To Paint or not to Paint a rusty 112k 88 Celebrity?

[michaelh20]

I have an 88 chevy celebrity, which has been quite reliable actually for quite some time. I got it free from my parents, so I haven't invested any money in it at all yet, cept gas of course. It has a 2.8 V6 Fuel Injection (real multiport, not the fake kind) and I am kind of curious

(1) How long will it last, given it has been little trouble at all so far, except that I can hear tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick- sometimes when it is warm, which someone told me was a sticky lifter or something. We've had no real problems at all, outside of a dead / drained battery in the winter. I might not use the car very much, since I am right near a bus line and go to the local University on the bus, for at least the next year or so. I am guessing in the next year I won't put on any more than a few thousand miles. Then when I am forced to get a real job, I might have to actually drive it more, if the job I get isn't near by.

(2) Should I have it painted somehow, since the paint has failed and is peeling off the trunk, top and hood. In quite a few places it is down the bare metal (kind of white) and it is just barely starting to rust on the top of the car. I am imagining the whole thing will start to rust and then it will *really* look bad. I was thinking of getting the trunk, top and hood painted, since these areas are not really rusted or damaged in any great way outside of hail (don't laugh) damage which has dimpled most of the car, but the bottoms of the doors are mostly gone, rusted through but the middle part of the car is mostly ok and doesn't need to be painted. Does any place paint just parts of the car or are they going to demand to do the whole car and bondo the bottom of the car doors?

or should I
(3) Grind the little patch of rust off the top of the car, spray some nifty rust stop on it and wax it to prevent more rust? Lol... It's got the paint all flaking off and stuff... lol...

or
(4) Actually whip out some sand paper and a couple of cans of spray paint and spend $50 for a *really* crappy paint job? I am assuming I need primer and then paint? Is this a feasible idea? Is it safe (I think I have heard otherwise here)?

Should I just spray it with gray primer, put some duct tape on the bottoms of the door and hang up the fuzzy dice?

Am I mistaken in my observation that many poor people seem to buy new cars and don't drive cars with lots of rust of them, even when we would think they would? I'd prefer to spend the least amount of money possible, but I figure it's worth at least a few hundred dollars....

 

[bunker]

Doesn't Maaco have some kind of $150 paint package? Sure it's not the best paint job, but for an older car like that, why not?

 

[Soybomb]

What do you mean bondo the bottoms of the doors? You cant bondo whats not there Bondo fills in depressions, doesnt make metal

How much longer are you planning on driving it? I'd just keep the money and apply it to my "buy myself a new car" fund. If its rusted through in places you're wasting money painting it. A spray paint job looks uglier than rust too if you ask me. Let it go and get a new car soon

 

[michaelh20]

Probably at least a year or two, or till it dies

I suppose "let it rust" is an option also of course.

 

[Thegonagle]

I wouldn't bother with a professional paint job. The body work is not worth the investment.

I did once paint an entire car with Rust-o-leum flat black. It looked too dull all over, so a few weeks later, I redid the top and upper sides (where it wasn't too rusty) with Rust-o-leum satin black. The masking was a bit of work, but I did a good job, so it almost looked decent from a distance. I even got some compliments, like "Hey, with that paint job, you can barely notice how rusty that thing really is!" Whenever the rust started to show through the paint, I'd just touch it up with a quick spray.

To repaint any daily driver with rust is a bad investment. You can't stop rust once it starts. You can only slow it down.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Something to note. When you see a rust hole, you are only seeing the tip of the iceburg so to speak. Those holes usually open up to a much bigger hole underneath in the metal. If the rust holes are big enough the entire panel will need replaced. If not, they'll grind it down, sand it, fill it in, prime, paint. This can get fairly costly.

My vote: Leave it be. Keep the money for a new car.

 

[Thegonagle]

Your ?poor people? observation may stem from the fact that banks dealing in special finance (low income and bad credit) like to loan money on a car that they think will be strong collateral throughout the term of the loan. If a borrower defaults, the bank can still get their money back by selling the repo?ed car. Where I used to work, it was usually domestics about 2-4 years old with fewer than 50,000 miles.

 

[Muadib]

Save your money for something better when it dies.

 

[StageLeft]

The resale on that is too low - I'd just drive it into the floor and forget it.

 

[michaelh20]

I suppose it may be true it's better to just drive it into the ground..

I used to work at a McDonalds and I wondered how almost *all* the people there could afford new or fairly new cars...

One guy had a huge ford truck. Of course he worked three jobs