I have a little spot of rust on a 95 Escort. Car runs great, low mileage, and I’ve kept it up. Hope to keep it for several more years. The rust is a 5-inch narrow strip on the side, but it’s growing. If I bring it to a body shop and ask them to deal with, what should I expect? If I do it myself, what do I need?
sand off the rust and some surrounding paint and bondo it, you can even use some filler metal, not recommended to use brass though, the only hard part is finding the right paint.
wait, hold on, if the hole is all the way through, then do that, if it isnt, then just sand the rust off and paint.
You need some 400 and 600 or 800 grit sand paper and some duplicolor paint and primer. If you keep up with these rust spots when small, you can preserve a car just about forever.
If you want to do a better job, use a Zinc Chromate primer. You can get duplicolor at most auto parts stores. Get the spray if you can find it in your color. Zinc Chromate is a little harder to find but NAPA carries it.
Sand, prime, sand smooth, spray on duplicolor, very lightly. Sand with the 800 grit between coats of duplicolor if you need more than one coat. You can overspray with clear polyurethane if you want to after the repair is done.