Rust never sleeps. So you might slow it down but you’re not gonna stop it.
I’d say just get the rocker cut out and replaced. It’s actually not that expensive to do and at least you take care of it right the first time. After that I’d get it oil sprayed once a year.
I had this issue as well and I went ahead and did it the way most people would think of doing it, have it sanded and repainted.
I actually got it done professionally.
When I went to the body shop I showed the guy working there the couple bubbles that I was concerned with. I proceeded to tell him that I wanted it sanded down to remove the rust, add paintable rocker guard and then repaint to match my paint.
He told me he could do it but that’s not what he would advise as it wouldn’t be good for very long.
Against his advice I told him to just go ahead and do it the way I asked him to.
Got my truck back 2 days later and it looked great.
Three months passed and one day as I was washing the truck I noticed that my rocker panel had bubbles all over it again but this time it was worse that before I brought it in to the body shop to get repaired.
So I took it back to the body shop and was pretty pissed about it. Showed the guy the bubbles and was pretty much expressing my disappointment in the rockers bubbling again after only such a short period of time.
He then proceeded to tell me that he did advise me that this was not the right route but I chose to go this way anyways. He told me to go ahead and get it cut out and replaced. He told me he wouldn’t charge me to repaint and that I would only pay for getting the rocker replaced. It cost me 700$ to get the rocker replaced. I get all my panels and underbody dripless oil sprayed now.
While I was at the body shop the guy showed me a little bit about rust and what we the consumer don’t see.
So he brought out a door from a car. The door was gutted, only the metal and paint on it. From the outside all I saw was paint and a couple little bubbles. Then he turned the door around for me to see the inside. It was ALL rust. Thick and flaking. He proceeded to tell me that this is the hardest part to explain to a customer why fixing a couple “little bubbles” cost so much.
When you have bubbles like this you have to remove the paint and start sanding away. Well as you’re sanding away your metal gets thinner and thinner. It gets to the point where you get little pinholes in the metal. These little pinholes will be hard to cover up properly and you’re just gonna be back at square one with more bubbles.
Wow, didn’t realize how long this got but just wanted to share my experience.
I just think that if you are going to keep your truck for a while might as well take care of this right from the beginning.
I get mine Krown treated once a year and it works great. They get everywhere where moisture might build up and rust might be an issue. It only costs about 150$ and I think it’s well worth it.
There are also products out there that you can do this yourself but for what places like Krown and rustcheck charge it’s worth it to just have someone do it. Someone who knows exactly where these products need to be added.
