Auto Refinishing Recommendations

In My Humble Opinion
1

It was an unseasonably warm day in Northern Ohio and I took advantage of it to wash and wax my mother’s car. There was an excellent home cooked meal in the deal with ample leftovers to take with so it worked out all around.

My mother’s car is an 03 Toyota, garaged most of it life and is mechanically in excellent shape (a bit less than 60K miles). My mom is in her early 80s and time is starting to catch up but probably wants to be able to drive for a few more years (hopefully more). She’s fairly comfortable financially but it’s always best to be wise with money.

Barring anything unforeseen or significantly accidental I have faith that mechanically the car could last for as long as she needs it. I am by no means a professional mechanic but am rather handy, I keep on top of all standard maintenance and can take care of a decent range of repairs but I begin to worry about the appearance of the car, if it gets too bad she might wish to replace the car no matter how well it runs.

In about 14 years the car has caught numerous clear coat scratches, a few into the base coat and it’s also starting to get a little rust (Northern Ohio is road salt country but the factory rust proofing has kept the undercarriage solid). Only one small spot rusted through in the corner of a wheel well but a few other surface rust spots that need attention. (Many) years ago I had some less than satisfactory successes with Bondo and am not enthusiastic to try and play with that again. All told the number of scratches and scrapes make me think this is past any touch up paint in a tubes ability to address.

So what are people’s experiences with professional repainting services? I’m assuming they are less than 100% effective with rust through holes, I can expect that but how well do they do with surface rust? Assuming we stay with the same base paint color how long can I expect a repainting and fresh clear coating to last? I guess it would be up to her if the price asked was worth it to her but if it kept her happy with the car for the next, say three to five years it may well be worth it.

I thank you in advance for any insight you can share.

2

When my minivan started showing rust I took it in to a well known national chain. They told me they’d grind out the rust, patch it up, repaint it, but NOT guarantee it. Rust, they said, comes back.

And they were right. Things looked good for about a year, then the rust came back in the same place.

Just my experience, but when a national chain will guarantee their paint job will last X years, but won’t guarantee rust repair at all, I think that’s your answer.

3

I took a car to a place here in RI called Auto Rust Technicians. They cut out the rust and welded in stainless steel to replace it. They did a fantastic job. I followed up with a skilled painter who also did another fantastic job. He put a heavy sputter coat on the lower sides and even relined the hood and trunk lids. It also cost a lot of money.

4

As kunilou alluded to, you can’t just grind out rust for a *permanent *automotive bodywork repair - you have to cut back to clean metal, and graft in new metal to reshape/reform the bodywork. And, as TriPolar stated, it isn’t cheap.

That being said, there are some products on the market that do a decent job of encapsulating rust, and controlling it’s spread (not a permanent repair, but probably long-lasting enough to last the lifetime of the rest of the vehicle). Rust Encapsulator and POR-15 are both well-known in the classic car/truck enthusiast circles. These aren’t cheap either, but they’re another option to consider.