How to fix door and rocker rust on a truck.

[CK98Beeetle]

I know this is my second thread in here recently, not trying to show off... I just got a $3500 '99 F150 I want to last a little while since it's my daily. I've never bought a used car that needed some work before. So I'm really excited about this.

When I got it a week ago, it looked like this:



Not bad, but some work needs to be done. Over the past week I shampooed the s*** out of it, (smokers tar residue ), got rid of the old purple tint, removed the bug deflector, and got the nasty spray paint off the factory polished wheels, and did a number of small electronic fixes.

Near future plans: TIRES!!! a freaking good wash, buff and wax, rear brakes, rear window seal, respraying the roof, and something that to me, will be fun to fix, and I'm looking forward to it, but not sure exactly how to approach it: the rust on the bottom of the doors and rockers.

Here's where I'm at now:


She's looking better everyday

Notice the previous owner decided to use a cheap spray on bedliner to hide the rust instead of fixing it. I think this looks like a**, and I want to get rid of it. Luckily for me, he just sprayed it right on top of the factory clear coat, so with a bit of elbow grease and patience, it should come right off.

a little bit i peeled away with my fingers to see what I was up against:


now the fun part:


it only gets better:


After I get this bedliner spray off, I'm assuming I'll find numerous rusty surprises under there. It's in all the usual spots for a 13 y/o Ford truck. Most of the spots, I don't mind scraping em down, throwing some POR-15 on it, and then a quick rattle spray of the factory color, but I think the bottoms of the doors and these corners will take a bit of finesse.

I don't want to spend a lot of dough, hence the reason I bought a $3500 truck. Putting in some hours before it gets too cold sounds fun to me though. I'm not looking to show this off anywhere. But I want to be proud of my work, and rest a little easier knowing the rust will stop for a couple years.

What would you guys recommend? Off the top of my head, as someone suggested on my previous thread about my wheels, fiberglass. Would some patience, POR-15, Fiberglass, Bondo, sanding, and some creative blending with rattle cans, in that order, get the job done?

Thanks for your help guys!

- Chris

[PatrickGTIVI]

The only way to really deal with rust is to cut it out and weld in a new metal piece.

That, or get new door skins.

I believe this was recommended in your last thread as well, it is the right answer.

[CK98Beeetle]

Yes, it was brought up. I was just hoping to get more detailed with it so I gave it it's own thread. I would love to weld a new piece in, or get new skins/doors. I was just hoping others could chime in on how they avoided having to do so and saved money with decent results.

[EnIgMa '06]

POR-15 will help slow it down. Your the best, cheap bet is to cut off the rusted areas and sand them down and apply the POR-15 treatment + paint over the top. You'll still have holes, but it shouldn't spread.

I had bad rust on my Jeep (under the rocker covers and bubbling under the paint below the tailgate). I ground everything down with a wire wheel and applied POR-15. The areas under the tailgate (and my rusty floorboards) remained relatively rust free for years.

Just last week I had a shop cut out the rust and weld in new metal. I told them not to grind down the welds or paint it, just throw some primer over it. It wasn't too expensive. If you can find a similar deal, you can probably have new metal welded on for ~$150-250 on the bottom of that door. Then just grind the welds down yourself (easy) and prime and paint it (paintscratch.com). It shouldn't be too hard and will look pretty decent. The only way to "stop" rust is to replace it.

[CK98Beeetle]

That paintscratch.com site is great! Thank you! Luckily, my color isn't very tough to find at local auto parts stores, but I'd rather go through a company like that. I'm starting the removal of the cheap bedliner on the bottoms, I'm finding some fun stuff. I think there were some rocker panel covers glued to it. My goal is to get it rust free as I can with the POR, and then exactly what you said, sand, paint, done. I didn't realize welding in parts can be that cheap. Luckily there's only 2 tiny parts that would need it.

[CK98Beeetle]

Well, after some bed liner removal and a little poking:



Found the rear cab corners on www.lmctruck.com

Hoping I don't have to take the bed off to replace them. Ugh.

For now cutting, POR-15, and quick dupli-color paint so it doesn't look like a**.

Hopefully I can save up and get the entire bottom side cab body panels replaced in a few months. I think only the drivers side door will need replaced, rockers and rear cab corners.