OK, so a while ago I found some rust in a door well of my truck. I've never done this before, but I've painted non-car metal, so I did some homework. No big deal, need a couple of days without rain.

Today is the day!

Wire brush, sandpaper, a little navel jelly (with lots of water and baking soda to cancel it). A little can of primer (don't have the space to spray in my parking lot) and some brushes, for once I'm down to the metal. I was going to get it primed, then get top coat (car part store about half mile away, I was going to prime and walk over).

Dang this stuff thicker than I think. Then... poik! I'm through the metal. I swear a lot. This is why more than I was thinking of, and I'm wondering if this hasn't happened before. What I was thinking was rust might be some kind of putty.



OK, so now what?

My limits- I have not a lot of time, because I only have a week of decent weather. Fortunately, this spot drains well. *glower* I have no garage space. Am I in rust, or bondo-ish stuff here?

Advise? Please? I was thinking this was water that got under the paint through a scratch and now... I'm finding rust under the gasket, I noticed that.

1st: I'd talk to someone who does body work, they can tell you things that are way beyond my experience levels.

2nd: You are definitely going to have to kill the rust. Go to a hardware store and get some "No-Mo" pre wash, that kills the rust. Then you can put on a couple coats of primer.

3rd: I THINK you'd need some fiberglass cloth to place over the gaps and then work the bondo into and over it. Sand that down as smoothly as you can and then add a couple of coats of primer over it. Then when that has cured, put about 3 coats of matching top coats of auto paint.

That's about the extreme limit of my knowledge.

Yeah, I have emails to friends who do cars much more than I do.

Now, I was wondering if a coat of PJ over the exposeed metal as a protective agent for the short term? Maybe? Anyone?

The bad news, if I'm right, is that the metal is rusting from the inside out and the entire panel/section is rusting. The three small crusty looking spots up and to the right in the picture look to be rusting spot welds under the paint. Scrape a knife across the crusty spots a bit and odds are your going to break through the paint to rust.

The 'putty' might be smoothing putty applied before painting at the factory. Or it might be a quick and dirty repair to cover up the rust. I'd think that if you bought the truck new it is the former, if not, the later. Doesn't make much difference.

I suspect that no matter the history if you want a 'cure' the panel will have to be replaced. Big$. Given your location and the likelihood that the roads get salted I'd give you odds that there are similar rusted spot all over the truck. It wouldn't make sense to spent a lot of time and money patching one panel only to find out you have similar, or worse, rust in a half-dozen other spots. I'd go over the truck with a fine-tooth comb looking for signs of rust before committing to an extensive repair.

The bad news is that once you start digging odds are you are going to find more rust than makes sense to repair. You still might dose it with Os-Pho, a phosphate based rust converter, or similar and slow it down a bit, get a few more years out of her but it is usually a rear guard on a lost battle.

http://www.ospho.com/

We used to hose the interior of rusting panels with one of the many home brews. Typical ingredients included wax from toilet rings, diesel fuel, roofing tar, and kerosene. Anything that anyone had on hand and though might slow down the rust. Modern rust converters are better but you have to use them first if you go that route.

Vehicles don't last long if they get salted and it gets up into the body panels. Rusting from the inside out is insidious, by the time the rust shows the damage is done.

I've seen similar things with vehicles driven on the beach down here. The salt-water does a number on them. Even worse down here because, like most chemical processes, rust works faster at higher temperatures. They look fine then a year after the first rust spot show up the vehicle is blown through with rust.

The good news is that its a truck and rust, primer and rough body work, look better on a truck than a car. Being a truck it likely also has a structural frame which the body just rides on. So you can pretty much run it until it fails to cast a shadow.

Looks like there is a lot more rust bubbling up underneath the paint to be exposed. Most likely the whole wheel arch/door well section may have to cut out and mig welded with a new section. The structural section around the door is pretty crucial for safety to maintain structural integrity of the monocoque (assuming that is the vehicle construction) during an accident. i.e. will also stop the door popping out and the occupants being thrown into the road to be run over by other vehicles.

It maybe worthwhile getting the rest of the vehicle inspected i.e. put on a lift as well as you will probably find that the rest of the vehicle is a rust bucket as the photo is most likely showing the rust which has eaten its way through from the other side rather than from any scratched paint work.

Monday she is going to be getting her yearly inspection and an oil change, that's been on the calendar for a week. I'll ask them to take a look.

You know, one of these days I'll learn I'm not that handy and I should be flogged when I try to be, but... *sighs* This is going to be expensive. I guess I'm not pickingup a new .22 and replacing my PC any time soon.

Hey ironraven, I'm from the ice+snow+salt=rust zone as well. Your photo looks depressingly familiar. Been there, man, time and time again.

There's no simple solution. For a complete repair, you ultimately have to sandblast/rebuild (or find parts from an equivalent truck, which is often cheaper and easier).

For now, IMO, there's no reason not to go ahead with the phosphoric acid (naval jelly) on any rust you have exposed. That will convert it, for a time, to a non-rusting form. Aside from that, anything that keeps air and oxygen off will slow it down a little. But rust never sleeps.

If it's a full-size North American truck, built on an actual I-beam frame (as opposed to unibody), there's some rust you can afford to ignore or hide, assuming cosmetics aren't a great concern.

Not full sized- I describe the Escape as a "fun-sized truck". And after that picture was taken, I gooped the rust with naval jelly for about ten minutes and flushed- I was more worried about the good metal I see there with the PJ.

My biggest concern is that I still have a few years left paying it off.

I hate to give up on a good vehicle then it has served well but it might be good to look at what is available on the used truck market.

The value for money is almost always on the used side because you pay a huge premium for new. That first mile driving away from the dealership is the most expensive mile you ever drive. Modern vehicles are increasingly reliable as they push past a quarter million miles. Back in the early 60s getting 100,000 miles was something of a trick and required gentle driving and meticulous maintenance. Now you might get 100,000 if you do nothing but add gas. Assuming they bothered to perform the bare minimum of maintenance, and you keep it up, and don't use it in a demolition derby, you can pretty much expect to get 200,000 miles from any mainline designs.

Bottom line is that there is often a large supply of used trucks out there with less than 75,000 miles that are in good condition. If possible avoid dealerships. Ask around and scan the papers and local trader pages. Paying with cash and buying from the owner can save a lot of money. I'm down south where trucks are really popular but I've seen good ones where they are only asking for $4000. Given the cost of body work, $4000 won't go far, a different truck may be the way to go.

I'm not saying you shouldn't repair Old Reliable. But given the sort of prognosis a vehicle has once it has rust working from the inside out, rust working in the nooks and crannies you can't get to to treat, and that a new/used truck may be better than what you have now, there are clearly limits to how much you can spend on repairs before you're behind the curve.

Such situations are always a PITA .

Sorry to tell you this, but your truck has cancer.