best (cheap) ways to take care of rust spots?

[Murphy]

so ive been doing some touch ups on my car, pretty much just trying to take care of rust damage. i have no budget, so i have been using junk i find laying around the house, like a 5 year old can of Rustoleum, and JB Weld, that is who knows how old, but its still good anyway.

i was wondering what some of you do for your rust and what you think the best way to cheaply (under $50) take care of rust spots is.

there is a spot i did today were the metal had completely rusted through, it is the right front fender just between the bottom of the wheel well and the door. i took out the fender liner so i could see it, and there was sand and road salt packed into it, it was packed into a nice little rectangle. after cleaning it out with water, then thoroughly drying it out, i sprayed black (all i found) Rustoleum on to the inside of the fender in that whole little area. i had no idea how to patch the whole, so i chipped away some of the paint around it so it was surounded by bare metal, then i put steel JB Weld on it and covered the holes.
definitely not a pretty looking job, but when it dries i will sand it (or grind it, dont know what it will take) smooth, or add some more if i need too.
i will get a picture in a little bit

[evolutionmovement]

Grind until it is shiny a couple inches around where the rust is (yes, you'll have to eat more paint than you'd like). Then spray it with zinc galvanizing spray - you can get it at electrical supply places. It's not cheap, but a can of that and a grinding disc and wire wheel for a drill should all be under $50. Don't kill yourself on the front fenders. The best thing to do with them is replace them when you can. Just make sure the area under the fender, behind the wheel, is cleaned up. The zinc spray is fine to leave exposed, better than primer left unpainted, though the zinc spray can be primed over and painted as you like.

[Murphy]

but do you think steel JB Weld is an acceptable form of body filler? there was a pretty decent sized hole in it after i got the paint chipped away.
i think i might get some of that zinc spray to put over it when its done. i think i will get a new fender before i start breaking out the grinder on it.

this is after it has had some good time to dry and set

sanded down a little bit, and chipped away some of the other paint

and finally, put some more JB on it, tomorrow i should be able to resand and put a final bit of JB on, then paint it


when its all finished, it should look something like this. not great, but better than rust. my friends always say "do you know someone stuck tape on your car?"

[evolutionmovement]

Never used JB Weld so I don't know if water will penetrate it or get between it and the metal. You don't want to use foam as it will work like a sponge. Just blast the inner fender with high pressure water whenever you wash the car. You should see dirt and shit come out from the gap between the fender and sill.

You didn't get enough of that rust. Rust is like cancer - if you don't get every bit of it (and eat some healthy tissue around it as well), it will come back (which it will inevitably anyway. Oxygen is for steel like that one girl you just can't keep away from no matter how bad for you she is). You have to grind a good inch or more around where the rust is as there may be some hiding there under the paint. There's also a spot at the trailing edge in the photo - that will spread for sure. You'll really have to remove the fender to do anything better than a 6-month patch and for that I'd recommend a new fender. I know, you said you don't have the money, so honestly I wouldn't bother with anything then. Just make sure you blast that area out every week or so to protect the sill under the fender and you should be good for a little while.

[Canadian Turbo]

Seems like sound advice to me. I live in Quebec salt and corosion capital of the world!!