To renew your car is a challenge that increases your car's value and saves you money! We not only show you how to remove small damages of the paintwork but also how to remove patches of rust on the car bodywork. Max's spot repair manual explains how to deal with rust spots and deformations and how to repair the bodywork yourself.

Description of the damage: eye-catching, perforated, extensively rusty car bodywork. Not even your car is a hopeless case!

Quick fix: remove rusty, loose sheet metal and chipped off layers of paint completely and extensively. Clean the smoothly sanded areas thoroughly with silicone remover  . Fill the rusty patches with fibre-reinforced Filler or a polyester pad with resin. Sand it roughly, being returned in its original state. Then create a smooth surface with spray filler or filler. Seal the inner surface hermetically with stone chip protection, underbody coating  , cable grease   or vehicle body sealant  . Paint the carefully sanded surface and seal it with clear lacquer.

Away with the rust and simply repair the car bodywork yourself! Remove rust, loose sheet metal and chipped off layers of paint completely. Dry sandpaper – rough grit P60 – wrapped around a sandpaper block (made out of cork) and the rusty patches sanded smoothly and extensively. Not the slightest sign of rust is to be seen. Former rusty patches have to shine now brightly!

Then, clean the area with silicone remover thoroughly. Apply now sealing compound onto the brightly polished, impeccable sanded, and with silicone remover cleaned area. Sealing compound (filler with polyester threads) sticks perfectly on metal and is substantial in itself because of its thin fibre. How to do it: spread sealing compound on a piece of cardboard and add hardener. The right dosage is important here. If you use too much hardener, it will harden too fast and can't be processed anymore. If you take too little, it won't cure. How to do it correctly, see video clip.

How to fill the car bodywork: Spread the filler generously and extensively on the perforated area. After 30 minutes the filler is cured and the spare filler can be sanded dry with rough sandpaper. So, you will recreate the original state of the car bodywork. Please note that it is absolutely necessary to sand dry, as sealing compound is highly hydrophilic. Anything, that is not meant to be painted, should be protected from spray mist! Therefore, use newspaper and masking tape (see video clip).

After having sanded everything evenly, I’m correcting existing rusty patches and sanding marks with filler or spray filler. In order to mix the components well, you have to shake the paint-can thoroughly (for about 5 min). Whether everything is mixed perfectly indicates a small ball inside the can. When the noise changes to a softer tingle it means that the mixture is fine. Now, attach the Spraymaster to the paint-can. It works like a spray gun and facilitates the work enormously. Attention! Though priming coat, filler and paint, according to the manufacturers, are harmless, they are not meant for your lungs – therefore use a protective mask – just to be on the safe side!

  
Now, apply evenly several light coats of filler (about 3 – 5). Air out each layer for about 2 – 3 minutes. Hold the can about 30 cm (1 foot) away from the surface.  The ideal temperature is 15 – 20 °C (60 – 80 °F). To work carefully is very important here. Each uneven area has to be sanded smooth. Don’t sand down to the filler or to the sheet metal, otherwise you’ll have to ground this area again.

How to paint: We applied the priming coat, let it dry and cure (about 20 minutes), and now, finally, let’s bring colour into play – with the spray paint! Shake the spray paint thoroughly for 5 minutes until you hear the agitator ball move easily and it touching the can. Attach the Spraymaster to the paint can and apply evenly several light coats of paint. Hold the can about 30 cm (1 foot) away from the surface.  The ideal temperature is 15 – 20 °C (60 – 80 °F). Attention! Don’t spray on too much paint at once, in order to prevent the paint from running down and causing “tears”. In the video clip I’m going to show you step by step how to do it correctly.

Let it dry for about 30 minutes, and then apply the clear lacquer over the paint layer. Shake the clear lacquer equally well as the spray paint and apply several light coats (minimum 5). Air out each layer of clear lacquer for about 2 – 3 minutes. The clear lacquer protects the metallic particles from oxidation, lets the paint shine and acts as an absolutely necessary protective layer. Attention! When using universal paint no clear lacquer is required. If you have any questions, either send an email to max@dasauto.at or contact our hotline: +43 (0) 3687 24515 (during business hours).

From the outside your car is in perfect state again, but at the inside of the polished areas the sheet metal is now vulnerable to new rust. Therefore it is absolutely necessary to preserve these areas. You obtain the best result with cable grease. Cable grease is the easy and ideal solution for preservation and body cavity protection. It is available as spray and also in 5-litre containers in the shop.

After about one hour, the clear lacquer should be hard enough to remove the masking paper… and  - voilà! The result is impressive!
A small edge at the transition is no problem! After 2 or 3 days the clear lacquer should be cured completely and you can simply sand off the edge very carefully with waterproof sandpaper P2000 grit and highly polish it, afterwards. Naturally, you are going to polish the whole car and preserve it with hard wax now. High polish and high spirits! Congratulations!