I found a lot of compacted sandy silt behind my front wheel arch liners which was very easily removed. I noticed that the sunroof drain pipe fed into this area and that at the end of the pipe was a flap fitting. With all the silt the flap could not open properly which inevitably will cause poor drainage from the sunroof leading water to back up the pipe and find its way into the cars interior. If you see similar I suggest taking a look at the other side and clearing accordingly.
1. You will need to jack up your car and remove the roadwheel, it's a good idea to put it on axle stands, if you haven't got any take some precautions in case of jack failure e.g. lie spare wheel under drivers door area.
2. Free up the wheel arch liner, it'll be in 2 pieces, 1 behind the wheel and one in front. Go for the rear one first, look for some screws and there will almost certainly be some big plastic lugs that just get carefully pulled out (only remove enough fittings to enable access into the void without too much agro). For the most part the liner is just tucked behind the outer edge of the wing so just needs careful persuasion. Swing the liner out of the way as best you can (tuck it behind brake discs?).
3. Carefully clean away silt so as not to damage paintwork, give it a bit of a wash off and you should be done.
Hope this helps
TheDivvy
September 2008
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