John202020 said:

And this is the appalling corrosion on the rear drums what you don't see is the 1/8-1/4" of metal missing all round the exterior of the drum!

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Rear discs are what you need! 9 years on and mine are still nice and shiny

My drums are okay after 6 years, just light surface corrosion. Was it parked in a pond every night? Seems really odd they're so badly corroded. Mind you saying that, I avoid every puddle I possibly can whereas you see people driving through them for fun spraying water into all the nooks and crannies. It can't help matters.

Bookish said:

My drums are okay after 6 years, just light surface corrosion. Was it parked in a pond every night? Seems really odd they're so badly corroded. Mind you saying that, I avoid every puddle I possibly can whereas you see people driving through them for fun spraying water into all the nooks and crannies. It can't help matters.

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Some left the factory unpainted, others got a coat of paint. Depends on the individual supplier of the parts.

Just the luck of the draw which ones you got.

Read this thread - that car was only a few weeks old when the photo was taken.

It was easy enough to remove them & paint them when the car was new, but how many folks expect to have to do that when they've just spent good money on a brand new car?

In the worst case, replacing rusted out drums isn't going to break the bank.

On the other hand, replacing a rusted out rear beam is an altogether different matter. IMO that's going to scrap a lot of UK 500's once they're 10-12yrs old.

They may galvanise the bodyshell now, but Fiats are still rustbuckets.

We do love 'em, though.

Think I'll be looking at my rear beam !!

On the other hand, replacing a rusted out rear beam is an altogether different matter. IMO that's going to scrap a lot of UK 500's once they're 10-12yrs old.


Funnily enough the 55 plate panda alessi had rear spring mount failure (spring pushed through the rotten cup) was repaired by using a 500 rear beam! Couldn't source a "panda" one and the 500's is a straight swap (for steel wheeled pandas anyway) and only cost £90.

There's plenty of 500's in breakers (and more in the future as it's a popular first car!) so I don't think cheap parts supply will be a problem.

I hope 500's are a decent second hand buy as I just bought a 60 plate twinair lounge, finally got fed up of rubbing my back across the b pillar every time I got into the mk3 panda and missed the TA engine, so far nothing more than a replacement battery in the remote and a bulb needed.

Bookish said:

Think I'll be looking at my rear beam !!

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Gave mine a cleanup and quick cost of paint a while back need to give it a second go when the weather is good then a coat of waxoil to seal it shortly after

I bought my Twinair new in 2011 after 3 years of a 500 MJ.

I sold it 6 years later with 99000 miles on the clock and there had been no significant failures during that time and it was extensively 'italian tuned' at every opportunity.

Yes, it went through tyres. I had the front top mounts replaced twice (but I was running B14 suspension). I had the front discs and pads changed once at 60K, the were still fine when I sold it.

Great wee car, just couldn't get my stepdaughter in the back seat any more

Cheers

D

I've done the rear beam too my car has lived it's entire life right beside the sea both up in Scotland(probably more salt on the roads too) and now in the north east so suspect that's the reason for the rusting of the bolted on bits.

John202020 said:

I've done the rear beam too my car has lived it's entire life right beside the sea both up in Scotland(probably more salt on the roads too) and now in the north east so suspect that's the reason for the rusting of the bolted on bits.

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Environmental factors play a big part in corrosion related issues.

Your car's components will likely be considerably more corroded (and more in need of protection) that those on one that's lived its entire life in a dehumidified garage in Winchester.

Interestingly I've just been reading some adverts for garden lighting which comes with a 5 yr corrosion warranty - one of the exclusions is that the corrosion warranty doesn't apply if the products are installed within 10 miles of the coast.

jrkitching said:

Environmental factors play a big part in corrosion related issues.

Your car's components will likely be considerably more corroded (and more in need of protection) that those on one that's lived its entire life in a dehumidified garage in Winchester.

Interestingly I've just been reading some adverts for garden lighting which comes with a 5 yr corrosion warranty - one of the exclusions is that the corrosion warranty doesn't apply if the products are installed within 10 miles of the coast.

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10 miles! More like 100m(from the sea for us)

I bought an 11 plate 1.2 last year with 55,000 miles. So far I have had to replace one daytime running light bulb. I will need to attend to a bit of paintwork damage caused by poor jacking at some stage in its history.
As for all Fiats rusting, I have a 1994 Punto Cabrio which is still in very good condition. I did some minor welding to the floor last year to fix some rusting around a reinforcing plate before it became an issue. The two repair sections I made were about half the size of a post-it note. The biggest issue I have is failure of the lacquer coat on the bonnet.

renaultvation said:

The biggest issue I have is failure of the lacquer coat on the bonnet.

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Has it been re sprayed?

No, it's just age related. I've had the car 18 years!

Let's just put it out there, cheap older second hand Italian cars just don't make for reliable cheap transport if you are not good with spanners. A 9 year old £3000 Fiat 500 is not going to be as reliable as a £3000 Toyota, perhaps you get lucky! I would have thought it was better idea to buy a 2 1/2 -3 year old end of lease Twinair from a main dear with low mileage for around £6500-7000. Although the idea that you only have to change the oil on a twinair every 18000miles is just crazy..