Ask Me Help Desk - Help! Car Rust... Any Advice?

My \'93 Eagle Summit wagon, only 56,000 km.Have had a few repairs on it. In great shape except for rust in the area above the tires,is this called wheel wells?also near the bottom of the door area. Pieces now starting to break off.(I should not have let it get to this point of rust and taken care of it when it began.. ) I went to body shops. Both said they would not guarantee the work & that the rust was like cancer and it was going to come back Both said between $1300 & $1500 & MORE (and would not write an estimate!) They could not say definitely how they would do the work. One said it was a lot of work & he needs to weld metal, paint, but then disappeared on a phonecall. After 10.min.waiting, because he did not return, I left! The other was quite arrogant & did not like that I asked how he was going to repair it for $1500.(Later found out an acquaintance had her car done there, & after 3 months paint came off,and was rusting, went back,he fired the worker,redid it and now it's still looking bad!)
HELP! I need to hide the rust in some way! Any suggestions as to how I can have this repaired less expensively? I am so embaressed and unhappy at driving around with this rust. It seems that there are fewer rusted cars around anymore like "in the olden days"! Any advice, suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I agree with the body shops. Your vehicle is in need of major surgery. To pay someone to do this work would not be cost effective. If you could do the work yourself or had a DEAR friend who would do the labor for free, it would still be a tossup. If you were lucky enough to repair the body cancer, there is a strong likelihood that there might be major rot of the structural (frame) members. If the vehicle were a "classic," it might warrant the expense.

My advice is to drive it until you can't stand it any more, then donate the carcass to a charity and perhaps get a tax write off. In the meantime, sve your money for another vehicle. If you buy a used vehicle, make sure that it has been properly undercoated, or perhaps get one from a rust free state like AZ. Good luck.

If you don't care much about it, use some rust inhibitive oil spray... like wd-40, liquid wrench and the like to kind of slow it. If the rust on the doors, is just on the doors... the doors can be swapped for good ones off a junker, the wheel wells, at least the front ones might can be changed as well, you could try a rust inhibitive paint or oil spray to get a little more life out of the body...

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebriggsdude

If you don't care much about it, use some rust inhibitive oil spray.... like wd-40, liquid wrench and the like to kinda slow it. If the rust on the doors, is just on the doors.... the doors can be swapped for good ones off a junker, the wheel wells, atleast the front ones might can be changed as well, you could try a rust inhibitive paint or oil spray to get a little more life out of the body....

Thank you. What is your opinion on using body filler?

Body filler will work fine in the short term, if you don't have to pay someone to do the work. Be prepared to do many more applications of Bondo and paint as the rust continues to advance. Eventually when there is not enough good metal to support the Bondo, it will crack and fall off the vehicle in big or little chunks. Good luck.

Do I need to sand the rust and then put the rust inhibitive paint before or after the Bondo? Thanks.

Try to remove any loose rust. Sand until you have found some good sheet metal beyond the rust. Coarse sand the good metal as this will give the Bondo something to adhere to. On the shelf in my garage I found an 8 oz bottle of plasti-kote "Rust Not". It claims to stop rust and convert it to an iron-hard paintable surface that accepts all types of body fillers. Since the bottle is unopened, I can't say how good it works. Follow the directions on the bottle. Apply Bondo to the Rust Not coated bad spots and clean bare good metal. Smooth the patched areas with sandpaper (a D/A sander and/or sanding board helps), apply primer, and try to blend paint with surrounding areas the best that you can. Unless you are a pro, the finished job will not be perfect up close, but should be better than rust. I hope this helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr D

Try to remove any loose rust. Sand until you have found some good sheet metal beyond the rust. Coarse sand the good metal as this will give the Bondo something to adhere to. On the shelf in my garage I found an 8 oz bottle of plasti-kote "Rust Not". It claims to stop rust and convert it to an iron-hard paintable surface that accepts all types of body fillers. Since the bottle is unopened, I can't say how good it works. Follow the directions on the bottle. Apply Bondo to the Rust Not coated bad spots and clean bare good metal. Smooth the patched areas with sandpaper (a D/A sander and/or sanding board helps), apply primer, and try to blend paint with surrounding areas the best that you can. Unless you are a pro, the finished job will not be perfect up close, but should be better than rust. I hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply. I seem to be a bit confused.? Are you saying to:
1. first sand the rust
2. then put a "rust not" type of product ( this particular product may not be available in Canada ) ->>>> what is the name of this type of product ? (I just thought that I had to sand and put bondo... so now I understand that I MUST first get another product... >>>>>?
3. then put the bondo
4. >>>? After the bondo dries, do we have to sand again?
5. then I have to buy a >>>>? Primer? (I did not know, I thought I would just put bondo and then the paint)
6. then I have to buy a paint that matches up.(my car is 13 yrs. Old... not sure if I can find it anymore).
And then it is finished? HURRAY!
:confused:

1) Yes, you must sand the rust, to at least remove loose chunks. If you have holes rusted through, you will need some type of backing material (screen mesh) for the Bondo.
2) The product name I "Rust Not" made by Plasti-kote. This may slow the advancing rust.
3) Then apply Bondo.
4) Yes the Bondo needs to be sanded, because it will not be very smooth when dry. Don't forget to mix hardener into Bondo, or it will never dry.
5) You must apply primer on Bondo and/or bare metal. The paint needs primer to stick.
6) Try to find some spay cans of paint for the closest color match possible. Don't even think about trying to recreate factory paint job. It requires more skills than you have and can be VERY costly.

Here I would repeat my earlier advice to just drive the car as is, keep it mechanically sound, and save money for another vehicle.