ABDomega

I have small patches of rust accumulating on my car. They are in spots that most likely were caused my rocks hitting it while driving. I want to get to them before they spread.

Should I get emory paper and try to remove it and then paint over it with touch-up paint, and where is the best place to get touch-up paint (i.e. Pep Boys, Autozone)?

Any informatoin, instructions, advice will be appreciated.

kegrun

I would imagine that the dealer would be the best touch up paint, only cause it will match your car better.

ABDomega

I'd probably be paying upwards of $150. I don't want to spend that kind of money on something so small.

neuronbob

I think he meant that the dealer is the best place to buy touch up paint. I did this and the paint costs some trivial amount, I think $4 or so.

this is me

touch paint less than 8 bucks at the dealer.

ABDomega

Thanks guys, I will go to the dealer to get the touch up paint.

Do any of you know a good way of going about removing the surface rust first?

TLover8888

you have to sand the rust out, all the way down to the bare metal. then use primer paint to build up to the same level as the paint. then paint the primer with the touch up paint. if you just use touch up paint after sanding out all the rust, then there will be an "unevenness" between the original body paint and the touch up paint.

ABDomega

Will I be able to find a small bottle of primer at an auto parts store?

JeffNY

I was told by a body guy you can use the point of an exacto knife to clean out the rust (if any), then use a tooth pick to "dab" paint (and primer if needed) into tiny chipped areas (I'd put a mat or something around the chip to avoid dripping paint on your car if you think you might do that)....you can repeat the process several times to build up the pain in layers....for expert finish you can then use a super fine paper to sand, then spray with clear coat....but I imagine you really want to know what you are doing to try that at home ...I have a bottle of touch up paint I bought from my dealer for like $3.50, I have a few chips I have to fix shortly.

JeffNY

oh and if you do drip some paint on your car remember you can use paint thinner to wipe it right up...might want to keep some handy before you start, it's cheap

TLover8888

yes, and buy clearcoat touch up paint as well.

ABDomega

Is that different than the touch up paint I can get at the dealer?

TLover8888

yes...to be clear, you have to have 3 different bottles to do the rust job. the 1st bottle is the primer; the 2nd bottle is the touch paint; and the 3rd is the clear coat paint. the 3rd bottle gives the paint its glassy shine look. if you just put the 2nd bottle on (i.e., the touch up paint), then it will look dull and matte. so here are the steps to fix your rust prob:

1) sand down all of the rust, basically down to the body metal

2) put the primer on the spot; let each coat dry first when trying to build up the levels to even out the spot with the rest of the body paint

3) put the touch up paint on and let it dry.

4) put the clear coat paint on it and let it dry.


its not going to come out as professionally as a body shop but it'll do.
hope this helps.

ABDomega

Thanks TLover8888.

The problem is that the rusted areas are really small I'd say 2 square millimeters at the most, very small. How can I sand it without touching the paint around it that isn't affected? I will probably get the the 3 bottles as you say.

What kind of emory/sand paper should I get?

TLover8888

you will want to get very fine grit sandpaper...somewhere along the lines of 1500 grit. definitely nothing coarse/harsh.

you could maybe cut the sandpaper to the shape of a pencil eraser and tape it to the end of a pensil eraser...or like someone on this thread said, the point of a pen knife.

you might have to chip off the paint surrounding the rust too b/c rust could have formed underneath the surrounding paint and you just cant see it even though its there. if you dont, then you're just going to develop more rust later at that same spot.

daimler560

3M makes (made?) a pen like device where you can sand very small areas easily to take out rust spots. It looks like a large sharpie--try finding that at the Pep boys or something.