Car rust repair

shaneconnolly1

Hi guys,
Was looking at buying a new car but there's slight rust on 2 of the doors at the very edge. It's runs down the side of the door so it's not really visible when the door is closed if you get me. It's about 1cm long on each door. Has anyone got any idea of what the cost of repair would be? The car passed NCT June 2014 but has been parked up for 3 months. I have pictures but I'm unsure how to post them. Thanks

Duke O Smiley

Has it rusted through (i.e can you poke your finger through it?) or is it just beginning to bubble up? Either way it will not fail an NCT, only heavy rust on structural parts of the body will fail the NCT. Without seeing photos it is hard to say how you could best go about repairing this. Poke it with a screwdriver and if it goes through, leave it to a pro, if not grind it down to bare metal, treat it, fill it, prime it, paint it.

I only recently had a similar problem on a car of my own, luckily the rust wasn't so bad so I could tackle it myself.

shaneconnolly1

No the rust is tiny. its mainly just 2 little sections at the very edge of the doors and i have just spotted another spot where it looks like a stone chipped it or something thats rusting too. its about 3mm x 3mm. A screwdriver wouldnt go through it as its in the very early stages but id like to treat it asap. Any idea of the cost? I dont want to do it myself as im afraid i would only do more damage and botch up the job

shaneconnolly1

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

Without seeing photos it is hard to say how you could best go about repairing this.

How do i attatch the photos? Sorry, Im new haha

Duke O Smiley

shaneconnolly1 wrote: »

How do i attatch the photos? Sorry, Im new haha

I don't believe you can post photos until your account is at least 15 days / 50 posts old. You could PM the photos to a mod and ask them to pop them up here for you.

case_sensitive

Or put photos on Flickr and link them?

I had a little touch of surface rust on my driver door where the previous owner had owned it into a wall but not fixed the paint.
The only way to know what's under the paint is to remove it; flapper disc on a dremel if it's small, grinder if it's not. Sandpaper if you're feeling energetic.
Different grades if you have them.

Hopefully it's superficial, so sand/flap 80grit, 160, 320/400, 600/800, then 1200.
At least 3 coats of primer, (you can use Halford's rattle cans with a bit of practice and you're not looking for a concourse finish), sand with 2500 grit paper till it's smooth
Then paint at least 3/4 coats, and sand with 2500 (wet) until it's a matt finish, oddly. Then clear coat/lacquer at least 3/4 coats.
Best done inside, in a dust free environment, where insects or leaves won't stick. Best done in paint shop really :-)
My car cost €2,000 so I was ok with an amateur job, if you're not, maybe enquire about a pro? Make sure to tell them it's not an insurance job, it'll halve the quote or better.