Sills Damaged By Careless Lifting By Mechanics, Mots Or Tyre Fitters

[aspire_helen]

The corrosion resistance of my 2001 C5's galvanised body is remarkable, but has been ruined by numpties in the motor trade. I noticed today that the plastic trim strips covering the sills under the doors were slightly loose and several of the plastic retaining screws were missing. When I removed the strips I found that the sill seams were significantly deformed at numerous places along the length, noticably either side of all jacking points, front and rear. Clearly, over the years so called expert mechanics have mis-positioned the lifting arms. Remarkably, at some time someone has even lifted the car by the middle of the sill directly below the central door pillar.

The result is damaged sill seams, split open in two places, breaching the galvanising layer and permitted rust to penetrate. More than half the locating points for the plastic trim have been severly bent. This damage has been disguised by the plastic sill trim which has absorbed the weight without deformation or significant marking.

i suspect this has been done on 4 arm hoists during dealer maintenance, MOTs or tyre changing, but after 13 years I cannot say by whom. But in future, I will insist on supervising the lift.

In the meantime, it has taken all day to hammer and straigten the damage, thoroughly under-seal and waxoyl the sills, and source new fasteners to refit the sill trim.

 

Finally, the evidence would indicate my car has been mis-lifted on numerous occasions - so probably it has and will happen to everyone.

[coastline taxis]

go to the front of the sill and move inward 6 inches and youl see a round circlle protruding down that is the front  jacking  point for lifting arms. the rear isnt so bad as theres no engine and box to liift up. so using the jacking point mark on the rear of the sill is ok. basicly they havnt had a clue about citroen

[paul.h]

Possibly damaged due to using a trolley jack without using a pad in the saddle so that the jaws on it dig in to the sill either side of the jacking point, but not even using a jacking point is criminal. It could be the previous owner had the trolley jack.

 

Using a four point lift located at the jacking points (or the jack supplied with the car) would not damage the sills. A dealer/garage or tyre fitters that use 4 point lifts are unlikely to have caused it. We recently had tyres fitted to a C4 at our local Halfords and to a C3 at the local Kwik Fit and both used 4 point lifts and no damage was caused.