Rep Power: 0

Hi chaps..

To cap off a crappy Christmas.. dinged my cherished civic on boxing day.. reversed into a metal fence

I know absolutely nothing about dealing with this it's a first for me, clearly took off the paint to the metalwork and rust is kicking in..

I'm an aspie so useless at dealing with things like these, and just get stressed and muddled up.. would really appreciate being pointed in the right direction..

I don't have funds to have it repaired properly by a body repair shop so it's going to be DIY job.. I presume I have to sand/grind off the rust and apply some kind of rest prevention paint?? I see a "crack" in the paint, so I probably need to chip back to where it's solidly bonded?

I take it what I'm seeing is surface rust.. I'm curious how long does it take to eat into a panel ?? Looks to be only the upper panel that's affected, should I assume that??

Hope to get on the case tomorrow.. Thx

 
Rep Power: 208

bondo and sand paper?

that looks like a difficult area to repair, is the bumper damaged also?
hard to tell,

chances are its only surface rust right now, if you want to stop the rust for now just spray it with primer for now till you can fix it

 
Rep Power: 228

You have a few options, I've used all of them over the years....

1: -Honda repair nail polish bottle


2: -colour matching spray can (non-Honda, but matches oem colour pretty well by model and year).


3: -DIY full repaint

4: -Paint shop full repaint.

.............

1:

Pros: Cheap, time, minimal work, low impact area (you can just hit the rust spot if you want).
Cons: Looks like crap from 6 feet and closer. looks like a dirty spot from 10-6 feet away.

...............

2:

Pros: reasonable price (sand paper $5, primer $5, paint $20, clear coat $8= $38). Looks quite good even from a foot away, but doesn't match the colour 100% because it is newer than the OEM spray and every batch is off by a bit. It looks a s if there is either a large patch of dust on the sprayed area or an odd lighting situation, basically slightly lighter or darker than oem.

Cons: high impact area since you need to over sand the area until it looks flat, then over spray the paint, the spray pattern is at least 8-12." Time.

..............

3:

Pros: look near perfect if yo don't mess up.

cons: cost; you will need pro paint, and a pneumatic paint gun or electric (paint $75, electric gun $150-$300). time. you will need to remove and mask as much as possible including the rear bumper, and sand everything back, and paint the entire bumper/rear.

.............

4:

pros: time, effort, looks excellent; you may not even notice it was repainted.

Cons: very expensive.


................



honestly I'd say to go with number 2.

Tips: make sure to find a primer that matches the tone (grey scale) and temperature (warm cold) of the silver paint as close as possible. If you are not sure how to identify these option, find someone who can. this will be the difference between three coats of paint and 6 to paint match.

Also, never position your can over the spot you want to hit, or any part of the body, and pull the trigger; and never end the spray pattern over any part of the body. This creates clumps of colour and paint runs.

You want to arc your spray pattern. For example you start spraying with the can shooting parallel to the body on the left then slowly sweep across the target to the right and keep shooting until you are parallel to the body again. This creates a paint gradient which will merge into the oem paint.

 
Rep Power: 0

Wow.. thank you so much both of you much appreciate your advice and tips too

The bumper isn't damaged... the fence went down the side of the car so the first shot shows all the damage..

I understand the 4 methods you've described mac25, and thank you for your clear detailed reply! I think #2 is the right choice for me also...

I just have another question - upon closer look at my last pic I noticed the rust is working to warp round under the lip of the top panel, or to the very edge at least... a bit hard to tell from the photo.. (I hope to have a clearer idea tomorrow.. was raining all day today.. it seems like it might be hard to tell without prising a gap to see anyway).. would you suggest sanding this lightly by sliding a thin edge of the sandpaper between the panels? Any other points regardign this?

Also.. ok this might seem like a dumb question and I'm looking for quick youtube guides atm so may find the answer myself.. but when looking for sandpaper supplies I notice they are wet/dry.. seems like I want to avoid water do you simply dry down with paper towel afterwards??

Thx again

 
Rep Power: 228

Ya I would remove the rear bumper, it's easy just two bolts when you lift the trunk; then on either side in the wheel wells there are screws that need to be removed, then just pull on the sides of the rear bumper. Also remove the wheel well plastic so you have eyes on all metal parts.

-sand everything with rust, clean it off with dewaxer-degreaser (or, I just use methanol, since it evaporates immediately), then hit it with primer.

But I would wait for the summer when you have good drying temperatures.
For now maybe just hit it with a small amount off primer and touch up paint before you do the real job.

As for sand paper I only use wet for sanding clear coat or headlights.

-Form your 1" rust spot sand out as little as possible to make everything smooth.
probably looking at 4 to 5 inches min.

-clean

-prime with sandable primer

-sand the primer

-clean

-prime a second time

-sand and clean

- hit it with the colour coat.

-wait 24 hours

-hit it with the clear

-wait 24 hours (do not drive it or dust could get in the clear).

-at this point it will depend on what your OEM clear coat looks like to determine if you want to wet sand or buff the clear coat, or just leave it as it is.