Rust on 355 ;(

Stuh,
can you post a pic. You shouldn't have rust and yes, PPI shd have spotted it.

 

Is it on the black plate on top of the sill?

If so, don't worry about it. They all do that.

You can buy replacement sill plates made of cf which cures it forever. Or you can repaint in situ. Or replace them with more metal ones (they're bonded on, don't come off too easily to be reusable and the metal ones aren't cheap either).

Only other place you're likely to get rust is on the little black metal triangle at the front corner of the side window. And perhaps its counterpart at the rear.

 

The door panels aren't metal - I know because I "drove one into a wall"(i.e scraped it vigorouily) two weeks ago and have a £2000 bill for the driver's door lower panel and respray. Must be superficial.

jg

 

I'm confused- are you referring to the lower air-intake sill below the door, or the matt-black kick-plate that is exposed when the door opens?

If it is the lower air intake, then it is plastic and will not rust.

If it is the kick-plate, then the same happened to my '99 car. I got carbon fibre replacements from Heiko at HG parts (fchat sponsor) for about £300, and fitted them myself- quite easy, and I am not gifted in the DIY dept. They look great too. OEM ones (which will rust again) cost over £600 inc!

Robert.

 

Verdis can certainly get the CF sills, via Scuderia Systems. They were more expensive than HG Parts'.

HG Parts will have them delivered to you/Verdis inside a week, then Verdis could fit them, I'd guess about 1-2 hrs labour if they work really carefully... (took me less than 1 hour)

Robert.

 

No special tools needed, just courage...

First, gently remove the rubber "Ferrari" inlays- they should pull out in-tact with a bit of encouragement.

Second, undo the various screws- there are three or four under the door seal (you can get to them without pulling the seal off) plus maybe two under where the "ferrari" inlay was. If you can remove the door seals (they just pull out) at the bottom, then this would probably be a good thing. I did not, and the sills pulled out fine, but in retrospect I was concerned I might damage the seals as the sills came out.

The scary bit is removing the old sills- they get absolutely trashed, bent etc and you think "eek, what have I done to my lovely car". Just lever a bit of sill up, then grab a handful and pull (wear tough gloves). It will make alarming cracking sounds, but this is the glue breaking rather than the lower sill... be careful too that the sill doesn't suddenly come out and scratch the bodywork.

Once you've removed the old sills, prep the surface by removing as much of the old adhesive as you can (I just scraped away with a screwdriver for a bit, careful of the visible paint on the lower sill)

Next, I fitted the new sills using (yes really) some heavy duty Sticky-Fixer strips, not the little sticky-fixer tabs, but the roll of strip (says it's ideal for car number-plates...) fixed to the inner and outer edges of the sills. I chose not to use the screws because I thought that drilling/over-tightening could crack the C-Fibre, and they are not bearing any load.

After that, refit the rubber inlays using adhesive, being careful not to get surplus adhesive on the sill!

Finally, stand back and admire.

The above probably sounds worse than it is- it all worked out OK as I went along...

Robert.

 

Fair doos- last time a plumber came round to fix one of my better efforts, he actually laughed at my handiwork!

So I must confess I would have had mine done professionaly, only I was too impatient- I took the rubber inlays out to clean them and one thing led to another... luckily it worked out.

Robert.

 

I used to get htis on my 355 eveytime It rained and I opened the door. Very easy to sort - all you need is some WD40 and a toothbrush - I just dipped the brush in the WD40 and scrubbed the kick plates - came off in no time - didn't return until it rained again (ie the kick plates were exposed to the rain). never caught since it was only mild surface rust - I have seen quite a few with this minor problem - the carbon plates will cure it but its really not a problem - only had to do it three or four times on mine in the time I had it.

Finish it off with a lint free cloth the sills come up with a satin sheen.

 

Not a major problem but looks rubbish on such a gorgeous car...

Have a word with Verdis about the price of alternative parts. They may do something. If you beat them severely enough on it, let me know and I might well get a pair for mine (bulk buy perhaps...). My car's with them at the moment.

 

Chaps,

Someone is selling some CF door sills for a 355 for £125 on the FOC parts sales website http://www.ferrariownersclub.co.uk/sales/parts.asp; They appear to stick over the originals, but worth a thought...

355 Door Sills
Pair of Carbon Fibre door sills for 355 imported from the US. £125. Please call 07802 302 032. (11/2004)

Robert.