Mine had been removed before I bought my car, and I can see no signs of rust (yet). As long as you dry inside the door frames and doors when you wash it you should be ok.
Because the doors are so big and the window seals are not the tightest, water does get into the door so having them out allows the water to drain out.

 

When new they worked fine but the 'flap' started strengthening over a short time and dirt built up.

Some owners reported many pints draining out when first removed.

I removed mine as soon as the problem was posted.

This only affects the pre facelift 2009 models.

I suppose you could remove them, make bigger holes and refit them to help protect the metal door edges.

 

Thx, think I’ll remove them. Don’t want any dirt building up anywhere.

 

So with a 2009 facelift should I remove mine ??

 

They changed it to a strip on my 59 plate and was fine, as is the same design on the 9G.

 

My 1.8 drivers door got blocked with sludge over time, as I was driving one day I could hear water sloshing but could not understand where it was coming from. Then I heard it as I shut the door. A quick jab at the drainage hole and about 2 gallons of water poured out :smile3:

 

Thats crazy, did you leave your plugs out permanently ?

 

I did

 

Back in the day, before the the 8G facelift in 2009 this forum was loaded with posts about water collecting in the doors.

We all removed our plugs and watched water drain out. Some worse than others depending on where the car was stored overnight and local rainfall.