Any tips for Body repair

[JShiz]

I'm considering trying this http://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=706448 and repaint my car. I've been finding rust and by the time i get the money to have it proffesionally done my car would be a last cause. I also have a bunch of Dings and one large dent on my front right fender.

Does anybody have any tips that they would like to share?



Another link
about the "$100 paint Job"
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...ge=0&fpart=50&

[classicauto]

My tip would be fix the rust, and paint the areas only (even if you roller the areas........) if you plan on eventually having good paint on the car, then you're just making it far worse by putting that stuff on. It will just be more labour when it comes time to do it right. That will get you by for the time being without having a bunch of dings and rust anyways...

For the amount of work it takes to make it look good, you may as well spend money on proper material and have a good job IMHO. Doing it this way involves ALL the prep, and time of a normal paint job (plus more time if you're actually going to buff it. A paint job will never be as rough as a roller job - so wet sanding that down will easily take 2 to 3x longer then necessary) so if you're going to all the work of doing it, it seems rather pointless to me to use a matieral that will not last.



Can it work? Sure it can....just won't work for very long.

[JShiz]

This is my biggest concern. I cracked some paint on my FB and found rust under it. I'm just concern if i can get all the rust just by hitting the fairly visible spots. That's why i was contemplating just doing the whole thing.

Can it work? Sure it can....just won't work for very long.

The guys in the mopar link had their paint job on for 6+ years and they still look pretty good.


Fwiw, I think the ricer in me is coming out, I want my car Satin red like this car. With some satin black accents in different spots.

[pfantim]

I've done a similar thing on a VW I had but I used a good paint by Nason. You can use a cellulose acetate brushing thinner in the Nason 2 part urethane and get a long lasting glossy result. Just be sure to use a good rust converter on the rust, then an epoxy primer before you resort to the topcoat. It won't be as good as a paintbooth job but will cost much less.

[JShiz]

A guy did his honda civic like that except he used a spray gun

[classicauto]

FWIW, I wouldn't believe the guy on the mopar site for a second. I'm sure its not completely deteriorated, but if tremclad and rustoleum were solid paints that stood up on the exterior of a car for any respectable amount of time - OEM's would use them. But they don't, they're suited for deck chairs and rusty iron fences posts.

Additionally, most of the "rust" based paints are designed to stick to RUST. If you use them on a finely prepped surface it will not stick properly.

But on the mopar thread...the guy touts it as a $50 paint job. But the paint is worth about $40-50. By the time you buy some sandpaper, tools, etc. and invest the time (ALOT) to do all the bodywork, you'll have alot more then $50 into it by the time you're ready to paint, and at that point - to spray or roll on something designed for rusty old tractor parts just seems a little.............counterproductive.

Anyone who posts about how they sprayed/rolled/whatever their car with rust paint is of course going to tell you it worked great. They're not going to point out how the colour has faded on the top panel surfaces from UV, or how pieces of it are flaking off here around a tiny stone chip. Pictures do NOT tell a whole story of how well a car looks. My car looks immaculate in pictures but there is nit-picky-type marks all over the thing.

If you don't particularly care though and want it one colour, sure like I said it works for its base purpose. But don't plan on painting it properly any time down the road, otherwise prepare for a HUGE amount of work. Like I said though the thing that doesn't make sense to me is putting all that time and effort - and money - into the bodywork only to put on something that will only "work" when you ignore its downfalls.

[RX-7 Chris]

I spray painted my car with rust paint. I did quite a bit of prep. The problem I had was the finish never looked smooth and it didn't matter how much I wet sanded and buffed. It looked good from 50' away but when you got close you could see the roughness. it wasn't a problem with orange spray or bubbles. It was a common problem with all spray paint nossles.

[JShiz]

Originally Posted by classicauto

.

Thanks. I won't paint it just yet. I'm gonna just go with your first suggestion. A freind and i started poking aroung my car to find where the rust is bad. Luckily most of it is surface rust except for two parts. I'm gonna kill the rust and reprimer and add some touch up paint to get by and get it painted further down the road.

[JShiz]

Hey Classic, What would you use to kill rust? I'm going to buy an orbital Sander too.

[classicauto]

Depending on the severity, a 24grit grinding disc, or a sandblaster. If you can't clean out any pitting with the grinder (small pin holes of rust just beneath the surface you're grinding) use a blaster to dig the corrosion out. That is the best/easiest way.

Obviously, if it breaks through while cleaning it up - patch it

[JShiz]

OK. I'll invest in a sand blaster and get a fine medium. I hope to get it all within the next two weeks. Thanks. If anybody has any more suggestions, feel free to add.

[Max777]

Originally Posted by classicauto

Depending on the severity, a 24grit grinding disc, or a sandblaster. If you can't clean out any pitting with the grinder (small pin holes of rust just beneath the surface you're grinding) use a blaster to dig the corrosion out. That is the best/easiest way.

Obviously, if it breaks through while cleaning it up - patch it

I hat that because sometimes you will actually grind hot metal right over these pin holes, and while the final surface looks good, there is still actually just a tiny bit of rust under there. Even through, however, if you do the repair well enough, yes rust will come back, however it will take SIGNIFICANTLY longer to "rot" out your car then if you were to just leave it be. Are you planning to keep this car for a really long time, do you want to do a REALLY good job and make SURE you will not have to "re-restore" the car after another 10 years or so? If this is the case, I would go all out on it and spend whatever it costs to get it back in shape.

[JShiz]

I plan to hold on to this car until it get's totaled out.

Should i grab a dremel or a 3d sander? (I'm gonna grab a sand blaster regardless)

[JShiz]

Well I invested in a dye grinder and my friends and I cut out the panels on my car that was completely oxidised and grinded any place the had surface rust. I went through my whell wells and got all the rust in there. I took out my back bins and got the rust in their too. We put some green fluid on ever place that i grinded that got the pits of rust and redoxed the oxygen out of the metal and turn it black. We're looking for a doner FB to patch the holes up but we're probably going to kittiehair the holes with fiberglass. Then I'm gonna rattlecan my patches so moister wont rust my car out any more. Once I get some more money saved up I'm going to prep my car for paint and have it professionally sprayed by someone else a more viberant red.

But my short term goal is to make it stop rusting.