I was poking around this weekend and happened to remove one of the front wheel arch liners.
I had noticed in the past that there's a void created by the wing where it bolts to the sill. It's big enough to get a couple of Mars bars into (albeit squashed a bit).
The leading face is open, but behind the wheel arch liner... so dirt doesn't get blasted in directly from the front wheel.. but since it is also open at the rear (you can seen daylight through to the door pillar) it collects waterborne dirt that gets past the side of the wheel arch liner, or runs down the A-pillar.
There's no drain hole on the bottom, so this water and dirt just collects there. The water dries out and the dirt remains as a silty mud.
I blasted the dirt out with a screwdriver and a jet washer .. so it's all clear now .. but I checked the other side and it was the same.
I did wonder if I have a missing "part" that's supposed to fill this void.. I've seen various bits of foam or plastic stuffed into such spaces and nooks on different cars, to stop mud accumulating in there... but ePer is dead again, so I can't check.
Anyways, it's worth spending half an hour to remove the wheels and arch liner to give your Stilo's a check and a clean out.
Ralf S.
I had noticed in the past that there's a void created by the wing where it bolts to the sill. It's big enough to get a couple of Mars bars into (albeit squashed a bit).
The leading face is open, but behind the wheel arch liner... so dirt doesn't get blasted in directly from the front wheel.. but since it is also open at the rear (you can seen daylight through to the door pillar) it collects waterborne dirt that gets past the side of the wheel arch liner, or runs down the A-pillar.
There's no drain hole on the bottom, so this water and dirt just collects there. The water dries out and the dirt remains as a silty mud.
I blasted the dirt out with a screwdriver and a jet washer .. so it's all clear now .. but I checked the other side and it was the same.
I did wonder if I have a missing "part" that's supposed to fill this void.. I've seen various bits of foam or plastic stuffed into such spaces and nooks on different cars, to stop mud accumulating in there... but ePer is dead again, so I can't check.
Anyways, it's worth spending half an hour to remove the wheels and arch liner to give your Stilo's a check and a clean out.
Ralf S.
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