Advice On Fixing Up Some Chipped/Rust Spots On My Truck

[TMF89]

So for whatever reason, this last winter beat the dump out of my truck, and I've got about half a dozen chipped areas where the paint's worn off, and a couple that are starting to rust. None of the areas are very big, most and pretty small. I am concerned though about under one of the wheel wells though. Here's a pic of it.

The entire rear of the bed is pretty scuffed up. Hauled a lot of gravel with it last fall and I think it ground the paint up pretty well.

This is the last large spot, at the rear of the front passenger-side wheel well. The brown spots are where I added rust inhibitor before, when I noticed small bits of rust starting to form.

The rest of the spots are all like these, fairly small.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to go about fixing this problem. If money weren't an issue I would just hand it off to the shop, but I'd like to try and do it on my own. It seems to me like most of the affected areas are pretty rust free. Do you guys think I could get away with just sanding them down a bit (along with a bit of the surrounding paint, just to make sure), and just re-priming/painting with the small applicators?

[Scott K]

Rust is harder to get rid of then aids. You can cover it up, but its still there, and will get worse with time.

[PurpleFloyd]

What year and brand?

[TMF89]

2004 F150. It barely has over 100,000 on it, and I've only owned it for two years. Haven't put it through anything I didn't put the Expedition I drove before it through, but for whatever reason the paint job isn't nearly as durable. One thing I'm concerned about is the flaking of the paint? If I were to paint those spots in, do I just coat the edge of the old paint with new paint?

[harvey lee]

You can buy auto paint and get one of the glass pint jars with the aerosol spray can with it. Thin the paint and it does a pretty good job.

far as the rust spots on the end gate, I would sand it all as good as you can get it and then tape off the edges and spray it. Let it dry and put 2 coats on it. The flaking by the wheelwells I have seen alot of, pretty normal when they start to lossen like that.

The smaller chipped areas, you can get those smaller plastic bottles of paint with a small brush inside. Clean it up good and put it on but for this application, I would only do like quarter sized areas. These small spots would be a pretty easy fix and should last for a year or better as the rust does not look to bad.

trouble you could run into on the sides by the fender is the paint now on the truck has faded and then new paint may be a shade different but I highly doubt anyone will notice unless you tell them.

I would guess in an afternoon, you could get it all done and the truck would look alot nicer, just a matter of how long it will last. Maybe 6 months, maybe longer.

A body shop should be able to match the paint color and I would have them include some hardner with the paint and thinner or they could mix it up ready to spray.

I have done this to a couple of my trucks that had smaller chips and it worked great, lasted for quite awhile. I am sure a year is probably the best time you will get out of a job like this but in one year, do it again.

Other option, go to a body shop but that will run into alot of money.

[TMF89]

Harvey, how would you clean up the flaking paint then? Sand it away until you find paint that hasn't started flaking yet? Obvious question and answer, just checking. I have access to a power hand-sander, would it be worth picking up a paint/rust removal pad and going to work with that? Or just use some sand paper? What grit would you recommend?

[CASTnBLAST]

Painting over bare metal without a quality etching primer first would be a waste of time. I'm not sure how rattle can primers would hold up since I've never used them. I use a catalyzed primer in a spray gun. The paint used on your truck is a base/clear system, the base color is only color and dries flat mixed with a stabilizer. The clear gives it the shine and is mixed with a reducer and hardener but you would need an air supply and spray gun.

Ideally you would use a sand blaster to get down to nice clean metal removing ALL of the rust. If pitting is a result of cleaning the rust away you would use polyester glaze and block sand smooth followed by a primer then top coat with a catalyzed sealer preferably over the primer.

The tailgate would be relatively easy just shoot it open. The other two spots you have a body crease line where I would use a round feather edge tape so you don't end up with a sharp paint line. You could get by with rolling the masking edge of the tape up achieving basically the same affect and shooting the whole lower section. Wouldn't have to paint the whole section only the primed area fanning/blending the paint out but clearing the whole section. Same could be done with the fender lips.

The toughest one to have good results would be the fender since there isn't a real defined line there. One option would be to repair/paint the area to stop the rust and put fender flares on which you can get a whole set of for less than $300.

After you remove the rust by blasting/grinding or whatever your going to need to feather the repair area so there isn't a noticeable ridge for lack of better words. An orbital sander works best for this but can be done by hand. 360 grit would be fine then use 400 on the primer.

Problem is having the tools, mainly a clean/dry air source and spray gun. Red is your most expensive color, have seen pints go as much as over $140! Then you will need a stabilizer cuz paint is usually reduced 1:1, pints might be available dunno we buy by the gallon. Same thing with the clear not sure if that's sold in quart form cuz again, we buy by the gallon. I would probably recommend using a high speed type clear since you likely won't have a real dust free environment to spray in ( the clear doesn't stay "open" as long and doesn't run as easy...would wait for a warm day too if you don't have a heated shop)this also eliminates the need for a clear coat reducer.

Take the time to cover rest of truck from overspray it's a dam to remove trust me.

You can see why it's sometimes not so quite "cost effective" to DIY sometimes Good Luck!

Oh and make sure and clean the areas well with a paint prep/wax remover, any type of petroleum type contaminant will cause fisheyes ie. wax/armor all/ tire dressing and that greasy Big Mac on your fingers etc. Good idea to have a fisheye eliminator on hand. Tac rag too to remove dust.

[delcecchi]

Sounds like doing it right is a big job. How old is the truck? How much do you care about the appearance?