Need Help Touching Up Body Door Frame

M

Mass. Wine Guy

New member
I don`t know the proper name for it, but the bottom section at the driver side door has a strip about four inches long needing touchup. I`ve tried twice but there must be a section of the door that rubs it because soon after the clear and paint are gone and rust reappears on the bare metal.

It`s a minor thing that`s driving me a little crazy. What do I need to do to have a longer-lasting repair?
 
Some day I`ll fix that on the Tahoe, for now I`m just living with it. Been surface-rusted there since I got the thing all those years ago...

The REAL ANSWER is, IMO, to have it professionally repainted just like any other area. Ideally, then PPF.

For a quick-`n`-dirty fix that will at least keep the rust at bay, I`d do this:

-clean the area with a good prep solvent (I use Eastwood`s Pre)
-kill the rust, either by mechanical means (filament pen, sanding, diamond burrs on a rotary tool, etc.) or chemically, or both
-treat rusted area (I use Rust Bullet`s Metal Blast)
-prime with a paint-over-rust product (the only two that have pleased me 100% are Rust Bullet and, especially, KBS Coatings` Rust Seal, though Eastwood`s Rust Encapsulator is at least a *LOT* better than POR15, which I consider, uhm...unsatisfactory). Use multiple coats


At that point the rust will be taken care of and/but you`ll be left with a really obvious repaired area. *I* would (?would? ?will? man, I really oughta do this some time...) probably then take it to my body/paint guys and have them prime/spot-in the area. Somebody with greater confidence in their abilities might DIY the priming/painting ;)

If yours is anything like mine, it`s a relatively flat/simple-contours area and once that`s not really obvious. No seams/welds/areas where killing the rust will be tricky. Getting that kind of out-of-sight area ready for the paint guy oughta be pretty straightforward, but IME it really does pay to use the *BEST* stuff; guys buy something like POR15/etc. because "you always hear about that stuff" and then wonder why things didn`t go all that well....

Done right, the KBS Rust Seal will *NOT* get worn through. Maybe the new touchup paintwork on top of it will after a while, but you won`t get getting down to bare (soon to rust) metal again if you have a few layers of that stuff on there.
 
OH, hold on....careless reading bits me again.... :o

If the rust is *on the door* (as opposed to in the doorjamb where the door rubs against it, which is my situation), then this might be trickier if the rust is around a seam/welded/crimped area. If it`s some place flat and smooth then [what I posted above]. If it`s involving a seam, that`s a bit different...
 
Take a look at POR15, they now have it grey, black and clear in both gloss and matte if it is just rust product is paintable
 
It sounds like the door is rubbing on the door frame there. If that is the case then no repaint in the world will prevent this, its metal on metal rubbing and the paint isnt strong enough. You need to get the door hinges replaced maybe or the door aligned. It would be much more helpful for us to see a picture and give you better help.
 
atgonzales- yeah, a number of the paint-over-rust products come in different colors and clear. Have they updated/improved the POR15 recently? I haven`t used it for a while, not since its last Major Fail when I switched to those others.

Mass. Wine Guy said:
Still, with all these steps, wouldn`t the paint keep being scraped off?
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Can you clarify what you mean by "with all these steps"?

Assuming it`s aligned/etc. right, it might just be one of those things that needs attended to now and then. Or you could PPF it, or try to build up some kind of sacrificial layer/barrier...a coating, many layers of KSG.
 
Suppose I brush the section with rust converter, let it dry, spray with CRC zinc coating and then prime and paint? I could spray some of that plastic/rubber spray as a top layer (it comes in clear).
 
Mass. Wine Guy said:
Suppose I brush the section with rust converter, let it dry, spray with CRC zinc coating and then prime and paint? I could spray some of that plastic/rubber spray as a top layer (it comes in clear).
Click to expand...

Instead of the zinc coating, use the KBS RustSeal (or RustBullet, or Eastwood`s Rust Encapsulator, or...yeah even POR15). Those products do what people *expect* the zinc stuff to do.

Some Rust Converters work a lot better than others, and some are downright lousy especially when some areas they get on are NOT rusty (i.e., they *require* some rust to do the converting on or else they don`t adhere/cure/whatever). My fave has been off the market for ages, and I never found any other brand that came close.

Eh, I`ve basically given up on Rust Converters for stuff like this (in favor of the approach I described previously). It`s gonna need 1) cleaned, 2) treated, 3) primed, and 4) painted no matter what so I`d use likely-to-work stuff for each step.

While it might be one of those recurrent issues, it might be a while before it needs done again. Some PPF might keep trouble at bay for a long time.
 
Rust convertors are intended for and only bond to areas that have considerable rust. I`ve used them as a stopgap years ago without much success, but when I discovered the paints such as POR 15, KBS and Eastwood`s Rust Encapsulator that offer a permanent solution, I`ve never looked back. As mentioned, I`d first chase the reason the paint is wearing off and solve that issue. Otherwise you`re just chasing your tail.
Once the problem is solved, then prep the area and coat. KBS and Eastwood can be painted over without much prep, so I might be tempted to prime and rattle can the area, if it`s just a jamb. As the instructions always say but we never follow, apply many light coats to blend the new paint into the old.
It won`t stop wear from metal-to-metal contact, but if the wear is being caused by a soft weatherstrip, PPF or even a piece of vinyl wrap material is something you may want to consider also.

Bill
 
Heh heh, it`d take some pretty severe rubbing to wear through KBS RustSeal. Might wear the paint and primer right off if after a while, but the RustSeal is awfully tough stuff.

I`ve had some (?lacquers?) mess with Eastwood`s Rust Encapsulator if I applied them too thick, best to build up a few light ones instead. Once the RustSeal cures, either scuff it with 320 or use a primer that`ll etch it, otherwise the topcoat may not adhere too well. Been so long since I`ve used POR15 that I can`t remember whether I ever topcoated it or not...only used it for some steering components (it peeled off other applications and those got redone with something else).

On the Tahoe`s issues of this nature, I can *almost* see myself rattlecanning it...but nah, if nothing else I`d be paranoid about overspray no matter how well I covered things up and I bet the blend/masking line would bug me.
 
Billy Jack- Did you ever use the old 3M Rust Avenger? That was one Rust Converter that really worked great...like, every single time. Zero issues with it, well.. other than its being discontinued.
 
Accumulator said:
Billy Jack- Did you ever use the old 3M Rust Avenger? That was one Rust Converter that really worked great...like, every single time. Zero issues with it, well.. other than its being discontinued.
Click to expand...
Nope, never tried it. I`ve used both Permatex and Rust Oleum`s stuff and what I didn`t like is that it wouldn`t bond to either clean metal or surrounding paint. I know guys who have used both SEM and Eastwoods converter with success, but I`d rather just stick with the Encapsulator unless it`s really nasty.
BTW, POR 15 says no topcoating unless you use their proprietary Tie-coat primer and I did have some delam issues when I tried to cheat. KBS states that there`s a "window" in the drying process when it will allow topcoats or primers to bond. I`ve done a bunch of undercarriage parts that way, shooting satin black over KBS on my Camino and they`ve held up for 8-9 years so far.

Bill
 
Billy Jack- Ah, thanks for the info. IF I ever get to the point of topcoating my RustSeal I`ll probably hit it with their Fusion primer. Which reminds me how nice it is that Rust Encapsulator is UV-stable, but I`ve gone with the RustSeal on the Crown Vic`s undercarriage because it somehow strikes me as being the toughest such product out there.
 
I definitely need to adjust the door so it comes up a bit. I’m all thumbs mechanically, but I may be able to change the tension in the upper hinge screw.
 
Yeah, the Tahoe needs new hinge pins/bushings...just not getting it to my guys, nor looking forward to what will inevitably happen to the doors` clear when they manhandle it.
 
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