Hi everyone, I'm new on here so firstly would like to say hi ??, owned many Stilo's in the past, but think I've made a silly mistake!! I'm looking for some help and advise, as I thought the stilos where galvanised

I've managed to bag myself what looks like a rusty Stilo, stupidly enough, because the bodywork is absolutely pristine, I didn't take the time to check the underside properly, and today I've discovered the lower rear arches are rusty spreading to the sills, the very rear of the sills feel like I could poke a hole through them! I've only myself to blame, I've bought and sold many cars in the past and I let my heart rule my head, but rust on the Stilo didn't enter my head!

My question is; how common is this on the Stilo? It's a 2005 05 plate, one fanatical owner and a massive book of service receipts, the car has been lovingly cared for through its life and I've never owned a rusty one in the past (two schumachers, an Abarth, and now this jtd)

Have I just been unlucky? I know it's 12 years old now but I was still shocked. I'm hoping to remove the side skirts and have a look how bad it is, I'm hoping it's just a small patch in both the rear sills. Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and can give me some advice on what to do next. Cheers

Although ive no experience with rust on stilos seems like removing the skirts is the best thing to do first and youl have to cut the rust out back to good clean metal, if theres any repair sections made you could buy them and weld them in or make up some pieces of sheet metal to the shape you need your self, if you have no experience i car body work or welding unfortunatly youl have to pay some one to do it

redcat said:

Although ive no experience with rust on stilos seems like removing the skirts is the best thing to do first and youl have to cut the rust out back to good clean metal, if theres any repair sections made you could buy them and weld them in or make up some pieces of sheet metal to the shape you need your self, if you have no experience i car body work or welding unfortunatly youl have to pay some one to do it

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Thanks for the reply, I just wondered if anyone had come across a Stilo that had rust before, or if this one has had some work in the past! I know for certain that none of mine in the past had a spec of rust! Yeah I'll have to get it all stripped down and I'll assess it from there!! Thanks ??

Sounds like the wheelarch liners have been missing allowing salt etc to make contact with steel. Odd, sine all Stilo rear arches should have fully enclosed liners in place...

Yellow Peril said:

Sounds like the wheelarch liners have been missing allowing salt etc to make contact with steel. Odd, sine all Stilo rear arches should have fully enclosed liners in place...

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Hmm, everything is in place, the worse bit is on the outer sill at the back, there's quite a substantial bit of rot going on! It looks like it travels under the side skirts, and down the outer sill

Is it rusty on both sides?

You're right about Stilo - rust just doesn't feature in the vocabulary. I'm wondering if the beast has been in a minor shunt and then been repaired?


Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

Is it rusty on both sides?

You're right about Stilo - rust just doesn't feature in the vocabulary. I'm wondering if the beast has been in a minor shunt and then been repaired?


Ralf S.

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Hi mate,

Yeah the rust is on both sides mainly on the sills, no evidence of any crash damage that I can see, the car has been wax oiled underneath, but there is rust creeping up the rear arches, I could probably poke a screwdriver through the rear of the passenger sill, at the bottom close to where the rear arch meets. I was shocked hence why I wanted to know if these cars had started to show any signs of rust yet! I'm a bit gutted if I'm honest as the car is "mint" bodywork wise!

I'll try and get some photos

Looks like the previous owner never hosed the muck out of the wheel arches. This will invariably give rise to rust eventually and worse at the back because there is no engine heat to help dry things out