Sill Stone Chips / Corrosion!?!?

[Craig]

Just wondered if anyone has ever come across any sill corrosion like pictured below?

As most who know me know I’m a bit of a perfectionist so finding a car that suits me is often hard work; however I’ve found a car that, to me, is perfect the only defects I can pick up on are some minor stone chipping which has lead to light corrosion.

Now the pictures are taken on a dirty car, all the marks you see is a combination of road silt, dust, tar and then some stone chips.





The car is on 69,000 miles and of course has run Michelin Pilot Cup’s all its life so the sticky rubber won’t have helped protect the side skirts and sills from stone damage! The car has been owned by the last owner for 7 years, I also know the owner and know the car has not had any bodywork in this area during his time of ownership.

What are people’s thoughts? I presume the damage is easily repairable by a body shop... any ideas on a rough cost of repair by a quality repairer?

[sailorbaz]

It's like everything Craig, if it's done right it shouldn't pose a problem. Only thing is, you'd have to get the whole bottom edge of the car done I would feel, as I imagine the rear 1/4 panel is similar is it? At least it will look pukka when done though, ;-)

Is this you trying to get back into a CSL now is it? Top man

[mattCSLnut]

Hi Craig.
This is a common E46 rust spot (not just the M3/CSL) It starts as a stone chipped paint and develops to what you have and sometimes worst, if left untreated. Since you're a perfectionist I'd remove the front wheels + the inner wheel arch liners and inspect the whole area to make sure the corrosion hasn't spread deeper in then what you see.

Out of the 4 E46s I've owned (including the CSL) 2 had some degree of this (but none as rusty as what you've shown in the pix) Fortunately for me both were caught early enough to only require a localised paint touch up repair to stop it developing into a rusty spot.

To fix this properly you may have to have the front wings and the plastic lower sill covers removed which is time consuming so will add to you final bill.

BTW, you've kept your return to CSL ownership very quiet ? What's the future hold for the RED beast ?

[Craig]

I was planning removal of the wings and side skirts to do the repair properly anyway, I'd more than likely remove them myself before transporting the car to a paint shop.

I'm in two mind at the moment I love the red e36 so really dont want to get another CSL and not use it, but I'm finding it hard to pass up on the offer of this CSL!!!

[mattCSLnut]

Originally Posted by Craig

I was planning removal of the wings and side skirts to do the repair properly anyway, I'd more than likely remove them myself before transporting the car to a paint shop.

I'm in two mind at the moment I love the red e36 so really dont want to get another CSL and not use it, but I'm finding it hard to pass up on the offer of this CSL!!!

Even better if you can DIY it Knowing you, it'll be better then NEW once fixed
BTW, It's a nice dilemma to have Craig. No disrespect to the RED beast, it's one of the nicest, cleanest, well sorted E36 Track Toy around and should find it's new owner without much effort . At the end of the day though there is really only one choice mate

[karbonkid]

I was going to suggest removing the skirts first, this is what I would do before handing over to the spray shop. Find plastic expanding rivets on the underside to release.
Price for the two skirts alone I would say aprox. £250-£300+/- based on the work involved repairing the damage. Price could vary slightly from company to company, but I would take the option of a recommended/ approved spray shop for such a job.
I'd also recommend them possibly using a ceramic paint to help against future stonechips appearing in these common areas.