Water in the spare tire area.

I never usually checked my spare tire area for water until about last month when taking out my tire for an autocross. When I took the spare out I had tons standing water in the spare area (like close to a 1/2" deep). I sopped it all up and drilled a few holes in the low areas to help draining, but I keep noticing that there is still water there after rain and usually till I do something to empty it out.

Is there any known problem with the trunk area that would aid in the collection of the water in the cabin like this?

I am kind of lost here now since I checked the trunk seal and didn't find any sealing problems.

i have the same probelem, and i also live near atlanta.


i dont have it in the tire well, but in the pockets on the sides of it (where the tireiron and jack are, and the side in front of that)


i was thinking it was because of the tail lights in my car, they're the aftermarket ones, perhaps the water seeps through there

I have the same thing in my trunk? The only difference is the water in mine is frozen. Guess I should thaw it out and clean up in there.

I noticed water in my tire well also! I thought it was the weirdest thing because I couldn't locate where the water could be getting in there. Someone please give us a reason for this as it is very annoying, not to mention the car eventually smelling moldy because of it!

First I would say check the rubber washer thingies between the tailight housing & body. Each post should have spongy rubber washer on it. One of them is a 2 hole one where the alignment post goes in. As far as how much water would go on each side or in the middle towards spare tire area would depend on which rubber washer is missing. Also, what about the seal between the top of the rear struts & the body? Lots of splashing going on in the wheel well when driving in rain. That might be another source. Another thing might be, and this one's a stretch, How much could come in the rubber flap on each side of the inside of the body in the rear to let air in & out of the car? I would think that that couldn't happen unless you have no rear fender well liner plastic pieces, then the spray would be directed at those flaps, but that wouldn't get to spare tire area in middle, just on the sides. Check it all.

The Man just did a detailed write up regarding this....Sometimes I wonder....

Sometimes it can be the tailights, or those weird vent things, but usually it is a problem with the body seams. Basically, the Protege will have it's body seams crack/break with the slightest rear end accident...the body seams will need to be re-sealed, which is detailed in his thread...

To the OP you shouldn't have drilled holes. If you take your tire back out you will notice two black round plugs. One on the front side of the tire and one on the back you can pop those out and you can drain the water out from there. You probably have water getting back in because you drilled those holes. I know I had a lot of water in mine but that was because I went snowboarding and didn't knock all of the snow off of my board and that melted and made its way to the spare tire well. Hope this helps.

ProtoType5 said:

The Man just did a detailed write up regarding this....Sometimes I wonder....

Sometimes it can be the tailights, or those weird vent things, but usually it is a problem with the body seams. Basically, the Protege will have it's body seams crack/break with the slightest rear end accident...the body seams will need to be re-sealed, which is detailed in his thread...

Click to expand...

Good catch, forgot about the body seam thing. Didn't think of that I guess since the OP didn't mention anything about an ass crash.LOL