Super White '06 - Advice for widespread body rust spots

Hi there,

I am a new member here and new Tacoma owner. My other truck is an 88 4Runner but bought the Tacoma to bring a little affluence to my life.

I got it for a very respectable price as far as these go up here, but it has a plethora of little rust spots on it. I have read that the Super White colour was Super Bad for this. The underneath is flaky but no rot as far as I can tell. I'm going to perform the stickied frame restoration in the summer.

My issue is, I keep searching for advice on these rust spots here and elsewhere and no one quite seems to be dealing with the extent that I am. Some spots like the window frames will probably look pretty weird if I correct all the spots individually.

Does anyone have any advice for rust spots that are all over like this? Do I just treat them individually or in chunks somehow? Do I sand it all off and take it to a body shop for a fresh skin? Do I give up because it's not worth it and let the rust take over?

Any links you have would be great as well. I've attached some photos but can add more and answer any questions you have. I'll also keep the thread active with any solutions I try. I won't be able to work on it until the spring or summer though.

PS: If you're rust queasy, shield your eyes!

Please help!
Paul

 

You got some tricky locations for repairing those spots.

A piece meal approach will look like a piece meal repair and patchy.

Suggest to visit a body shop to discuss with them. Possibly get a quote while you are at it.

 

Thanks for the response Knute. I'm trying to minimize my utilization of a body shop, because there's literally just one up here haha.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think you're going to get any answers that you're going to like. There's no quick, easy or cheap fix for what you've got on your hands. Rust in areas where there was damage that compromised the paint are to be expected (especially as it looks like you live in a bad area in terms of rust) but any of the more fine areas of rust that don't have obvious paint damage are a bad sign.

Every one of those spots needs to have the paint removed, stripped down to bare metal, chase the rust, mechanically remove the rust and then repaint. The rust is likely much worse than what you can see and once you start removing body parts, trim and stripping paint to chase the rust you'll see what I mean.

IMO you have a few options:

• If the truck was cheap enough, perhaps it's worth it to have a body shop fix this. But, it's going to be very expensive and you'd likely be looking at an entire respray of the truck to not only fix the rust but make the repair look decent.
• Before electing to do the above option, do some math. Which is a more expensive option - the cost of this truck + a repaint or selling this truck and buying something without rust. IMO, a vehicle with good condition original paint will always be my preference to a vehicle that has been repainted. It's rare when aftermarket paint jobs are as good or better than the factory paint. And if it is better it likely cost $5-10k+ for the paint job.
• If you don't care what the truck looks like and don't need it to last 20yrs then perhaps just leave it as is. As long as it's in good mechanical condition it still has a lot of utility left in it even if its not going to win any shows.

 

I have rust in a few spots I get to bare metal and get paint from automotive touch up. They match paint perfect. I tape off the area then blend it in. They say not to do that with enough clear coat looks fine and can only tell in certain light when sun is on it just right. That said the rust always comes back in about 2 years

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I think I am going to forget about trying to pay for it to be completely redone and instead combat the rust spots myself on an annual basis. The truck is in really good shape mechanically and I'd hate to have it rust away, but I have a feeling it's going to be a constant battle with rust spots even if I have a body shop completely overhaul it for thousands of dollars.

So my current plan is to attack the chips that haven't rusted with paint and attack the rust spots by sanding them out and painting them. It may look piece meal, but will likely look better than being all rusty.

Any other advice is hugely appreciated.