My car is rusting E46 :(

mrk · 6 Mar 2007 at 17:39

NickXX said:
The 'texture' on the inside of the wheel arch are normal. I think it is a thick layer of textured paint. However the ones in the pics above show bubbling and flaking - I assume there has been some sort of damage to the arch, probably minor, in the past.

This is what I was getting at! it's smooth but the OPs pics show his to be very flaky/bubbly which does not look normal at all :S

Dogbreath · 6 Mar 2007 at 18:22

mrk said:
This is what I was getting at! it's smooth but the OPs pics show his to be very flaky/bubbly which does not look normal at all :S

I don't understand, are you saying it should be smooth, even though it's already been stated that they are normaly textured? Or are you pointing out that the arch has several chips with rust which was the whole point of the thread?

The texture is caused by a layer of stonechip resistant coating which is applied before the top coat is sprayed on, most cars will have this as normal paint provides next to no protection against stone chips, especialy around the wheel arch which will get peppered in bits of gravel etc.

NickXX · 6 Mar 2007 at 18:29

Dogbreath said:
The texture is caused by a layer of stonechip resistant coating which is applied before the top coat is sprayed on, most cars will have this as normal paint provides next to no protection against stone chips, especialy around the wheel arch which will get peppered in bits of gravel etc.

Yup - this is true of the e46.