So my Tahoe is a 1999 and living along the coast and not waxing the paint for a couple years has caused minor rust formation in different areas.So this has me wanting to strip the old paint and primer& paint it.Problem is there is a handful of small dents and dings that I would like to fix,but dont have the tools to do so.My question is if I was to bondo the dents and then primer and paint,how hard would it be to,in the future, remove all the bondo in preparation of getting body panels worked straight?
There are several tutorial videos on Youtube. But if the rust is coming from the inside, then it will come back soon. Are you sure your 22yo truck is worth all the trouble and cost?
The body is straight other than some dent damage on the doors.As far as the body goes its clean from rust other than the paint on the hood (which is replaceable) has peeling paint and minor rust,the roof same thing peeling paint exposed the primer and surface rust.The only rust that should be dealt with is the chasis.The steel is still solid,but has a rough surface that isnt yet to the point of flaking.Im fairly sure that if I took a wire brush to it,that it would clean up well with eighther rust neutralizing primer and some topcoat like linseed oil,or linseed oil paint.Ive hear some people say that the linseed oil is good over the rust but,if inhaled to guess it's probably better to prep it a bit so really I just need to keep the underside maintained and paint it.Then need to get the transfer case adressed.
A grinder can take Bondo off.
If you do go the linseed oil route just be sure to have proper PPE and you'll be okay, a small can or Bondo is like 20 bucks and if it is just all minor dents and dings you can try to pull em out instead of Bondo. Either or will require some work. Color is also a bit of a pain to work with if you don't have a spray gun. If you are looking for more of a smooth paint job and don't want to pull the dents then Bondo will work but you'd have to get it a good area of fresh metal to adhere to or else the bond will just fall off. That being said, Bondo is relatively easy to Work with.
Thanks for the tips. II have just shy of about a dozen small dings,and rear passenger door is pushed in on the bottom half from an old minor accident because a patch of cactus cushioned the impact instead of an oak tree.saved me and my car.
Anyway I am probably going to strip the roof to bare metal,prime and paint with weightier a zinc base primer or urethane primer.then cover it with rust oleum paint.I want to do black on gold,but my a/c isnt working and it gets hot enough in the summer so I will probably go with white on top.As for the undercarriage,I am planning on using a wire brush to get any small chunks of rust off and get a moderately smooth surface,do some kind of degreaser,then use a rust neutralizing primer to paint linseed oil or linseed oil based paint.Unless I learn of something better. Only other undercoat I would consider is a mix of mineral oil and lanolin.I just know to stay away from rubberized coatings.
I wouldn't personally recommend Rust-Oleum, especially with the effort of going to bare metal, but if you do the oil based one mixed with mineral spirits in a 60-40 ratio I've been testing for another project seems to do the work for me. Of course the primer will have to be oil based as well if that be the case.
That all sounds like a lot of work and expense. I would put that energy towards a newer car that is newer, and not rusty and banged up.
They don't make them like they used to.
GM doesn't no. But a newer Toyota will be more reliable, require less maintenance, and the paint should last as long as you need it to if you don't beat it up. The time you would be spend restoring an old rust bucket could instead be used on better things like living life or working @ something you're good at and earning money for it.