Rust bubble or paint defect?

I’m currently touching up some rock chips on my tacoma when I noticed some small ripples next to one on the roof. I can’t tell if this is the start of rust due to the chip or if it is just some paint defect that happens to be near the chip. I’d appreciate it if anyone can let me know what it looks like to them as I would like to remove any rust before it spreads but also don’t want to sand the area down if it’s just a paint defect.

 

Tough to tell, but it looks like water was forced under the paint where the chip was. Do you use pressure washer to clean your truck or go to automatic car washes?

 

Ya got shot at!

 

Nope, I just use a hose and hand wash it.

 

Off topic I apologize, but what process/product do you use to touch up your chipped spots?

 

This is actually my first time doing it but I went ahead and bought a can of rust oleum automotive primer (only because some chips went to bare metal) and some Toyota quicksand and clear coat touch up paint from the dealer.

I taped the surrounding area with painters tape and cleaned the chip with rubbing alcohol and a microfiber cloth to remove any dirt and sealant. I used the sanding tip on the bottle of touch up paint to clean up the chip a bit and remove any rust. Then I cleaned the area up with inning alcohol again.

I then to a cardboard match and cut the end at an angle to use as a brush. Sprayed the primer into a small container used the match to apply a small drop to the chip. Let dry. Use a match to apply the touch up paint in the same way. Let dry. Either apply another small amount of touch up paint or apply the clear coat using the same method.

Some of the chips aren’t too noticeable anymore but the clear coat was thicker than I was expecting so it dried higher than the existing paint surface. From what I’ve seen, this tends to be expected and some people try to correct it by wetsanding the area but I don’t trust myself enough to try that yet. It’s definitely not perfect, but I only really did it because I was concerned about preventing rust and more costly repairs down the road so I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I’ve got some small spots in my hood that went straight to metal.

 

Yep, no problem. In hindsight, I probably should have diluted the isopropyl alcohol before using to be on the safe side. I’m also going to reapply some wax to the area tomorrow after the paint is definitely dry.

 

Building up the primer/paint/clear with touch up paint alone is damn near impossible to get it level or as close as original. For deep ones, I have used glazing putty after cleaning the chipped area to get as close to the surface as possible. I use 91% iso and have never had a problem with it taking off or damaging oem paint. It will take off touch up paint without issues though.

If you end up using clear, you can level it a bit with 1k or 2k sand paper then use compound to polish. Remember, when touching up you're going for "looks good from 5' " rather than chasing perfection.

Definitely looks like you had a deeper chip that got some water and further damage. Not sure if you live in high salt areas and if you do, keep on those. Mine is only 7mo and I've already had to touch up a few areas on the hood.

 

IMHO, that spot looks unusual. Appears to be very circular with a gap under one side between the paint layers and the metal.

To really fix, I'd suggest to strip the area to bare metal, repair any rust, prime, paint, clear with all the proper sanding between steps with a wet sanding after clear.

Any kids in the neighbor hood with BB guns????

 

Thanks for the advice. Luckily, I don’t live in a high salt area but I’ll still try to keep up with any chips since I have the supplies now. Had this truck for a little over 3 years now and I was lucky enough to only have this one spot where paint is starting to bubble. I’ll go ahead and sand the rest of the area down in the next week so I can stop it from spreading.

 

I probably should’ve said it in my initial post but that picture was taken after I sanded it down. The initial chip was actually pretty thin but I could see rust underneath so I used the sanding tip that was part of my touch up paint to get down to bare metal which made it circular.

 

On a side note, do you think the area would be too large to fix with touch up paint, or do you think I should be fine to sand it down and fix it? For scale, the painters tape in the picture is 15/16” wide and the bubbling paint doesn’t go under the tape.

 

When you tape up a square like that and then Paint it the end result will be horrible looking and never match, you will have a miss colored square that appears raised on the paint.

 

Agree with @anthony250f above, no way you could make that look decent with just touch up but you may not notice/see it depending on the part of the roof it's on. This is where the glazing putty would come in followed by primer and then touch up. But yeah, color and depth won't match. Even the Cement has some metallic in it and it's near impossible to get the same color and density of paint around it. Not sure if Quicksand has metallic flecks but that and depth differences are what make touch up stand out. Do a good job but don't chase perfection in this case.