Is rust a problem on early MG5s?

[davehedgehog31]

I've been under my MG5 and although I didn't pay particular attention, there was some very light surface corrosion on the front subframes and suspension components but nothing I'd say is much different from a three year old car of Asian extraction in Scotland. With that said, other Asian cars don't set a high bar.

I've got a few cars, all of them a lot older than the MG and have had good success with lanolin based rust proofing products. I like it because it's easily applied but still allows you to see the state of the components underneath, I'm not a fan of heavy underseal products of old for that reason.

Lanoguard is probably the most well known, it's a really user friendly and easily applied product that can be put on with a spray bottle, I've used a product called Corrolan too which is much gloopier and really needs heating up and a compressor to blow it on, but is extremely durable.

I think all cars in the UK really benefit from a going over with something like Lanoguard, on an MG 5 I'd pay attention to the front subframe, rear axle, the front slam panel and all suspension components and maybe the bits of the floor that see particularly heavy wear, don't need to go mad but a good film will protect it from the worst of the winter salt. If you can be bothered then you can pop the rubber grommets out the sill and blow some into the cavities.

My car will do at least 20k miles a year so it will probably be mechanically tired long before rot becomes a threat to it's life, but it just makes it much nicer to work on in the meantime.

 

[MG Mile eater]

Hi folks,

Maybe you can help me. I am often being told that "modern MGs rust", that they are not well protected and that after 4 years or so there are problems.

Is this true at all with MG5s? There must be a number of you with older 5s now who can comment.

I'd like to gather some evidence to repudiate this if it isn't true.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Yes both my front sills are rust.
I cleaned both up applied rust treatment applied stone chip then fitted mud flaps all round job done

 

[AndyB87]

Few areas on mine I've found some rust this morning, this is along with the couple of paint bubbles on the rear arch I posted about a couple of months ago.

It seems when the car was PDI'd they neglected to remove some blanking plugs in the bootlid and pieces of clear plastic covering the drain holes in the front doors. Evidence of rust along the bottom edge of passenger front door and around 2 of the 3 bootlid drain holes.

I planned to fill them all with cavity wax this morning, which is how I discovered the rust. The bootlid had little rubber bungs in 2 of the 3 holes, which negates the purpose of the holes.

 

[Paulie68]

Few areas on mine I've found some rust this morning, this is along with the couple of paint bubbles on the rear arch I posted about a couple of months ago.

It seems when the car was PDI'd they neglected to remove some blanking plugs in the bootlid and pieces of clear plastic covering the drain holes in the front doors. Evidence of rust along the bottom edge of passenger front door and around 2 of the 3 bootlid drain holes.

I planned to fill them all with cavity wax this morning, which is how I discovered the rust. The bootlid had little rubber bungs in 2 of the 3 holes, which negates the purpose of the holes.

Sorry to see this. We shouldn't be seeing rust like this on any car less than 10 years old these days, when looked after normally. It's a shame, as otherwise the 5 is a great all rounder.

I'm keeping mine 3 years due to these rusting issues, then it's going. I'm too old to be messing around cleaning off and painting due to rust and slapping cavity wax around on a daily workhorse. On my classics, sure, but modern cars are meant to have evolved beyond this now due to use of zinc sheet steel and such, some MG's obviously haven't

 

[AndyB87]

Sorry to see this. We shouldn't be seeing rust like this on any car less than 10 years old these days, when looked after normally. It's a shame, as otherwise the 5 is a great all rounder.

I'm keeping mine 3 years due to these rusting issues, then it's going. I'm too old to be messing around cleaning off and painting due to rust and slapping cavity wax around on a daily workhorse. On my classics, sure, but modern cars are meant to have evolved beyond this now due to use of zinc sheet steel and such, some MG's obviously haven't

Certainly shouldn't, but not alot can be done about it now other than trying to treat it before it gets worse. The next owner of my car will be the scrapyard anyway, as I intend on running it into the ground, so in the long term it doesn't matter. But, it does matter that a 4 year old car with 35k miles and a full service history that is meticulously looked after, should end up the same way as an unloved 15 year old motor though. It's a shame. But I hope others will check their bootlids/bonnet shuts/door bottoms/ sill seams etc. Because if it's not sorted soon there will be a lot of sub 10 year old cars failing MOT's due to corrosion