Rep Power: 0

I'm an idiot and backed into the brick wall in my garage. Now there's these small scrapes. From the looks of it, down to the metal. I was stupid enough to leave it open aired in the salt spray of Toronto streets. Seems to be a bit of rust on it now (see pic).

I've been reading up on DIYs and bought materials, including paint, to fix it. But I thought, Should i leave this to a body shop if I intend on keeping my car for 5+ years??

Also, I've heard I should put nail polish on it until I have time (or temp is warm enough) to fix it. Should I do that? Would I have to remove the rust first?

Any advice/feedback would help! Thanks in advance!

 
Rep Power: 388

First off... wow, your car looks nasty. Wash it!

The lady I bought my car from scrapped a pillar on a parking garage when she was backing up. Dumb... it looks just like yours, if not a little worse. I didnt do anything about it, it wasnt down to the bare metal, but the primer or whatever that coating is that is a greyish brown. Its not rust... its just an odd color. But then again, I dont have salt on the roads out here.

Dont do nail polish that will just mess it up. What you need to do is get rid of any rust that is there, and prime it. Then you can hit it with paint... but it will be noticeable if you dont have a shop do it for you... its up to you tho.

 
Rep Power: 811

stuff happens. get the rust off and put touchup paint til you can afford to fix it. the whole panel and maybe the bumper will have to be repainted.