Advise Needed - Touch up paint

[cliff123]

Hi, I have a golf which has a couple of rust marks on the door. No idea how they occured, but they have been left too long and rust is showing its head. I now have the right paint & sealant, but very little idea on how best to do the job. Paint shops advised repainting the whole side of the car (£400)!!!! But this is my work horse not my P&J, so please advise on how to make the best of the situation.

The two spots are about 4mm round each. How best to rub it down? With what? Any advise on not touching the rest of the car? Thanks in advance.

[Incorrigible]

"Sealant" doesn't sound right

You should probably (obviously I haven't seen it) take it down to bare metal and build it up again from there

You should be OK just painting the door, but you'll get a much better finish if you blend in the surrounding panels

[cliff123]

Its lacquer not sealant. This is my first time doing any body work to a car, so need step by step dummy guides please. Do I just rub it down with wet and dry then paint? or what? Thanks.

[Gallen (BPH)]

cliff123 said:

...This is my first time doing any body work to a car, so need step by step dummy guides please. Do I just rub it down with wet and dry then paint? or what? Thanks.

Mmm. You sure you wanna do it ;-)

if it's "your first time" you'll definately make it worse!

Find a freindly bodyshop, and get a cash/trade deal.

[cliff123]

No I dont really want to do it, but I aint blowing £400 on it either! The three garages I've been to have all wanted to do the same work, regardless of how many times I tell them I just want it touched up. If anyone can suggest anyone in the Gosport/Portsmouth or Chichester area that is good and cheap that would be great. Cheers.

[Incorrigible]

So it's a metalic then

you'll need to laquer the whole panel at least

you'll need to remove all traces of rust, that will leave a dip in the metal, that will need to be filled

Get it flat with dry paper (quite course at this stage 60ish) then give it a good coat of high solid primer

This can then be flatted, along with the surrounding area with wet 800 grade paper

Then paint and seal