Sills for a 2004 Forester

[Gozling2]

Guys,

Forester (2004) has passed its MOT and advisory of small hole on sill (NS) on further investigation after removing the sill covers/skirts the holes are a bit more than I'd anticipated, I’d rather replace them than have extensive patching, apart from Subaru I can’t find a pair for a Forester.

1. can you get repair sills

2. If available from where?

3. is there an alternative – will Impreza fit (I can source a pair from Poland)

any suggestions gratefully received, thanks in advance.

[Mr B]

Search for them as rocker panels.

Lot of good body repairers will fabricate them depending on actual amount needs doing,

If sills are bad you defiantly want check the rear arch inner mud guard where goes down to sill and right up in the strut tower side walls as both of those areas rot fast and bad on some of the SG foresters, The mud guard arch being a common one for mot failure as near seat belt mounting point, Got look hard and tap the metal as they rot internally so look quite good visually . rear subframe flat parts near the 2 bolt mounting points into the Shell can rot from top through also so best giving whole rear end good inspection before committing to some work . Sills not so common  at that age .

[Gozling2]

Many Thanks for your Reply Mr B.

The sills have gone due to rear Inner wheel-arches being corroded (water has been able to penetrate via the hidden rusty patches on the inner arches), I've already done those and all is now solid again, resealed and stone-guarded so good for many years, I'm wanting to do the work myself, I used to work in a body repair/restoration workshop so know what's involved I just need the basic repair panel to modify to my needs for the Forester.

[Mr B]

No idea off hand on impreza full sill panels to the forester but likely impreza repair sill sections do you and any internal strengthening that rotted you self fabricate,

The full sill panel from subaru is pretty pricey to chop up for repair . Big job to fit it complete .

Don't think you got massive amount of options but if you look at impreza repair sill panels (not that easy find but have seen them before around £40 a side) they could be an option pending on extent of rot .

I hate bodywork and rusty cars lol . good luck .

[Gozling2]

I've hopefully sourced a pair in Gateshead for Impreza, the profile looks similar to Forester, looks as if it could be modified for my purposes, rust isn't too bad to be honest, I'm belt and braces, if there's rust then the only option for me is to remove it in it's entirety and get it back to sound metal and restore to as close to original as possible, I'll let you know how it works out once it's all done, thank you for your advice, I appreciate it immensly.

[Mr B]

I'll follow your lead on body repair as not my speciality

I only do mud guard/turret and underbody rust repair and even then not on a large scale, anything not bolt on requiring top coat paint goes to a local bodyshop .

Will be interested in how impreza sill repair sections work out, good chance be ideal and give you enough material make an easy and neat fix .