dunno if im being silly or not im sure some one will say. but my brother said the scoob has aluminium panels so wont rust, just wondered as i have a few stone chips

 

rubbish. they do rust! their not 100% aluminium unfortunatly mate

 

There's so much rubbish talked about aluminium panels on Classic Imprezas. The only panel that isnt made out of very thin steel, is the bonnet and not all cars even had that. What the panels are made of is of little consequesnce anyway; structural rust is what you need to worry about.

 

mines is a 2004 but yeah i get the jist of it kinda like the engine rebuild after 50 k story

 

Probably the worst visable and most common place to get rust is the rear quarter panels at the wheel arches.
Front wings can also rust, but these can be replaced cheaply.

David

 

stone chips on the bonnet rust, but not much (MY98) no other rust elsewhere

 

my roof is away(my99 ukturbo)
started the size of a penny and spread like fire after only a few weeks
rusting along the edges next to the trims on the front and rear
in the shop to get sorted next week

 

Prime rust locations on the GC8 are under the front radiator and associated support bracket (as well as the bottom section of the radiator itself), and tailgate floor, usually round the backbox area and inner bumper mountings.

Other areas are mainly the actual suspension compenets themselves, Anti roll bars and front lower arms get a good dose of the tin worm, but I haven't seen any that have got to the point that need replacing (yet).

Jacking points on the sills and box sections can also rust if a retarded monkey has been previously working on the car.

If you have a car that isn't undersealed then expect to see more rust on the underneath.

 

to be fair most scoobys are pretty good in the rust department,possibly imports may have a underseal issues..

 

My L reg UK impreza with 60,000 was suffering rust on internal structural areas

Front Panels are also prone to rot,

As is anywhere poor bodywork repairs / welding has been done..

David

 

yep import my93, rust on n/s wheel arch and is just starting to bubble up on o/s to... pants thing is ive been told the whole sides of the car have to be sprayed to get a decent colour match (silver)

 

leading edge of my bonnet has a bit due to stone chips I've not touched up yet. Intend to do it before the winter hits!

 

mine was fine, when i bought it , white my97 import, had everything waxoiled, then i had the back of the car painted red, still fine, i always clean behind the rear arch lips when washing, thought it was all purdy

until it was all painted white again, i checked the rear arch lips before painting, they were all still smooth, no bubbles anywhere, painted them white, within 2 weeks i had little orange spots

the arch lips had 2 little chips on the leading edge you couldn't see from the outside, i sanded the lips back to bare metal, and found quite a bit of rust starting, not even enough to bubble the paint, but it was starting to spread, as much as i could get, back down to bare metal and then the whole lot covered with KURUST treatment.

then painted again with the spraygun fan set quite narrow and painted them from the inside of the arch to cover the leading edge/lip properly

they have been fine for a few months since, no orange marks, and it has been raining plenty.

apart from that, the car is rust free

next year i am painting the car again, and if the rear arches have started to rust again, i will cut them out and fit a 22b kit