What do you guys recommend as the best way to take care of these bubbles. Because it's a small area, I'd like to think we could just sand them down and clense the area with naval jelly and match the paint for the remainder of the summer (car is getting a complete new paint job either this winter or next). I just want to take care of these spots ASAP.

Thanks

 

I hate to tell you this but I'm willing to bet when you start to sand it is going to be worse than you think. I'm seeing welding patches in your future, probably not big patches but still patches.

Good Luck,

Larry

 

I'm betting a few of those are going to be pin holes. Grinding them might make the metal that's not rusty a little thinner than necessary. If it's going to be painted this winter, I'd wait until then and get the panels sandblasted instead.

I can see by some of the small dimples that the panels have been filled before. The little crater is from air in the putty.

 

I'm dealing with the same problems while re-doing the body on my 68 442, and it was much worse under those bubbles then I thought it would be. Some spots were so rusted underneath that I could put my finger straight through the sheet metal, after hand sanding the bubbles. It never looks as bad on the surface as it is underneath. It's like car cancer

 

Something like that is ALWAYS worse than it looks! So...decide if you can live with it, before it becomes a BIG job. But if you can weld, and have a welder, you just got to grind away and see how bad it is.

 

Agreed with all above.

Don't touch those until you're ready to do some serious body work, because you're going to need to.

Just remember that guy up on the mast on the Titanic who said, "Look at that cute little iceberg over there!"

- Eric

 

Thanks for the info, although it wasn't the outcome I wanted to hear. I better go price some parts....

 

Looks like rust that has already been ground down and filled before. Since it comes from the inside, when you grind and fill, only the areas that are currently rusted through will be repaired. 90%+ of the rust is on the inside and it's only a matter of time before other spots start popping through. Most people make the mistake of thinking that the rust is "coming back", the truth is, unless you cut it out and weld in patches, it was never really gone. We keep rusted pieces cut from cars to show how tiny little rust pinholes appearing on the surface is massive cancer when you flip it over and look at the back.

My professional opinion, I agree with the previous posts, just leave it alone until yore ready for some real body work.

 

yore?

 

I think it would be a fairly quick fix if he took the door (the rust looks like its on the bottom of the door) off the car and sandblasted the spots, weld in the patches and paint it from the nearest body line. Then it won't affect the rest of the car and he can feel happy that the car still looks good long enough to do a thorough body job.

 

looks like door and quarter, or fender? to me.

 

Yeah, it's the bottom of the door and right behind the front passenger side wheel. I think we'll just leave it alone until the car gets ready for paint this winter. That way we can throw a new door skin and panel patch on there at the same time.

Thanks for your insight.