Minor surface rust

[GoinAllTheWay]

I own an 05 Mazda 3. This weekend I noticed at the car wash that I have some very minor surface rust forming on the inner lip of my rear wheel wells. Kinda makes me wonder how thin they spary that paint on these cars.

Anyways....I REALLY want to nip this in the butt now before it becomes an issue and requires major repair work.

Is there some other way to deal with this other than a body shop? I've heard of a place called micro paint but no idea how good their work is. Anyone have a suggestion other than a body shop or is that my only option?

[AMG_G]

Mazdas are notorious for rust problems...but generally there will be rust spots that form on the paint. These spots can be removed with a clay bar then wax application.

[zamler]

Mazda's are known for rust, my neighbour has one around the same year, rust in the same place. It started small, but has grown and looks pretty ugly now. If you can, post some pics. Depending on how bad it is, you might be able to fix it yourself. But remember, if you don't remove ALL the rust, it will continue to spread, the best you will do is slow it down.

[worth]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

nip this in the butt

[rohara66]

The only way to stop it is to cut it out and re-weld in new metal (ie: extremely expensive). This is assuming it’s actually more than just minor surface rust, my bet is that it’s forming from the inside out.

My suggestion... either stop caring or sell the car before it gets worse.

[GoinAllTheWay]

It's pretty minor but it could be forming from the inside out. Buying another car at this point would blow, especially over something like this. I'll try to get some pics of it tonight.

[photon]

I have a similar issue on my Murano, I noticed some water coming in last carwash, so I looked and where the windshield is held in on the A pillar the stuff that holds it in looks kind of messed up (like water-stained, expanded, etc), and there's some rust on the A pillar.

Am I screwed, will they have to rip out the windshield (needs replacing anyway actually) and weld in a new A pillar?

EDIT: Hope it's ok to jump in on your thread GATW, didn't want to start a whole new one.

[Table 5]

Get rid of it ASAP. It's only going to get worse. Rust never sleeps!

[photon]

Yeah I just found it, but I'm not sure who I should be talking to.. windshield guys? Or a body shop? Or those "don't go to a body shop" shops?

[Table 5]

You should be talking to Kijiji.

[photon]

Lol, well yes we are going to sell it and replace it, but I would assume that fixing it will cost less than the loss I'd take selling it with rust on it.

Unless you mean I should be looking for someone on Kijiji to fix it?

[Table 5]

Oh I was just being mouthy, and telling you to sell it. It would probably make sense to try to fix the rust before you sell it, but depending on how much it costs, you might take less of a hit by taking your chances. I looked at replacing a panel of some rust on my Protege 5, and it was going to be a $1200 job, which for me, just wasn't worth it.

I'm not really giving you anything you can use here.

[tipenmat]

I had my car's small rusty spot fixed by a "micropaint" place about 2-3 yrs ago and they did a great job for about $150 at the time. It still looks good and you can't tell it was fixed. If you think $150-$200 is worth it you should do it. That's my 2 cents anyway.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah I just found it, but I'm not sure who I should be talking to.. windshield guys? Or a body shop? Or those "don't go to a body shop" shops?

A body shop will do the repair, but it won't be cheap. They will have to remove the windshield for sure, you are looking at at least $1000 unless you find a discount joint somewhere.

Originally Posted by tipenmat

I had my car's small rusty spot fixed by a "micropaint" place about 2-3 yrs ago and they did a great job for about $150 at the time. It still looks good and you can't tell it was fixed. If you think $150-$200 is worth it you should do it. That's my 2 cents anyway.

I went to Chippy aka Micropaint in the N.E. to get an estimate on a rust repair just above my windshield. The guy was not interested in doing the work at all, told me to go to a body shop because the job was too big for him. The spots were small, I thought that was the type of thing they did. But nope, the estimate guy did not want to touch the car. I ended up doing the repair myself, although I was not able to match the paint as well as a body shop could have.

BTW I emailed several people on Kijiji that supposedly do body work not a single one ever replied to me.

[Burninator]

I have the exact same thing happening on my 06 Mazda 3. I've been hesitant to get it fixed because I don't think you can walk out of a body shop for less than $1000.

It's hard to justify selling a car that is otherwise excellent, and paid off, for a tiny bit of rust.

A salesmen at Mazda said I should have gotten the undercoating. I don't see how undercoating would have protected the 1" painted sheet metal in the wheel wells though.

[tipenmat]

Originally Posted by zamler

A body shop will do the repair, but it won't be cheap. They will have to remove the windshield for sure, you are looking at at least $1000 unless you find a discount joint somewhere.

I went to Chippy aka Micropaint in the N.E. to get an estimate on a rust repair just above my windshield. The guy was not interested in doing the work at all, told me to go to a body shop because the job was too big for him. The spots were small, I thought that was the type of thing they did. But nope, the estimate guy did not want to touch the car. I ended up doing the repair myself, although I was not able to match the paint as well as a body shop could have.

BTW I emailed several people on Kijiji that supposedly do body work not a single one ever replied to me.

I know what you mean. A lot of shops won't get back to you for a small job like that. The one I went to is called Wood Chip Auto (403-451-9602). They repaired a small spot on my wheel wells and on one of my doors. Still looks great after a couple of years.

[zamler]

A quick search comes up with: This business is no longer available in our database. Did they move, change names, or go out of business? But thanks I'll try calling them tomorrow.

edit - is this the place?

[flylock shox]

I'm going to piggyback on this thread too, since I own an apparently rust-prone Mazda that has recently been the victim of a dastardly keying.

Since the car's pretty old, I don't like my chances of finding touch up paint in the right colour. What can I do to stop this scratch from becoming a rust magnet. Is this what micropaint places are for?

I'm pretty clueless when it comes to car stuff.

[zamler]

Sounds like the perfect job for a micro-paint like place, drive down and have them look at it. BTW you can get touch up paint in any colour for any year car, but doing it yourself won't look that great the scratch will still be obvious. The actual car colour also makes a big difference, some are easy to match and blend, some are nearly impossible.

The problem I had was because my car is gold the paint is highly metallic. So when you feather sand, the transition between the old paint and new becomes quite obvious because the metallic particles tend to stay more on the surface, what is under looks more silver. That's why I wanted a pro to do the work.

[8sPOT]

I've got some rust on the hood of my vehicle from rock chips, think its cheaper to get a new hood or have it painted/fixed? In hindsight a bug deflector would have done wonders, all the chips are right where a bug deflector would sit.