Broken paint on door starting to rust
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Joined: May 2014
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Broken paint on door starting to rust
Had someone leave a dent in the door half a foot across at an awkward upward angle a few months ago, so not sure how it happened. Had a paintless dent repair guy come out to fix it for about $400, but the broken paint remained. The broken paint recently chipped further when I took the car for a touchless car wash, and after a number of rainstorms rust has developed.
How bad can this get? I've never had any luck in the past sending pictures to body shops for a price quote, and it'd be a hassle to drive to multiple shops in person to shop around. I'm not looking forward to the price either, which I expect to be $500-1000 at a minimum to get it looking like it never happened. I don't want to get into sanding and buffing and all that myself for fear of making it look any worse. I'm tempted to just get a touch-up pen, scrape off the rust, and cover the spot in touch-up paint.
Any advice appreciated!
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 30,487
Likes: 4,417
From: In an igloo
Rust is like cancer to cars. Once you get it, it's hard to get rid of.
Lucky for you, it's isolated to just your door, which means it likely will not spread past the door. However, that door will eventually look worse and worse if you don't repair it.
you can do ghetto repairs, or you can do it right and take it to a shop. Your preference, really. Also, the more the rust spreads the more expensive it will be to repair. Right now, it doesn't look too too bad. I mean, it's bad, but not "well this car is fit for the dumpster now" bad.
Unfortunately, there is no easy or cheap way to correct body work imperfections.
Lucky for you, it's isolated to just your door, which means it likely will not spread past the door. However, that door will eventually look worse and worse if you don't repair it.
you can do ghetto repairs, or you can do it right and take it to a shop. Your preference, really. Also, the more the rust spreads the more expensive it will be to repair. Right now, it doesn't look too too bad. I mean, it's bad, but not "well this car is fit for the dumpster now" bad.
Unfortunately, there is no easy or cheap way to correct body work imperfections.
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 30,487
Likes: 4,417
From: In an igloo
Also, your suggested repair will not work. It will be half assed at best and will look like shit again, 1 year from now. You need to remove ALL the rust. Every spec of it. Which means you'll be chipping more original paint off. Which means there's more chance of rust happening if you don't repair it right.
