Scirocco Register

My car is starting to get some very small amounts of rust bubbling through in some places. Its at the stage where its still under the paint, but being a student I can't afford to pay a bodyshop a few hundered to get it all sorted.

Now, advice is needed:

Do I just wait untill I can afford a bodyshop (which could be another 18 months) which in that time the rust could become more serious (and more expensive to fix) or do I take the plunge and do it myself (never painted a car body before, but im good at painting with rattle cans, done engines, axels etc etc but never needed a great finish like on a car body) What supplies will I need to buy, other than paint?

Whats peoples opinions on this? If i do it myself, will it work out cheaper with all the parts i'll need to buy even if the finish isn't as good or do I just take the plunge and stop being tight? My thinking is, even if I do a crap finish, the rust will be gone and I can take it to a bodyshop when I can afford it to sort the rubbish finish or is that just false economy?

Can of primer, can of paint and a can of lquer about £15. Have a go at it yourself. If you mess it up at least it wont rust any more and get it done right when you can afford to. I painted the bottom half of my old golf with rattle cans and around the petrol cap. My first time ever doing body work and i was very pleased with it. Took alot of time on it but worth it in the end.

I was told to put the paint on nice and thick, then if you get a few runs or whatever then you have plenty of paint to rub back and buff up

There my first attempt at bodywork, from rub strip down. The bit on the rear quater needed buffed then but it came up like new

I would say have a go, I have done spraying work before from small repairs / touch ups to full resprays and have always got decent results. Im just about to adress a few bits on mine which looks the same colour as yours in your avatar - Pewter grey metallic code: LA7Y. I have just ordered a kit from http://www.paints4u.com on the advice taken from the edmundator (cheers edmundator ) which contains the primer, basecoat and laquer for about £24.00 delivered. The best advice I can give is take your time, and if you have rust coming through that will need rubbing back and treating with a decent rust treatment before you apply the primer / filler. You may also find that dependent on the area you are spraying, it may well be easier to paint the whole panel or at least up to a swage / trim line as opposed to trying to blend in a small area. In addition to the above kit you will also need the following items:

Panel cleaner - removes any traces of silicone or old wax etc before painting
Tack cloths - Attract dust from the surface in between primer / top coats
Masking tape / newspaper (cover well over the immediate area, its amazing how far the overspary can travel)
Filler / stopper
Additional wet and dry paper from grade 300 to 1200
Rubbing compound - for blending in
Good quality rust treatment

I reckon you can get all the above items for less than £50 and like you say, even if you are not totally happy with the finished job, you will have at least held the rust at bay and tidied it up until you can afford to get it done by a pro.

A decent online guide can be found here http://www.carsprays.co.uk/html/manual.html, or I have a PDF guide I can send on if you PM me your email adress.

Hope this is of help, I will be starting mine either this weekend or next weekend so I can post up some pics as I go if you like.

Cheers

Will

Forgot to add - its best to do the painting in a well lit garage, but make sure you wear a decent mask / disposable respirator. If the floor is dusty you can damp it down a little. I always find it easier to do the final blending in with the rubbing compund outside in natural daylight.

As long as you get down to clean, rust-free metal and go from there, you will be doing yourself a favour in terms of the integrity of your car. If the finish isn't great, it shouldn't cost you more than £50 in parts (depending on the area you're covering) and even if it's not a great finish it'll protect the car better than what's there at the moment. If you're planning to use the car a lot over winter, 18 months could see bad things happen.

Time spent on preparation (the boring bit) is key in getting a good finish.