Rust spot? Fix it? Or trade it in?

I own a 2014 Ram 1500, Big horn 5.7L

(back story)

Overall its in great shape! The performance is amazing! I always get compliments on how beautiful my truck is from strangers, and family. Pretty good gas mileage as well, Never had any issues with the mechanics ( altho when it gets really cold the digital speedometer and info center blacks out ( The dealer has "fixed" this multiple times but they claim its an issue with the 2014 models? - I am looking into purchasing new all weather tires for the next winter, But my tires now are good now. I have around 95 000 KMS, I drive less than 5k per year, I purchased the truck in the 80's a few years back.

I am financing the truck, My term is over in 2025. In total I will have paid about $26k for my truck

I have this small rust spot, That my dealer covered with paint pen - It just appeared after the last winter. ( It was flaking, I lifted the flake, and this is what it looks like )

I have went to every single auto body shop in my area, with drastically different prices. Some people say just use a paint pen, Some say they will sand it, and repaint, the dealers say they would replace the entire panel ( rear wheel, right panel )

The quotes range from $1000, for a sand and paint, all the way up $3000 for a full panel replacement, front bumper respray ( rock chips, normal wear n tear ) oil coating around wheel wells, and a full buff / scratch fix If they see any other minor scratches.

My question is, What would you do? So far my options are.

A) Sand down the spot, Dealer paint pen, Seal & buff ( I just bought an auto buffer ) A quick fix until I'm ready to put up $3k

B) $1000 for a shop to do the same thing.

C) $3000 for a local dealer to completely replace the back panel, respray the front bumper, & oil coat

D) Get a trade in appraisal and look for another vehicle.

If I traded in my truck, After looking online it seems like used truck prices are really high? If I wanted something similar, I would be looking at around $35k - Even if I put in $3k, My total price would be $29k.

Hoping to get opinion's from people who have done this before, Trying to weigh all my options!!

Thank you, If you have any advice that I have not considered - Please let me know.

I would go for sand and paint... a body shop should be able to make it look pretty good. And something else will likely show rust before long anyway at that age so I wouldn't want to pay $3k to fix. I will be fixing a couple spots like that on one of our older cars myself with rattle can paint... but it's not nearly as nice a vehicle as yours.

Two words: fender flares
Then sell it. Worked for me.

CamperMike said:

I would go for sand and paint... a body shop should be able to make it look pretty good. And something else will likely show rust before long anyway at that age so I wouldn't want to pay $3k to fix. I will be fixing a couple spots like that on one of our older cars myself with rattle can paint... but it's not nearly as nice a vehicle as yours.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I truly LOVE my truck ; And considering the price of used Rams right now - I have a pretty good deal.

After looking over the entire body, I cant find any other "issues" - Just that spot, and some chips on the front bumper from rocks.

My dealer even said for a 2014, It looks overall in great shape. They have a similar model to mine, without the bed cover, and not a big horn - for $35k, Also more miles.

NJMOPAR said:

Two words: fender flares
Then sell it. Worked for me.

Click to expand...

I have been looking at those! If I sanded, and painted the spot - and applied flares, Would that help keep away any future rust?

Flares pretty much just hide the rust. Saw this often when looking for an older used car or suv for my son. I assume any vehicle with aftermarket flares has rust

Do you think sanding, and painting can help stop the rust?

The dealer said if I dont replace the entire panel it could travel - and claims the rust could already be under all the paint. When I flaked off the paint, it does not look that bad? ( I also dont know a lot about rust )

My mom, and best friend told me to sand it down - repaint and buff it myself to save the few thousand - Just like you suggested. its such a small spot - smaller than my thumb nail.

There is almost certainly more rust than you can see. But if you sand out a bit further you should be able to get it all. There are also cleaners and chemicals that you clean it with before priming. If you do that the rust should not come back.

Use a rust converter, not preventer.
Then touch up paint.

NJMOPAR said:

Use a rust converter, not preventer.
Then touch up paint.

Click to expand...

CamperMike said:

There is almost certainly more rust than you can see. But if you sand out a bit further you should be able to get it all. There are also cleaners and chemicals that you clean it with before priming. If you do that the rust should not come back.

Click to expand...

Thank you both so much for the advice! I am going to try and do it myself - and pick up the exact color from my local dealer.

I have purchased an auto buffer, Rust Check Rust converter, Meguiars scratch removal, turtle wax chrome polish & rust remover, 120 - 7000 grit sandpaper kit - Just need the paint from the dealer when they open on monday.

Something that small, I don't think it would be worth it to pay $1000 for that minor of a paint repair. Someone posted a good video of using a paint pen for repair on a keyed car and it was hard to tell where the scratches were on it after he got done.

I have some chips in the "hips" of my dually and I am going to do them myself. 320 grit will get the edges of that feathered out to where you can build up the paint and then you can sand it down to flush. Th video was posted up here....just have to find it.

OC455 said:

Something that small, I don't think it would be worth it to pay $1000 for that minor of a paint repair. Someone posted a good video of using a paint pen for repair on a keyed car and it was hard to tell where the scratches were on it after he got done.

I have some chips in the "hips" of my dually and I am going to do them myself. 320 grit will get the edges of that feathered out to where you can build up the paint and then you can sand it down to flush. Th video was posted up here....just have to find it.

Click to expand...

Wow! thank you - I will try and find that video!!

This is the one

Looks like the paint has bubbled with some rust, get that gone before you start and hit it with rust converting primer ....still feather the edges and get it so you are able to blend the edges in.

I dented my tailgate while it was down, about the size of a large bar of soap. Repaired the damage myself, skimmed with body filler , user this product below, factory matched my color exactly, 2 stage product base /clearcoat was a urathane where you release the 2 part system. Buffed the area with a polisher with three different grits. Saved 2K on a new tailgate /paint. Only I can tell where is is, couple of fine scratch marks.
2014 Ram products page, from auto motive touch up.

https://www.automotivetouchup.com/touch-up-paint/dodge/2014/ram-truck/

Another voice here. Unless you remove the rust, it will come back. Removing involves either cutting it out or possibly sandblasting. You won't know what you have until you get into it, but just sanding or using chemicals won't be worth the time. If you want it to last go with a reputable body shop who will cut it out, properly fill it in and then paint and blend to make it look as good as possible. You're talking a few hours plus materials so $1k isn't unreasonable.

Otherwise, scrape it, paint with some Rust-Oleum and throw some fender flares on. Good luck.

tron67j said:

Another voice here. Unless you remove the rust, it will come back. Removing involves either cutting it out or possibly sandblasting. You won't know what you have until you get into it, but just sanding or using chemicals won't be worth the time. If you want it to last go with a reputable body shop who will cut it out, properly fill it in and then paint and blend to make it look as good as possible. You're talking a few hours plus materials so $1k isn't unreasonable.

Otherwise, scrape it, paint with some Rust-Oleum and throw some fender flares on. Good luck.

Click to expand...

The 1k quote is no welding, just sanding & painting. Essentially what Im doing at home.

$3k for a whole back panel & a front respray ( for rock chips) local chevy dealer

My dodge / ram dealer said $5k for JUST the side panel!

Casey Bleu said:

The 1k quote is no welding, just sanding & painting. Essentially what Im doing at home.

$3k for a whole back panel & a front respray ( for rock chips) local chevy dealer

My dodge / ram dealer said $5k for JUST the side panel!

Click to expand...

I wonder if there is more than just that spit they think they need to fix. I see the rusty bolt in background, it is possible that it is inside between panels. Work to repaint is labor intensive. Lots of wet sanding for the stone chips and feathering back, and if the areas off the hood over the lights need work, it is essentially the whole front. Plus the work on fender if done right, is expensive. Right now, you are still in a tight time with vehicles coming out of winter, I used to see some better deals in early fall when people are not normally thinking auto body ( they think why spend money now when winter salt is coming, just wait for spring) so maybe check then. I also suggest checking at car shows who people use. I found a person who color matched a whole 8' bed for me for $500, including sanding and a bit of repair. I told them I could wait until they were in between jobs, and got it done right after Christmas when they had a slow down. Good luck.

With vehicle (new and used) prices being what they are currently, while it might otherwise seem like a bad idea, I would think fixing the rusted area and keeping the vehicle would be the slightly less expensive route to take, even if you have someone else do the repair. Of course, that could change tomorrow and all the vehicle sellers come to their senses and start asking reasonable prices again.

You COULD repair the rust spot yourself, sand it down, get rust converter (would make recurring rust less likely), and depending on how spread out it is, get a set of fender flares and cover that spot and not worry about color matching just yet, while helping keep new spots from showing up. Not sure that, unless the rusted area is a lot more invasive than the pics let on, that replacing the entire panel is something you would need to do.

I lucked out in some regards with this. My RAM came factory with fender flares, and the rear wheel wells have plastic inserts, to help prevent any rocks from jumping up and damaging the painted metal. But she is still only a year old, and just over 9k miles on the clock so far, so not a lot of chances to get dings like yours.

An undercoating, oil or other, is still something you might want to look into, no matter which repair route you take. Unless your "repair" is trading in the truck for another. It could help prolong the life of the one you have, or on the next one you get.

A Body Hammer & a couple of Dollies would have straightened that out

A body shop in an Alley, does not need a fancy sign to do a passable job

I wouldn't do anything until I pulled the rear wheel well liners out to have a look from the inside. It's the nature of the beast with a 9yr old vehicle, especially if it sees rust belt use.

If both sides are clean under the wheel well liners, that $3k quote for a new bed side is a good price.

Any other repair is going to be temporary.

If it were my truck I'd try to knock off any loose bits on that spot and cover the spot with a rust converter product like rust bullet or POR15 and top coat it if it's supposed to be top coated.