I decided to fix my tailgate rust because I was sick of looking at it and still haven't found a decent, replacement one with solid sheetmetal.
I have no welder or welding experience so Bondo was going to be my main solution.
I swung by the local auto parts store and picked up a can of rust eating type primer along with some Dupli-Color paint and clearcoat.
I wire brushed the rust as much as I could and then sprayed every inch (inside and out) with the rust primer. I then continued to prime the rest of the tailgate only to read on the bondo box that it needed to be in contact with bare metal.
So, off to 80 grit paper and sanded everything down. The rust area was sanded down to bare metal and the rest was just roughed up so paint would stick.
After looking at the rust area, it looked like it was still protruding past the flat surface of the tailgate panel so I used an angle grinder to get it the rest of the way smooth. I then washed the worked area, vacuumed out the rust pieces and also hit it with compressed air.
Then, two coats (thick!) of bondo with sanding in between. Actually looked pretty good if you didn't know I shoved bondo into the rust holes too!
Once smooth, I hit it with some filler primer and a final sanding.
Hit the whole thing with 3 coats of paint followed by 3 coats of clear. I think it turned out pretty good for my first body work attempt!
I have no welder or welding experience so Bondo was going to be my main solution.
I swung by the local auto parts store and picked up a can of rust eating type primer along with some Dupli-Color paint and clearcoat.
I wire brushed the rust as much as I could and then sprayed every inch (inside and out) with the rust primer. I then continued to prime the rest of the tailgate only to read on the bondo box that it needed to be in contact with bare metal.
So, off to 80 grit paper and sanded everything down. The rust area was sanded down to bare metal and the rest was just roughed up so paint would stick.
After looking at the rust area, it looked like it was still protruding past the flat surface of the tailgate panel so I used an angle grinder to get it the rest of the way smooth. I then washed the worked area, vacuumed out the rust pieces and also hit it with compressed air.
Then, two coats (thick!) of bondo with sanding in between. Actually looked pretty good if you didn't know I shoved bondo into the rust holes too!
Once smooth, I hit it with some filler primer and a final sanding.
Hit the whole thing with 3 coats of paint followed by 3 coats of clear. I think it turned out pretty good for my first body work attempt!
