My old car runs great but there are numerous rust spots in the hood. I know I should have kept up with them, Hindsight 20/20. Anyway, would it just be cheaper and easier to get a whole new hood? I’m not really concerned about the paint jobs matching.
A new hood will come with primer, which is not an adequate topcoat. It will quickly rust. If there aren’t holes in the old hood, you can sand them down to bare metal and paint the spots.
My guess is that getting a nice junkyard hood will probably cost about the same as just having a body shop fix it right. If there’s a U-Pull-It yard that you know gives really good deals, the new-to-you option might be be a little cheaper.
I did this with my old 88 Buick Century and, because I never throw anything away, had the old one handy when I hit the deer and needed a new hood! Clearly my standards of automotive beauty had slipped by then…
Rust and hoods are two problem areas. Rust is near impossible to repair without welding new metal in. Hoods are hard to repair because they are so flat, every imperfection shows. I would be looking for a good hood in the junk yard and try to get the same color. Its a two man job though to remove and takes a little messing with to adjust properly but the results will be much more satisfying.
No, the “redneck” way to do it would be to ignore the problem, allow the rust to pentrate the hood until holes developed, and then to permanently abandon the car on your front lawn when it was no longer driveable.
;-))
On an older vehicle, I think that your plan is actually a very practical one. And, if the paint color bothers you, careful preparation of the surface and careful use of spray paint could give you an acceptable repaint–as long as you don’t look too closely at the quality of the finish.
A good used hood, from a wrecking yard, of the same color would be a painless solution. You may have to use a strong polish to get the surface oxidation off and restore the shine. This way you don’t even have to paint it!
What about a fiberglass/carbon fiber hood? Do those need painted?
Sheet metal, pop rivet, and silicone, would be the proper redneck repair.(:
I just picked up the right front fender, header, bumper, grill, headlight bezel, and associated brackets for a 91 Jeep Cherokee for $100.00 from a U-pull yard. And the color matches! That’s not being redneck, that’s repairing a vehicle at the minumal cost.
Tester
I see a lot of two-tone cars around these parts, and they aren’t cops. 
If you aren’t concerned about the paint matching, you clearly aren’t concerned about what people think of you or your car. I don’t see why you would pay for a new hood, or even a new paint job. If your hood isn’t rusted through, I’d just treat the spots accordingly. Sandpaper, primer and quality spray paint is less “red” than a maroon hood on a green car (or whatever your color pattern may be). You can always replace the hood when the rust holes in it cause enough drag to ruin your fuel economy. Just a thought.
You could sand down the hood, treat it with Naval Jelly or any Phosphoric Acid solution (even Coka Cola), then prime with a zinc chromate primer and paint flat black. If there is a hole in the hood, put on a hood scoop, backwards if you want better gas mileage but open the front is more redneck.
Oh, yes, it is redneck. But that ain’t bad, either.
forget about repairing it, no amount of patching, sanding, etc. will make it right. It would be a worse than redneck repair. Call a salvage yard, it the right thing to do.
4 bolts and a half hour compared to endless hours of sub-par sanding patching, blah, blah, blah.
I thought the redneck version of that would be to buy 2 or 3 cars the same as what you got and part them out, then just leave the parts cars in the lawn
Bondo!
Many “Special Edition” versions of new cars at the end of their sales cycle have a flat black hood to emphasize the powerful beast that lurks underneath. Just spray paint it black after sanding down the rust and priming the spots, and you will have a unique car. You could also buy some cheap “hold down pins” NASCAR style and your colleagues will admire your new vehicle.