thought I would check my rear arches on my classic shape after reading a few very good articles on here.

I thought I would escape as my car is low mileage and has not done many miles on uk roads but I have not been so lucky. My inner arch is showing corrosion but as of yet my outer skin looks perfect. I take it to do a proper repair on them the outer metal will still need to be cut through to get to what lies beneath?