Car paint chip and rust

[DEL]

Hi all
Does anybody have had any experience with treating rust spots on a car? My wife's Corolla has two spots on its hood, where paint has been chipped and rust has started to grow. One is the size of the round of a pencil, and another is a thin line about an inch wide.
We were quoted $1500 at a local body shop. Needless to say, we would like to explore other more affordable solutions.
A little bit of research suggests that I could sandpaper the rust, apply some primer and then paint the spots. Where does one get the right color of paint for the car? And what would be a good primer to use? Would appreciate any pointers from people who had experience with this. Thanks!

[sokoloff]

First of all, nothing you do with rattle cans is going to look anything like a professionally applied multi-step paint. (I'm not criticizing, just being crystal clear so your expectations will be appropriately set.)

You can get color matched paint from the dealership for sure, and for a Toyota, I bet you can get it at your local Autozone/NAPA/Advanced/etc.

First make sure the rust is just surface rust. If it's completely gone through the panel, you can't really repair by sanding. You need to completely sand off all the rust OR use a rust converter. Prep work is entirely determinant of the final outcome (in appearance and longevity). Do not attempt to just repair the rust spot. Repair a spot about 4x-8x the diameter of the rust spot. Clean with paint thinner compatible with your paint system. Use a rusty-metal primer. Follow the directions on the can(s) and buy all the paint supplies from the same supplier. (If you buy Duplicolor top coat, buy Duplicolor primer and Duplicolor clearcoat.) Follow the directions on the can(s) with respect to recoat time.

If you're not too fussy about appearances (you probably shouldn't be if you're using rattle cans), I'd follow each product in turn at exactly the re-coat time specified and not let the job sit overnight and get dusty and pollen-coated.

If you want a professional looking repair, you've got to get a bodyshop to do it. There's just too large a learning curve, you need too much equipment to make sense for a one-shot DIY repair, etc. Find a guy who will spray the car after hours for beer money and accept that you won't have a warranty on the repair. (You won't on the rattle can job, either.)