My car is rusting. What to do?

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Qumo
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My car is rusting. What to do?

Post by Qumo »

It being a nice sunny day with more of the same forecast, I stopped off at a car wash to hose the winter gunk off my car. I noticed, on the right rear quarter panel, a little dot of rust about the size of a pea. It's raised up a bit, so it's coming from under the paint.
The car is a 96 Beretta with 130K miles, and I'm planning on keeping it a couple of more years at least. No other body issues other than a few paint chips on the hood, and a streak of someone's red paint on the driver's door that is gradually getting buffed out with each waxing.
I'd like to nip this in the bud before it gets worse. Any easy DIY solutions, or should I just take it to a shop?


heavywoody
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Re: My car is rusting. What to do?

Post by heavywoody »

If you're seeing rust in the body under the paint, the underside of the car (rear spring perches, between the rear spring perches, in the door jams under the hinges and the rocker panels) is going to be worse.

Best thing in my opinion to do is to leave it alone - you'll be wasting money on repairing it via a shop as the parts mentioned above are most likely already destroyed or at the least on their way out.

You can always do a DIY repair, but rust will always come back - best to cut the metal out and weld in a replacement piece.


Geoff
95 Z26 Turbo 3400 5spd - R&D Project
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Cam2363
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Re: My car is rusting. What to do?

Post by Cam2363 »

One solution for a little more time, depending on how deep it is, is to use some of that Loctite Rust Removing Naval Jelly to kill some of the rust, then use a paint marker or some nail polish to cover it up. Won't last forever, but could be good to help it last a little longer, and make it look better.


aurolio
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Re: My car is rusting. What to do?

Post by aurolio »

Not the easiest but the best solution is to cut everything out and weld in a patch.


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