YIKES! Rust problem

[wangjt]

I purchased a used car from a private party two days ago. I spent so much time inspecting the engine and test driving the car that I failed to notice that the paint on the hood of the car was chipped (near the moon roof).



I found out yesterday morning about the chip and realized there's rust from exposed metal. :aww:



it is not a very big area of rust from what I can tell. The car is relatively new so I do not think it has spread that much.



My question is.. is this a DIY job given the close proximity to the moonroof? If so, what is the best way to remove the rust? I found a site to order touchup paint for $25. Is that too much to pay or does someone know of a better place? (it's the exact color code of my car).



Sorry if this has been answered before. I searched for rust and a lot of stuff came up (most of which was irrelevant).

 

[BigJimZ28]

when you open the sunroof does it give you room to work?



if so grind out the rust, fill , paint, wetsand, polish



it is DIY for some people are you up to it?

 

[David Fermani]

Looks like the molding is attached to the sunroof glass, so it is easier to access the repair without a ton of trim removal. I don't suggest doing this repair yourself unless you have lots of experience doing body repair. If you don't do this repair right, you'll end up destroying the appearance of your vehicle as well as potentially making the rust spread much worse forcing you to re-skin your entire roof down the road.

 

[wangjt]

Thanks for both of your replies.



Actually, when I open the sunroof, it slides under so it gives me a lot more room to work with (sorry.. still learning about the car)... but still might not be enough to use a machine to grind it away. I might need to sand this by hand. I'm thinking since this is such a small area of rust.. it's not out of the question to do without a machine or is it necessary to use a machine?



I've never done body repairs but I'm up for the DIY. So anyone have any recommendations as to which product I should be using or any tips as to what I should be doing or what I should be avoiding? I have minimal detailing tools. The only thing I have is a random orbital PC polisher which is useless for this task.



If it's absolutely not recommended that I tackle this myself... how much should I expect to pay to get this fixed professionally? Anyone have any recommendations as to who to go to in the CA, Bay Area?



Thanks in advance for all the feedback. I truly appreciate everyone's help.

 

[Mark77]

I think you can stop it quite easily, sand down(by hand), paint with some appropriate paint, and then the touch up paint. But to make it look good is harder.

 

[salty]

First off welcome.



From the pic it is hard to tell the actual color, white, off white or other. It looks like the rust has spread more than the chip and when you start to chip away it will grow.



My advice is to chip away until no more rust. Scrape or sand down to metal, carefully. Then primer, light sand then primer again until close to level. Sand and apply color and sand and apply color again if needed to make level. Time taken to let each level dry. It might not look perfect but should stop the rust.



After doing this you could try and level and match the repair with wet sanding and polish.



If the paint is close to a Tremclad color you could try that approach also, repair is noticeable but should slow spreading.



You could try a micro-repair service like Paint Bull as to repair by auto body shop, would be a big expense because of the area.

 

[Accumulator]

wangjt- Welcome to Autopia!



Having done stuff like this, *if* you really care about how it looks I'll echo David Fermani's advice and recommend that you take it to a (very good) pro. I really don't believe in learning as you go on a vehicle that you care about...it's just not that easy.



It's hard enough to find a paint/body shop that'll do such work to an acceptable standard...doing it yourself is OK for beaters that you don't really care about (and I'd DIY those myself in a heartbeat, but then I've done it many times already), but it's *VERY* difficult to do such work well enough for "good" cars. Just matching the white paint, especially so it doesn't show after a while, is pretty tough; there are a zillion shades of white and under certain lighting even close mismatches look awful.



If you *do* want to do it yourself, I'd check out the rust repair stuff from Eastwood Company: Auto Tools, Body Repair, Classic Car Restoration, House of Kolor Paint, Powder Coating , which has worked well for me.

 

[David Fermani]

Agreed! I go to body shops every day and watch and know what's involved in body repair and refinishing and wholeheartedly believe people should stay far away from doing repairs themselves. DIY doesn't equate to ANY kind of Autopian standards in any way, shape or form in respect to body/paint repair.