Re-spray suggestions

[Jenno1981]

Hi guys,

The paint on my 450SEL is strating to bubble.  I noticed it for the first time 6 months ago.  This is a long term car of mine, it's in great condition and I'm going to be holding onto this car for long term.  So, I've decided to invest in fixing(slowing down) the surface rust.  I know I'm looking at big dollars... any suggestions? I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

Cheers,

Jenno

[rumb]

If you want to start stabilizing the rust and plan in the future to repaint car I would suggest this.

On the exterior body panel  attack the rust bubble with a screw driver tip and scrape open the wound. This of course will lead to a much larger problem than you thought you had. You may easily discover you have poked a hole clear through the metal and will end up with a hole and then an area around it that the paint just flaked up.  If you can live with the hole there, then treat area with POR-15 and then follow up with some touch up spray paint to make it the same as your body color. If you dont like the idea of holes in your car, then you may not want to do this. When you do repaint, these areas should have the metal replaced. If you know how to weld, then I would slowly over time just tackle each little areas and repair correctly with welding in new metal, then when the day  comes you will be ready to repaint.

If you continue this exercise into the wheel well areas, you will find the same sort of areas.  Look for cracked or loose undercoat, and strong poking with the screwdriver will peel away any loose undercoat.  You will find many areas that are just surface rust.  These can be POR's and then if on a seam, add seal sealer.  If you find a small area that opens to a hole, then in this area you may decide to patch the hole with fiberglass and then treat as above, except that you will need to repray the textured undercoat to blend in.  OK- dont shoot me for saying fiberglass. It depends on what you want from your car. Fiberglass can make a strong and durable repair. If it is just a small area and in the wheel well, welding in a patch is a much harder position to do it.

[rumb]

Here is what you find after poking a few rust bubbles.

[wbrian63]

I'll see your "rust bubble" and raise you... http://forum.w116.org/mechanicals/6-9-521-restoration/msg113855/#msg113855

In the early postings in this thread I used idyllic phrases like "less than expected" or "not as bad as it could be" - that didn't last long...

I'm now 27+ months out from that first post and "I think" I've just about got the tin worm licked...