Citroen XM Forum

So, I'm guessing this sort of corrosion is bad news?


Discovered it while fitting winter tyres today. Not encouraging is it? Anyone got any experience of repairs here? I'll be farming the job out.

Thats not right..... I hope that is easily fixed.....

White Exec wrote:Pale blue, Russ? What they used to call a "hairdresser's car". Can I say that nowadays????
Brings back thoughts of powder-blue Triumph Heralds, ducky.

Oh Matron! I quite like the light metallic blue on the early C5..like linked one below ..... Trust me i'm a designer
http://www.caricle.co.uk/detail/Used-20 ... JPJEs.html

Sorry Ian, back to your car.

Good bit of peeling underseal there - but as for the rust, the steel is only one layer thick there....Can you poke through into the engine bay above, in front of the strut top? How does it look on the topside?

It looks fine on the topside. What's visible through the hole is the underside of the engine-bay side as far as I can work out. But yes, I started tugging on the flaky underseal to reveal this. That's the problem - if it gets breached, it then just lets moisture munch the metal sight unseen.

I've just double-checked. It's definitely double-skinned. The metal in the engine bay is entirely sound and visible through the hole in the inner wheelarch. If it wasn't double-skinned here, I have a feeling I'd already have a somewhat bent bonnet by now.

OK - looks then as if the lower skin is in poor shape. Reinforcing plate, done professionally, looks needed.
How's the LH side?

LH side seems better, though it's looking like I need to have a good go over the underside. I've been waiting a week for the weather to be dry enough for me to even think about playing with cars. I've got an offside strut mount to fit anyway, so pulling the old one off will make the welding easier I suspect.

Sounds like a plan. Hope the weather improves.

Here follows the tale of an 11-hour marathon tinkering session. SOD IT! None of my pic links have transferred. Ugh! Update awaited.