A Rust-Treatment and Paint-Touch-up Project

[BonzaiDuck]

Our family of three retirees has two vehicles: My fabled 1995 Isuzu Trooper, and my brother's 1995 Nissan Pickup SE truck. We must be outside the window of what mainstream car owners think is normal, but I've always favored used vehicles, and I keep them until they either need a new engine or they fail to pass smog-test because of a completely unavailable part. My spreadsheet history of purchases and repair orders shows me saving money hand over fist.

The truck, with about 167,000 miles on the engine, is in great mechanical condition, but my brother can no longer drive it. It has manual transmission, and he's facing the risk of possible partial amputation of his clutch foot. We may want to sell it when I purchase a low-mileage pre-owned vehicle in what would be feasibly a cash-down transaction in maybe two years. But we need the second vehicle as a backup.

Since it's a 4WD truck, we'd expect to get "something" for it when sold. Our mechanic says we shouldn't take less than $3,000. But the cab-top needs rust-treatment and paint, the hood needs to be stripped, then Bondo-ed for a shallow dent with paint. Minor rust can be be treated and primered in remaining small areas.

The truck's original color is black -- which I hate -- especially in Southern California. But to save money on paint, I'm going to use the appropriate Nissan color-code in aerosol cans from Paintscratch.com for the cab-top and small spots. I may have to spend $130 for a pint each of primer, basecoat and clear, and use an HVLP sprayer for the hood. The remainder of the body panels and paint will probably look pretty good after application of some rubbing compound and an orbital buffer.

I can get a new hood for $150, but either way -- using fiberglass bondo for the dent if I don't replace it -- I'll need to primer and paint it. If I keep the old hood, I'll want to strip the paint and treat a square-foot of surface rust.

I've researched the rust-treatment strategies, and I've settled on using Black Star Rust Converter after grinding off the loose rust and removing any remaining paint.

Some advice on web-forum searches suggests using an Epoxy Primer as a final step before painting. I am still debating the need for this. The Black Star product may be totally adequate before applying Paintscratch primer, basecoat and clearcoat. But before I apply the final paint, I want to see if the rust mitigation is thorough.
Regular primer paint is porous, so one is advised not to use it on bare metal to then forestall painting while submitting it to wet weather.

Is Epoxy primer porous? I wouldn't think so, but seeking a second opinion.

Any alternative choices? Any thoughts about all this?

We're not going to shell out $1,900 to MAACO for the body repair and paint. I might consider spending $500 for chrome wheels (if that's possible) to anticipate a better sale price. But this is an old truck. Whoever would want it likely covets 4WD. The tires are new, the suspension is new. The engine doesn't use a drop of oil; the tranny seems to be great. I can honestly say the truck is "mechanic-owned and driven -- plus 5K miles added by latest owner".

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well. 236 views on this thread; 0 responses.

Here's what I THINK I've learned about rust-repair.

There are several different rust-treatment products available. You can get "rust-remover". You can get "rust-converter" -- which leaves a black coating that serves as primer where there had been rust. You can get "rust-encapsulator".

Permatex makes a spray-on product which leaves a vinyl-like coating on the metal. It is not advised for "body work". So I bought two cans of that stuff, almost by mistake. I can use it in treating rust on the frame of the truck. Or I can use it as I'll explain shortly.

Highly recommended is a product called "Black Star Rust Converter". It leaves a black surface (where there had been rust) which serves as primer. But you must wipe off any of it on bare, unrusted metal, because of adhesion problems it will cause to additional primer, basecoat and clearcoat.

Then, there is a small bottle of something called a "Rust Remover Gel" -- with a milky yellow appearance. With this product, you might want to use a rust encapsulator; the gel doesn't insure that the rust won't return.

By trial and error -- mostly trial -- I've concluded that the best way to do this is to grind off as much rust scale as possible with an orbital sander and 40-grit discs. Then, treat it with the gel. After that, more sanding with 40-grit, followed by more gel, followed by more sanding -- until you don't see any black from the rust remover. After that, spray on Black Star and wipe it off after 20 minutes.

Finally, use an epoxy two-part spray on primer -- hopefully of such a color that you can reduce the amount of subsequent basecoat if there are budgetary constraints. In other words, if painting a panel with Nissan black paint-code, use the Eastwood black primer. If instead, the basecoat will be "iron gray metallic" or silver, use a gray or white primer.

I don't think I'm going to use our HVLP sprayer to do the entire truck. After cleaning off the side panels, I've concluded that rubbing compound followed by hybrid ceramic wax will do just the trick. Oxidation patches, bondo-ed dents and dings can be painted in rectangular swatches defined by masking tape -- of you're not concerned with appearance as much as rust prevention and just "good paint".

So there will be no "$1,500 MAACO" paint job. There will be no garage mess or worries about neighborhood snitches turning you into the environmental Nazis for a heavy fine. No problem with cleaning HVLP parts. Just aerosol cans, which the manufacturer promotes as spraying paint as if from an HVLP sprayer. Expensive -- at $21 per can covering 4 square feet only. But still, a lot less than $1,500; a lot less than $500 for drop-clothes, quarts of "pour and spray", and other alternatives.

Instead, $500 for a set of chrome wheels, a polished black truck with a few rectangular swatches visible -- no rust. And somebody will likely buy our truck in the next year or two when we no longer need it for a backup ride.