Putting rust into a holding pattern

[Ben Hutchings]

I need to do something with a lot of rush patches, bubbles & cracks. The ultimate solution is of course a proper restoration, but that’s not on the cards this year. So I want to know what to do – if anything – to stop matters getting considerably worse fast. 

Current ideas include:

- A good clean and a wax, and hope for the best.

- Rub back and wax, Accidental rat-look. 

- Rubbing back, rattle-can primer and lacquer. Possibly a matched cellulose Power Blue but it’s gonna look terrible. 

- Some sort of ‘rust converter’ and then one of the above. 

- Do nothing...

Any thoughts? Pic attached of one example. The here’s stuff like this all over the place. 

[Clive]

Really tricky to know where to go with that sort of rust. I had a bubble in the middle of my toledo roof, so when I did a respray I cleaned it back to shiny metal, etch primed and a little stopper/filler. Then painted teh roof with 2K primer and topcoat. A year later it was back with a vengeance. I scraped it back to remove the rust and slapped a puddle of 2K topcoat as a temp repair. 4 years later it hasn't got worse. I despair.

But if the rust has come through from the back, applying some quality wax (dinitrol etc) may prevent it getting worse. Likewise rubbing a thin wax into the surface may help stop it getting any worse. Partly depends how the car is stored and how long you plan to wait to tackle it properly. But I am a firm believer that quality wax protection is essential, and it is almost impossible to keep a car that is used regularly in all weathers from getting rusty bits.

[Tim Bancroft]

Ben, great advice from Clive.

Localised repairs are great if done properly, but not something I would undertake. However, in my experience finding a good trade person is always the bigger problem. James Cooper knows of a good repairer, based in Poole. This repairer chap did some work to my GT6 in February, I am very pleased and I thought the work was of a high quality. Maybe worth having a chat with James?

[Roger Keys]

If that pics anything to go by, that's coming from behind. Will be significantly more than is visible. It is possible to do localised repairs, but it's blending on the paint that's the issue. Very difficult for it not to be visible to some extent. If you are happy with slight difference, get it done. It can only get worse.

[Steve AKA vitessesteve]

Whatever you can see will get worse if left untreated. It's always worse than you can see in my experience. If you are intending to do a full or part respray it would be worth digging into the visible patches first to see what you working on. 

Try to find out why that patch is rusty. Is there anything you can do to stop it breaking out elsewhere. For example check the doors drain and for mud in the wheel arches.