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Wanted Recommendations for repairing surface rust

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vandy96

Member
Joined
July 21, 2001
Messages
18
Reaction score
2
City, State
Mclean, VA
Year, Model & Trim Level
1999 Eddie Bauer 4WD
Looking for some recommendations on how to best tackle some surface rust that has appeared along the sill of the RH rear door. The rust has not progressed beyond the sill, so I want to try to tackle this issue before it gets any worse. Hoping for some DIY suggestions that are going to keep me out of a body shop. Thanks!

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One thing I know having lived in the Upper Midwest Rust Belt my entire life is RUST. And, I can tell you there's almost always more lurking underneath from what you're able to see. You'll want to remove that trim piece and sand/grind that down to clean bare metal to remove all traces of it. Otherwise, it will just return. Then, prime and paint (make sure the primer is compatible with the paint).
 






There is no simple one-can fix to rust.. any rust. To remove rust and prevent it from coming back up, every last little speck of it has to be gone.. even down in the pores of the metal. The best way is to spot sandblast, wash with metal prep, epoxy primer, high build primer, and topcoat.

Is it simple or cheap? No, of course not, or everyone would do it that way. That is the "correct" way to treat rust.

I use and recommend Summit Racing primers.. haven't laid down their topcoats yet, but the high build 2k primer and epoxy 2k primer are very good.
If you need a filler.. Evercoat Rage. Don't even consider picking up that can of Bondo... No, not even the 'pro' stuff.

If you're just looking to get down the road, use a wire brush on a drill, wash with metal prep, and spray some rattle can on the clean metal. You can even get a rattle can 2K paint now from Eastwood for a better cheap repair. I haven't used it but some of the project photos they reposted on IG look pretty good.
 






There is no simple one-can fix to rust.. any rust. To remove rust and prevent it from coming back up, every last little speck of it has to be gone.. even down in the pores of the metal. The best way is to spot sandblast, wash with metal prep, epoxy primer, high build primer, and topcoat.

Is it simple or cheap? No, of course not, or everyone would do it that way. That is the "correct" way to treat rust.

I use and recommend Summit Racing primers.. haven't laid down their topcoats yet, but the high build 2k primer and epoxy 2k primer are very good.
If you need a filler.. Evercoat Rage. Don't even consider picking up that can of Bondo... No, not even the 'pro' stuff.

If you're just looking to get down the road, use a wire brush on a drill, wash with metal prep, and spray some rattle can on the clean metal. You can even get a rattle can 2K paint now from Eastwood for a better cheap repair. I haven't used it but some of the project photos they reposted on IG look pretty good.

Thanks for the great advice!
 






I think you're going to find a larger rust problem behind that running board...

This is what I use on rust, after prep with wire brush, sandpaper, paint chip prep pen, etc. I haven't have any rust return to areas I have did on metal body panels, but I live in relatively dry climate WY.

s_trmt_extend.png
 






I think you're going to find a larger rust problem behind that running board...

This is what I use on rust, after prep with wire brush, sandpaper, paint chip prep pen, etc. I haven't have any rust return to areas I have did on metal body panels, but I live in relatively dry climate WY.

s_trmt_extend.png
That's what I'm afraid of...I'm planning to pull the running board this weekend to get a peek at how bad the problem is. Need to get all of my supplies together and then tackle it!
 






There's more than you see, it'll spread soon enough. It's typically a cut out areas and weld in new steel, job, and load up the back with undercoating using a wand to get in there good.

I don't do body work so it ended up costing a little over $2K to have mine fixed, about 2.5 feet on both sides including the dog legs. This was a few years back when mine was still worth more. Today, I'd probably try to remove all the rust I could, rivet some screen on and slap some bondo on that, maybe fiberglass instead, or just leave it as-is. Somebody sells (or at least used to) replacement pre-formed steel panels for this but I don't recall who.
 






There's more than you see, it'll spread soon enough. It's typically a cut out areas and weld in new steel, job, and load up the back with undercoating using a wand to get in there good.

I don't do body work so it ended up costing a little over $2K to have mine fixed, about 2.5 feet on both sides including the dog legs. This was a few years back when mine was still worth more. Today, I'd probably try to remove all the rust I could, rivet some screen on and slap some bondo on that, or just leave it as-is. Somebody sells replacement pre-formed steel panels for this but I don't recall who.

The repair far exceeds the value of the vehicle at this point. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm sitting on a collector's item. Don't believe the '99s are going to suddenly become the hot commodity in Scottsdale!
 






Now that mine is worth less I might consider tackling much of it myself if I could find the pre-formed panels, I mean I wouldn't feel as bad if it turned out looking funny ;) and have an alternate vehicle so longer downtime isn't an issue. Guess it also depends on just how bad it is, mine was bad there but fortunately no rust anywhere else.

I don't have a welder though so I'd find someone to do that part. I vaguely recall there's a box shaped area behind there that the body shop guy had to fab himself out of sheet steel, or so I was told. I'm sure I looked under there after the work was done but he could've put undercoating on old steel and I might not have known the difference.
 












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