Author Topic: What do you do about car rust?  (Read 3988 times)

ender

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What do you do about car rust?
« on: May 31, 2014, 03:41:50 PM »
Alrighty Mustachians, I've got a question about a car.

I have a car which has some rust spots. Nothing super serious now but definitely in the category of "will cause problems eventually" category. My dilemma is the car is a 2005 Focus with nearly 100k miles at this point. It'd cost a TON to get it fixed well but the stupid thing is only worth maybe $4k and already about 10 years old.

The rust is along the wheel well area and so is more or less in typical spots (some along the panel under the door, too).

I'm planning on keeping this car for quite some time - basically until it stops running. Ideally 5-10 more years. So cosmetic problems, while unsightly, aren't really that big of a deal for me. At the same time, rust is a cosmetic thing which can definitely turn fatal for the car.

What have you all done in this situation?


Rbuckyfuller

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Re: What do you do about car rust?
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2014, 04:18:02 PM »
My dad sands them down and puts something called POR15 on them.  Works pretty well for him -- he's got cars from 1994-1997.

I'm a NYC resident -- so I don't have a car anymore.

chops

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Re: What do you do about car rust?
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2014, 04:22:23 PM »
I've got a 1995 buick century with 15,000 miles which I plan on keeping for another 150,000.  It does have some rust over the wheel wells being 20 years old - so what I'm doing to avoid this being a problem over the next 20 years is to scrape as much of the rust out as I can, and primer and paint it myself (with rattle spray cans).  I've heard these days you can get a correct match for touch up paint even for older cars so hopefully it won't be too noticeable. 

I'm planning on doing this over the next couple weeks so I'll let you know how it turns out!

Good luck,

 - Chops

ender

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Re: What do you do about car rust?
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2014, 04:27:57 PM »
I've got a 1995 buick century with 15,000 miles which I plan on keeping for another 150,000.  It does have some rust over the wheel wells being 20 years old - so what I'm doing to avoid this being a problem over the next 20 years is to scrape as much of the rust out as I can, and primer and paint it myself (with rattle spray cans).  I've heard these days you can get a correct match for touch up paint even for older cars so hopefully it won't be too noticeable. 

I'm planning on doing this over the next couple weeks so I'll let you know how it turns out!

Good luck,

 - Chops

This is more or less what I was thinking of doing. Might be worth investing in some sort of grinder/sander tool as I suspect that'd be useful for the rest of my life. Basically grind/sand down to clean metal, put some primer on, and put some spray/touchup paint on it.

Definitely let me know how that works out! I would like to do something similar but my father seems convinced it's impossible to do something like this and that I should start smaller (he completely repainted cars when he was younger). I'm not as convinced I should since I don't care anywhere near as much about the aesthetics..

BlueMR2

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Re: What do you do about car rust?
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2014, 05:50:15 PM »
What have you all done in this situation?

I usually just coat it with LPS Rust Inhibitor to slow the growth of the areas until they threaten to jump to another panel or something looks like it's going to fall off.  At that point I take it to a shop and have that section removed and replaced.  Doesn't really cost any more to have large sections fixed than small ones (as long as it hasn't jumped to another area yet).

Thegoblinchief

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Re: What do you do about car rust?
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2014, 07:27:16 PM »
It's not really worth it in my experience, but the few cars I've done body work on were further gone than yours. My brother had one so bad that the whole trunk bottom disintegrated, and the carpet in the footwells would lift up if there was water on the highways.

Just keep an eye on the frame and undercarriage.