Lots of rusty stone chips in bonnet, cheapest quickest way of fixing.

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Morgenmuffel

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#198046 23-Jun-2016 18:10

Basically what it says, my bonnet has dozens of chips in it and has rust streaks running from them, I'm not too worried about it but i don't want it to get worse,

Car is a whiteish 98 sentra, I'm also not overly worried about aesthetics as in having the patched paintwork the absolute identical colour (I don't want it bright pink, but its an old car so it'll have wear and tear), can i just slap on any white automotive paint, I assume I have to sand out the chips, do i need to prime or is there some all in one beastie that i can spay on that does everything and do i have to put some sort of gloss film over top?

Sorry my automotive knowledge ends at inserting key in ignition

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JaseNZ

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#1579148 23-Jun-2016 18:17

Wreckers and new bonnet would be the easiest way to go.

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gzt

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#1579288 23-Jun-2016 22:46

Iirc standard bonnet price at pick a part is $50.

xpd

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#1579370 24-Jun-2016 08:54

New bonnet or find a friend who is a panel beater and get them to do mates rates on a fresh paint job :) (did this once, made the car look like new)

XPD / Gavin

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MikeB4

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#1579373 24-Jun-2016 08:57

To do a good job the bonnet will need to be stripped treated and repainted. Rust never sleeps.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Fred99

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#1579417 24-Jun-2016 10:05

You can buy rust converter / primer (3M make some good ones - but there are others) at supercheap etc. Follow instructions. I'd suggest to only attack the rust spots with abrasives or whatever if the rust is clearly tracking under the paint. Otherwise just dab the rust converter/primer on and let it do it's thing. Then just touch up with auto paint and a fine brush, spray can stuff is fine, they may have a matched colour in stock for the car model / paint code, spay a bit on the inside of the lid or a container you can throw away and dab with brush from that.

If you want to do a better job, then there are youtube videos etc showing how to apply paint and very carefully sand back (ie with tiny circles of fine sandpaper glued to the end of a pencil etc), then cut and polish to hide the result, but as suggested above, repainting the entire panel is the only way to get a great result.

1998 Sentra - I don't think I'd bother about aesthetics too much. They're not too prone to rust, and if rust was to be serious issue, it's likely to be in a body seam, around front window or firewall etc, not in the middle of a panel.

Never use dishwash liquid to clean cars - it contains lots of salt. Proper car-wash liquid doesn't contain salt, does usually contain a bit of rust inhibiting compounds, and has ionic surfactants designed to lift dirt from paint - so is much more effective. (dishwash liquid may cause rust streaks from small stone chips, proper car wash may act to reduce rust-streaking).