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Well, I've got some rust at the wheel wells.

It's been there for a while, and I've known about it.

The trouble is, that it's starting to piss me off, and I don't want it to spread.

But I'm having a bit of a moral problem of how to handle it.

I don't have the money to get it fixed properly at a shop, and it's unlikely that I will ever decide to budget for this.

I love my paint color, so I could always just let it go and not worry about it.

OR, I could try to fix the rust myself, and "krylon" the whole car in some concoction of Flat Blue paint.

So that's my concern. Do I keep my color, and keep the rust? Or do I get rid of both?

I'm much more into the "go" than "show" so I'm not worried about driving a flat blue car around, but I do really love the color of my car.

I doubt I will ever commit and spend time and money to fix the cancer that invades my wheelwells.

What do you guys think?

Why flat blue?

Maybe you could go halfway. Pick a decent metallic color and use a few coats of it and then a layer or two of clear coat.

Also, there are companies that make automotive spray paint to match factory color codes. It's possible that one of them might be able to get you some close approximation of Aegean Blue. Like, try asking these guys: http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

I say get it done right or dont do anything at all.

I say fix the rust but I'm sure you can find a small pint of paint the same color as your car. Even if you couldn't do the final touch up color, due to missing an air brush or such, if you got it primed and ready for the final I bet you could find a body shop that would throw a couple little spots of color on for you cheap. Or you can do what I did, fixed the rust, found the closest match I could find at walmart, masked all but just what needed new paint, paint, buff a little to smooth out the edges and blend it a little, clear coat. It's not perfect but I got to keep my 25th anniversy blue/silver and got rid of the rust. I definately vote fix the rust though.

Vikash - Flat blue, because Flat Black is played out, and I've never seen a well done rattle-can metallic paint job. I'll take a look and see if I can get an ABM can of spray paint, and see if I can do it that way.

Thawa - Simple fact of the matter. I'd rather have an ugly, fast as hell car, than a hot, and not as fast car. I'd rather the money go to performance. The money it would cost to get the car looking "showroom new" again, would be about 1/2 the cost of my gearbox, and when it boils down to it, I'd rather have a gearbox than a paint job.

Skid - I'll go take a look at walmart, and see what I can do. The color is so rare and so unique, though, that I doubt i'll find it at walmart. But it is worth a shot.

I don't want the paint to not match, that's my main problem. I like matching paint, so that's why I thought to just paint the whole car.

go to a body shop and have them mix up a batch of paint for you, not very much, and it's totally worth it to have a car looking decent and being fast

Hmm, so go get some paint and paint it myself with good paint? That's a good idea.

I DO have a paint sprayer for the air compressor.... No idea how to use it though, lol.

practice with some cheap shit first, until you get good, then.. even if you gotta do a few times, it's worth it. Do it right, for Lauren.

My opinion:

Keep the color, Fix the rust before it gets too bad.

I did most of this.. cost was cheap 75$ for painting.

If it's on the rear quarter of the fender where the bumper meets the metal. You have to remove the bumper to fix that up1 pain in the ass there...

- Do the body work yourself and let the pros paint it. They can paint very well, doing body work is patience that is easy for anyone with time, painting though one fuck up and it's ruined.

- Did my rear end and had them Blend the paint in. looks great and you can only see the paint difference under different angles under the sun.

My opinion.

So I guess I'll do it when it's warmer and I can spend some time outside working on it.

I understand your reasoning, but if you don't care about how it looks why even bother with the rust?

I guess I misspoke a bit, I care about how it looks (why I don't want rust), but I wouldn't mind driving a rattle can painted car.

oh

Make sure you cut all the rust out and weld in new sheet metal, or else it's just going to spread again. You proably already knew this.

ditto^

I took my car to a few shops and they wouldn't do anything about it because they'd have to weld in new sheet metal and they didn't want to guarantee their work. However I just took an angle grinder and a 3M Bristle Disc to it and bondo-ed over it. Smooth it out prime it and paint it. http://www.paintscratch.com does have Aegian Blue however not by name, they have the correct color code so I'd say get a can o' that stuff and have at it. I wound up getting hit by a friend's mom so they repainted most of the car and my bondo-ed areas so I can't really comment on the color match (not like anyone has winestone anyway).

Link to bristle disks- expensive but work wonders
http://eastwoodcompany.com/shopping/pro ... rd=bristle[/url]

Yea, I was just going to grind off the rust, and fiberglass over it and smooth it out, then bondo it smooth.

I don't have a welder, or know how to weld, so I don't want to cut the metal off and weld it if I don't have to.

You have a garage and live in an OK environment so I'd have a shop match the paingt and do the work myself for cheap. I think it would be neat to try a semi-gloss olive drab.

Steve

Phil, Lauren said what I meant to make clearer about finding a pint of paint , but it's definately the way to go if you have an air brush. You can just get the undercoat mixed for you and get the clear coat at walmart in the rattle can. As far as using it goes, not a whole lot to it other than just keep it moving and at least 6 inches off the surface. If you want to just hit one area hold the mask off the surface a few inches and you'll avoid a line in the paint * this works best when you have the color matched right. Now if you can't find a pint or something suitable at walmart I'll agree with the decision to go all flat, or maybe semi? Either way man, you've got a hella fast car set to be even faster, it should look proper .

Lol, Lauren is the name of my car

I guess I'll do that, but will avoid the welding metal part if at all possible.

Both bumpers will need to be removed to fix the rust, no problem, the front has to come off anyway

I'll also repaint my whole spoiler at the same time. That thing has some wicked paint chipping going on.

lol. have fun with the front bumper. The rear's cake

fix the rust and loose the color is my vote. its only paint. and you can get it painted again later when you have more money.

but as you said you have a sprayer. get someone to teach you how to use it and you may be pleasantly surprised w/the results.

lol, sorry, it's been a long day ...

BAC5.2 wrote:Yea, I was just going to grind off the rust, and fiberglass over it and smooth it out, then bondo it smooth.

I don't have a welder, or know how to weld, so I don't want to cut the metal off and weld it if I don't have to.

At work we used this thing called 'Rust Converter' which was like 15 dollars a can, but after you sanded most of it off, you would spray it on and it would turn the rust black and actually stop the chemical reaction of rusting. *So they say*. I did this all day for like two weeks straight and it still looked like shit.

If you know anyone with a Mig welder, those are quite easy to use. All you'd have to do it cut it out in a nice even size then cut the new piece out and either tack it or just run a bead around it. Proably from the inside of the car would be the best. It would save on sanding the weld down. Bondo it up, get some paint mixed with the origional paint code down at your local paint shop. Prime it, paint it. Usally they make it so that you don't have to use a clear coat. If I wasn't so tired, I'd think of the name.

I don't want to deal with welding, so if I fix the rust, I'll just fiberglass and bondo. I'm good at that, not so good at welding, lol.

Greg - The thing is, I would never repaint it professionally. I can say that I will, and I can promise myself that I will, but I won't, and I know it. I'd end up using the money for more go-fast-goodies.

You can also find the rust converter at wal-mart. I have a bottle of it in the basement.

I have a few spots that need rust fixed, too. I was just planning on fixing them up for now, as I am getting the car resprayed later anyway (belated b-day gift from dad).