Tiny rust spots on ...
 

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[Closed] Tiny rust spots on car...how do I sort it?

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My campervan (which is a flat white colour, handily) as some tiny rust spots coming through the paintwork, most of them are around 1mm in diameter. Couple of worse areas, looks like a previous owner had rubbed a metal sign and it chattered against the roofline, leaving some 10mm vertical lines in the paint that have some light rust.

I have some rust converter stuff, I also have a rattle can of colour matched paint that I have used before to paint a fibreglassed patch on the roof. Apparently I can just spray some of this into the lid rather than buying a touch up pen (expensive as my colour isn't stocked in Halfords etc) However, the patch sprayed doesn't match the surrounding paintwork, I suspect I should have waxed it shortly after painting to protect it? I was under the impression it didn't need a lacquer coat as white doesn't need it.

Basically I don't want the van to look the same as shortly before I bought it, i.e it looked like it had been attacked with Tippex. I walked away then returned and bought when I heard the dealer had sent it off to a bodyshop to get it done properly, and all the touching up was invisible.


 
Posted : 28/05/2012 10:06 am
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Possibly your colour-matched paint isn't colour-matched -- there are a lot of different whites 🙂 However, if the van's fairly old the original paint may have gone dull and make the fresh paint obvious. T-Cut on the original paint should help to blend it in.

Rusty bits really need grinding back to shiny metal then primed and painted, or it just comes back.


 
Posted : 28/05/2012 10:21 am
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Do you own my van? 😯

I could be asking exactly the same question, so will await anyone's suggestions.

EDIT: Too slow.


 
Posted : 28/05/2012 10:22 am
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Well the paint was mixed at a proper autopaints place to the factory paint code, it was very close when new but I assumed because it was going onto a fibre-glassed patch, and because although I sanded it a few times it is a pretty rough job (being on a hi-top van it can only be seen from an upstairs window).

I was hoping to avoid any grinding/filling etc as being a van, the panels are huge and the rest of the paint is pretty good. I've been meaning to get around to this for a couple of years and its not really got any worse in that time, so I don't think its going to spread out of control like it would on an older van.

At the same time I'm not expecting a perfect job, the spots are only really noticed when washing the van, I just want to protect the metal and not make it any more noticeable...

Saxon...I will tackle most jobs, but bodywork/paint is one of those things you just don't want to muck up 🙂 I'd be tempted to do a DIY wrap in metallic silver, but being an Iveco Daily, the panels have complex panel pressings and I doubt it would be successful!


 
Posted : 28/05/2012 11:23 am
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This fibreglass bit -- is the high top itself fibreglass or have you got a fibreglass patch in a steel roof? If the roof's fibreglass it's almost certainly not painted, so the paint won't match.

You should be able to sort out some scrapes and blisters on a white van easily enough. Metallics I'd run a mile from, but white's fine. Warm the can, spray it on, don't mask too close to where you're painting so you get a feathered edge to the new paint, fine wet and dry between coats, cut it in afterwards. Got to be better than rust, anyway 🙂


 
Posted : 28/05/2012 1:20 pm
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Its a fibreglass patch on a metal roof, I'd asked the garage to take a look during some other work, next thing I know they fibreglassed it as apparently they were doing a repair on another vehicle.

Thanks for the tip about masking further away from the painted edge, no one wants a lip on their paintwork 🙂


 
Posted : 28/05/2012 2:21 pm