How to deal with the rust
2I accidentally drove my car over a curb. But my car has minor scratches and dents on the bottom, near the rear tire. Now, I have noticed that now it is slowly rusting on the scratched paint. The rust marks aren’t too bad, but I want to remove them. Need everyone’s advice!
- 5 comments, 8 replies
- Comment
If you clean it, and the area is small and not noticeable, you can cover and seal the area with clear nail polish. Or use an enamel clear coat from an auto parts/paint store. If it is on the undercarriage, there might be spray on undercoatings too. Make sure you mask and tape over anywhere that a spray-on paint or coating will overspray. And don’t apply it if there is wind.
That’s why auto paint places have indoor garages just for painting and applying coats.
You might check a local auto paint place. They might have a reasonable price for a touch up job.
@mike808
Every automotive brand I’m aware of sells a touch up stick if you bring in your VIN. Subaru and Honda in particular sell very nice and easy to use ones
@guyfromhawthorn @mike808
But before trying to cover up a rusted spot with anything, see the very much relevant comment from @JvB below.
@JvB @mike808 @werehatrack
Yep. Those touch-up sticks have a little scraper tool as part of the paint stick and directions to scrape off the rust. As long as it’s not a huge area and not too deep, these are sufficient. Much more than that and you’ll probably want a body shop anyway.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B014LHNF6S/
Before painting make sure there is no more rust or it will continue to spread under any paint you spray over it. I’ve used this before and it’s worked pretty good https://www.lowes.com/pd/LOCTITE-Rust-Neutralizer-10-2-oz-Rust-Remover/4764091?cm_mmc=shp--c--prd--pnt--ggl--LIA_PNT_133_TS-Sanding-Sundries-Surface-Buckets--4764091--0--0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7oyNBhDiARIsADtGRZY_q6n8vdKAlUgwn72wxhqYwXMguykmumgW1-jy5rbn_YqrGw49KxkaAhW3EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
@JvB
Here is the de-crapified tracker-removed version of that link:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/LOCTITE-Rust-Remover/4764091
@mike808 thanks! My bad
@JvB At least the embedded item in your referral link that you were looking at previously (Sanding Sundries Surface Buckets?) wasn’t “55-gallon-drum-sex-lube” or worse.
Pictures would help.
@bdb
/giphy Just a flesh wound
Chris Fix to the rescue!
Actually, if you search YouTube you’ll find a bunch of videos with repair instructions for varying degrees of rust penetration. Give YouTube a try.
@Kerig3 Unfortunately, since YouTube disabled the dislike counter (for us, not the creator), you can’t tell the shitty videos from the useful ones.
And make sure you (along with the other suggestions) pay attention to the temperature outside. Some paints don’t set right if it is too cold. Using a hair dryer can also cause problems as you don’t want the paint to get too hot either, not to mention it takes a while for it to dry completely. Says she who lived in the rust belt most of her life, had cars that got very old over time with dings and such that would rust and so went through a ton of paint, rust-olium paint… I once had a rust bucket (I was given it because it failed PA’s rust inspection)) that I am sure had I been in an accident with it all that would have been left of it is a bit of rust dust on the road.