I had the Series 1 in store all winter and strangely I noticed the old corrosion spots around the bottom of the indicator lights in particular. A simple question - is it possible to retard/slow down the process and if so with what? Other than a magic cure I suppose it is a respray?
Many thanks
Taffy

Taffy, I'd suggest that what you are seeing is the aluminium reacting where it touches another metal (does it look like bubbles in the paint - sometimes in they appear in clusters). This is no uncommon around the headlights and on the lower edges, below the doors, and where the frame touches the wings.

Unfortunately, this is the nature of aluminium and how it reacts to other metals and while you can have it repaired, it generally will reappear over time, unless you create (repair) the membrane between the two different metals.

I hope this makes sense.

And perhaps one of the S1 owners will be able to offer some other advice.

Cheers Simon.Do you know if it will remain "local" or over the years will it spread more.The doors are fine, its the indicator light area and the join between the wing and the lower section. As I mentioned previously, the storage period seems to have accelerated the process -even though it had dehumidifiers.
Thanks for the response. Taffy

Indicators and headlight surrounds are prone.. re-spray is the fix I'm afraid.

In looking at a few S1s recently I have noticed that 2003 cars have a rubber seal around the indicator lens that prevents contact with the surrounding bodywork, whereas earlier cars do not. Neither of the '03 examples I looked at had any corrosion around the area but 3 of the earlier cars I looked it did. Coincidence?