I found this yesterday on the Bentley. At a guess, it was just a bubble and a drive down my parent's rock driveway knocked the top off of it. It's about as big as the tip of my little finger.
So what do I do now? I've considered a touch of Ospho to neutralize the rust and a dab of paint. Needless to say, touch-up paint is nonexistent so I would need to have something mixed.
I've considered taking it to a shop.
Any thoughts?
Tough to tell from the photos, but I think I see bondo and other bubbles around it. You're likely dealing with way more rust than you can see.
The right way to do it is take it to the body shop in town that fixes luxury cars. NOT the local Maaco. It won't be cheap. They'll end up painting way more of the car than you'd expect. They'll find additional damage once they strip the paint.
You can buy some time with rust converter (CRC makes a good product) and touch-up paint, but the rust will keep going under that bubbly paint.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
There are no bubbles in the paint anywhere near that spot, nor Bondo, just primer and paint. I think you are seeing dried water spots from rinsing the dust off and the reflection of the concrete it's parked on.
I have a trusted paint shop I probably need to take it to and see what they say.
Full bare metal respray.
In reply to Toyman! :
Ah okay, got it. This is what I was referring to. 
Yea those bubbles directly above the rust spot looked to me like more rust as well. Either way to properly treat it you will have to go beyond the rust showing until you get to bare metal.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
Hmm, I'll have to make sure I put a finger on that when I get home. There wasn't anything noticeable when I was studying it yesterday but I'll have to take another look.
If those are also bubbles then that makes the decision easier. I'll give the paint shop a call.
It wouldn't make sense for the rust to start there under good paint. What's the inside bottom of that door look like?
Tom Suddard said:You're likely dealing with way more rust than you can see.
There's ALWAYS more rust than you can see.
I would be pleased to be wrong about this.
The lower edge of that panel sure looks like body filler and as a connoisseur of corrosion - I suspect you will find that a repair was done in the past. Hopefully a very small repair.
"Bwahahaha, that's not rust."
(Every Northern guy reading this thread.)
In reply to Toyman! :
Hate to say this, but I think Tom is right.
I hope I'm wrong.
That is a pretty good rust pit and it came from the back of the panel.If you pick at it, you will most likely have a hole there.
The Jo Janta 200 solution is to pick the edges of the scab but not much of the brown stuff. Dab in some rust converter so as to maybe stabilize the rust. Essentially turning it into structural rust(ish) stuff.
For paint, I would buy small tins of Rustoleum green, black and yellow. Mixing very samall portions, add a bit of black to the green and finish off with a touch of yellow. Adjust until you have a match. Its below your knees so nobody is ever going to see it anyways.
Fixing it more properly might scare the bejabers out of you and your wallet.
Ignore it.
Or paint what rears its ugly head with some type of rust converter, then touch up paint. In SC, you can enjoy that car until retirement without it rusting out from under you. EMBRACE THE RUST!!!
I'd take a paint thickness gauge to it to see if its been bodyworked previously or full of mud and base my decisions on that survey.
If its been bodyworked previously I would get it fixed as cheap as possible and send it down the road. If its clean everywhere else I would get it fixed right if its a keeper.
That does look like some nasty rust but it may be localized due to a bad drain or previous small touchup. How does the pinch weld on the door bottom look?
Neutralize it then simply finish off with a nice GRM sticker
Always more rust than you can see.
getting it fixed correctly will be expensive And only worth it if the car is otherwise cherry.
Could be thst a car like that lived at an ocean front house and is just lousy with rust. Or could be a bad repair with only localized rust.
That looks like roughly $40,000 worth of rust. Unless you goober something on top and pointedly ignore it.
What you always do with rust...cut it out and weld in a patch. Rust is structural damage...paint is cosmetic and doesn't affect how the car drives...I know which one I would choose. After fixing all the rust you can see and find later...then repaint.
wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:Ignore it.
Or paint what rears its ugly head with some type of rust converter, then touch up paint. In SC, you can enjoy that car until retirement without it rusting out from under you. EMBRACE THE RUST!!!
I will admit to taking this approach with the Cadillac. If the rust takes another 50 years to get twice as bad in my garage in the desert, that's acceptable.
In reply to Toyman! :
Is that the bootlid?
The Pick-n-Pull yards of lower Fairfield County are simply littered with tattered green Bentleys. I shall keep my eyes peeled.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
Looks like driver side front door area.
Having a reputable body shop look at it isn't going to cost you anything. They can probably decipher if there was a previous repair and how far it goes. If it is a drain issue and localized to the door or if the car was hit and the rocker / door sill were involved in a repair. Knowing is always better than not knowing. You can choose to do what you want to do after you know the deal. If the rust is localized (let's say on the bottom of the door and that spot is far enough away from the fender it should be easy enough to blend color and you are looking at fixing the rust, blending color on that door (and maybe the rocker) and clearing two panels. It shouldn't be catastrophic.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
Driver's side fender dogleg.
Given the position of the badge in the picture, I think it's right behind the front wheel well. Photo of a similar car from the internet:
You'll need to log in to post.
