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Rust is on the bottom of the driver side door and px door, doesnt go all the way thru but is definately there. A tiny spot near the roof / windshield.
The car has 140 K miles and runs great. Bought it from original owner with 40K.
Advice? Should I have the work done or not? Seems like it will cost more than the car is worth.
Rust on any vehicle is easy to remove and repair.
-Sand to metal making sure no rust is visible on each area.
-tape the area to paint with a basic metal primer (sold at body supply shops)
-sand again then apply a red smooth pre-body plastic use a small rubber squeegy (all sold st body shops)
-paint with primer again making sure area is good and smooth when you paint. If not sand again with #400 wet or dry sand paper.
-get a pint, if you can, of the color you vehicle and you can really brush it on.
Don't laugh because my friend and I painted his 10 year old RAV4 using a brush and we used enamel paint and a fine but large brush. We added a hardener for a smoothing look on the last coat and it really looks great.
Good luck and don't get rid of you vehicle just because of a little rust.
Rust on any vehicle is easy to remove and repair.
-Sand to metal making sure no rust is visible on each area.
-tape the area to paint with a basic metal primer (sold at body supply shops)
-sand again then apply a red smooth pre-body plastic use a small rubber squeegy (all sold st body shops)
-paint with primer again making sure area is good and smooth when you paint. If not sand again with #400 wet or dry sand paper.
-get a pint, if you can, of the color you vehicle and you can really brush it on.
Don't laugh because my friend and I painted his 10 year old RAV4 using a brush and we used enamel paint and a fine but large brush. We added a hardener for a smoothing look on the last coat and it really looks great.
Good luck and don't get rid of you vehicle just because of a little rust.
SYN, thanks for the advice & instructions!
I may give it a go.
Nice info Synergy. I would like to add, that once the paint is fixed outside, that some more be done inside the doors, and any place else you can get behind.
Pull the door panels, clean the door vents and drains well so air can flow, and rain water can drain out. Rain gets inside all car and truck doors because the window seals are not very tight.
Clean the door skin, bottom door well, and the back inside wall well, and get it dry.
Plug the drains with bits of paper towel, and dump in apx 1/4 of a bottle of dextron ATF. Buy this as cheap as you can find it , in any No Name brand.
Also buy a cheal parts cleaning brush, and a 1 gallon can of roofing cement, and maybe 1 wall papering tray, which is like a plastic window box for flowers.
Once the ATF has soaked into the door bottom a while, no less than over night, pull a paper towel plug from the drain(s) with the wall paper tray to catch what pours out.
The ATF will have soaked into the pinch welds of the door by then, and if it hasn't it will in time.
Next with a throw away pot of some sort add roofing cement to it with the brush or a stick, add a little ATF to that amd mix the 2 well, untill you can paint the tar.
Note the more ATF you u se the longer the tar will take to dry. In some places you may not want the tar to dry and in others you might and so would not add any ATF.
With the brush and a light paint every possible place inside the door you can reach.
No more water will get in the pinch welds (crimped metal from the outter door skin to the inner door)
No more water will touch the metal anywhere inside the door again if you do it right.
Make sure you get all the drain clear too.
I did this to a chevy truck door that I made the lower half from a Dodge Van sliding door, in about 93', and that door is fine today.
At the time I forgot to pull the paper towel drains over many weeks. One day I saw from the house a diamond bright flash fall from the door. I went to see why, and found water was leaking out of the paper towel plugs I forgot to remove.
I pulled them instanly and apx 15 gallons of chrystal clear water poured out. 0 rust still.
Mac ...sounds as though this will take care of it! Thanks so much! I will find someone who knows how to pull the doors...great info, I appreciate your help.
I have to laugh because I used undercoating at times but since that was a tad too thin I like your idea of roofing cement...Good stuff and water does become a problem if it can accumulate inside the doors.
All doors have water inside the door shell but since the auto manufacturers use a better quality of metal primer full rust-through is not a big problem but still can make a body shop mechanic's day go bad when detected.
We forgot to tell Marska that ATF fluid will remove the paint from an auto so keep it away from the finish (painted surfaces that you find good at present time). ALso don't get tar on your hands'cause it does take a long time for your nails to go back to normal color......
Rust on any vehicle is easy to remove and repair.
-Sand to metal making sure no rust is visible on each area.
-tape the area to paint with a basic metal primer (sold at body supply shops)
-sand again then apply a red smooth pre-body plastic use a small rubber squeegy (all sold st body shops)
Not quite so simple with CR-V. I've heard its a common issue.I first saw rust on the roof of mine, so I thought the same thing...just sand it down to bare metal, apply some primer, etc.
But the rust originated at the welds. I suspect the environment in which the welds were made was prone to oxidation for by the time the rust was visible, it was already all the way through the metal. I wound up cutting away and replacing an entire section of the roof, because once I started I quickly realized the entire section was rusting through from the INSIDE. Now I have many more spots beginning to appear. Soon I fear the structural integrity of the vehicle will be compromised. This is NOT due to snow. It never gets below 85-ish (28C) here in the Philippines. I live in Central Luzon. Its quite a hike (drive) to either seashore, so Its not like there's a huge salt content to the air (I don't believe so anyway)
Annual oil undercoating has been mentioned multiple times here. If the vehicle had been oil undercoated there never would be the rust stated.
It is never to late to oil undercoated any vehicle to stop the continuation of rust.
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