Rust spot inbetween windshield and roof. What are my options?

[persuazion]

Okay so I usually wash my truck in one of those automated gas station car washers, but I decided to manually wash it for the first time in a long time. Well low and behold while standing up on the running board and washing the top I was greeted by a horrible sight.
Sweet jesus....I can't believe I never noticed this before and how could this even happen? What are my options besides junking the whole truck or just using flextape over it and acting like I never saw it?
2008 Ram with 74,000 miles and this is the only rust spot on the entire outer body. I do live on the Gulf Coast so I assume that had something to do with it?

 

[Johnsram]

Looks like it's rusting from the inside out. Remove all the rust, apply POR15, patch, prime and paint.

 

[persuazion]

Looks like it's rusting from the inside out. Remove all the rust, apply POR15, patch, prime and paint.

Do I have to take off the windshield to do that? And about how much do you think a local bodyshop would charge?

 

[Johnsram]

1: It's hard to tell from the pic.
2: I cannot answer that as I do not know your skill level.

It's a small spot so a shop probably would'nt charge you much...especially if they're just blending the paint rather than painting the whole panel.

 

[kad]

I had something similar happen this past spring, but I caught it before it got anywhere near that bad. It was a 2" paint bubble, but no real rust, just surface. The body shop said that they thought it was from a rock strike right on that edge. They were able to fix it and repaint the entire roof without removing the windshield, but it was a close thing. Cost me $700.



-K

 

[persuazion]

Whelp....just took it to a local body shop. They quoted me 960!! And another 250 if the windshield breaks when they have to remove it. They said they have to sandblast the whole area...I asked if they could just blend the paint and not paint the whole roof and they said no that they have to do the whole roof and it would be really noticable with black. I don't really care how it looks...its an old truck, I just don't want it to get worse where it starts leaking in for the few years I still keep it. This shop was a pretty big bodyshop linked to a local car dealership so maybe another smaller bodyshop would be cheaper?

 

[LoneStarSilver]

Definitely get a second opinion. Another idea is to check with your local high school or college and see if they have an auto mechanics class. Talk to the teacher and see if he will use your truck as a project. It will generally only cost you the materials. Then make a donation to their body shop.

 

[PoMansRam]

If it were mine, instead of putting $700-1000 into this one little spot, I'd use my Dremel tool to carefully get the loose stuff off and then re coat with poor 15 or whatever you choose.

 

[persuazion]

Definitely get a second opinion. Another idea is to check with your local high school or college and see if they have an auto mechanics class. Talk to the teacher and see if he will use your truck as a project. It will generally only cost you the materials. Then make a donation to their body shop.

Hmmm..thats a good idea....there are a few smaller more family owned owned shops in the area I will try tomorrow.

 

[persuazion]

If it were mine, instead of putting $700-1000 into this one little spot, I'd use my Dremel tool to carefully get the loose stuff off and then re coat with poor 15 or whatever you choose.

The only thing is that its also rusted between the space in the roof and the windshield a little bit. I don't know how I would get in between there unless I just poured some in there and used a thin putty knife. Do you have to paint over the Por 15?

 

[Hootbro]

That is a bad spot and a good amount of material would have to be removed to get to clean metal for any repair. I would shop around also but I would not expect much lower than your first quote if you are expecting professional results.

 

[persuazion]

Went to another shop and he said they don't do rust anymore( ummm...what? your a bodyshop!) He said find a restoration place...and in the meantime put some type of caulking on it do keep the water from soaking in...he said it wont stop the rust, but it will help when it rains. What kind of caulking can you put on a a rust spot?

 

[likes2build]

Sorry to say they don't do rust anymore because everyone wants a guarantee on the work they pay the shop for. The only guarantee with rust is that it's going to come back. The more clean metal area you can get to surrounding the repair the longer it will last. Unfortunately in order to even start to properly repair your damage, yes, the windshield does need to be removed so they can get right down to the pinchweld.

 

[persuazion]

Well I was trying to scrape some of the old rust that was flaking off and it just collapsed into itself and created a hole! Maybe half of that spot is a hole now! I planned on just paying the damn 960 but I won't be able to until next week sometime. I bought some 3m plastic metal filler. Can I just spread some across it to cover the hole in the meantime? And will that affect the repair they have to do or can they just sand it off with the rest of it. I just don't want any water to get in. And also what is in that hole? I thought the top of the roof was thicker then that...is there another piece of metal under or just straight headliner material.? I can't believe I went from just seeing this spot to now having a hole in my roof.

 

[BWL]

Gorilla tape until it gets fixed properly.

 

[likes2build]

You can stuff that hole with anything you want as long as it will dry and it is NOT SILICONE.
I like the Gorilla tape idea!!! The shop will be able to get it off during the repair just do a neat patch and tape off the glass if the hole is near it.

What's in the hole is nothing until you get to the inner braces and no that metal is very, very thin.

 

[PoMansRam]

Sorry if I missed this and very sorry about this, but how the HELL did you not notice this spot? I'm old with failing eye sight and something way more minute than that would draw me in like a magnet!

It's a heart breaker because if it's corroded right through in that spot, there's no telling how many other areas you can't see are about to rear their ugly head. It's unfortunate, but it's an 11yr/old truck and this is going to happen in other areas. I would not throw a lot of money at just this repair.

Prolly going to laugh out loud at this one, but do you have a Maaco or Earl Scheib type shop in your area? I'm only suggesting that if you don't want to do a shade tree repair yourself.

 

[persuazion]

Sorry if I missed this and very sorry about this, but how the HELL did you not notice this spot? I'm old with failing eye sight and something way more minute than that would draw me in like a magnet!

It's a heart breaker because if it's corroded right through in that spot, there's no telling how many other areas you can't see are about to rear their ugly head. It's unfortunate, but it's an 11yr/old truck and this is going to happen in other areas. I would not throw a lot of money at just this repair.

Prolly going to laugh out loud at this one, but do you have a Maaco or Earl Scheib type shop in your area? I'm only suggesting that if you don't want to do a shade tree repair yourself.

I know...I have been slacking on handwashing and detailing for over a year....just got lazy and used gas station car washes. Went to handwash and detail the other day and got up on the runningboard and seen it. Still...I don't know how the hell I missed this for that long. I suspect a rock chip but damn...it looks like it has been like this for quite some time! Its funny you say that because a month ago my brake line had a rust hole in it and had to be repaired...I fear if I put money into this one spot, a year from now I'll be dealing with something else. I have Maacos in my area...I wonder if they would be any cheaper then the 1,000 quote from the local shop? Im not sure if they do rust repair though.

 

[persuazion]

You can stuff that hole with anything you want as long as it will dry and it is NOT SILICONE.
I like the Gorilla tape idea!!! The shop will be able to get it off during the repair just do a neat patch and tape off the glass if the hole is near it.

What's in the hole is nothing until you get to the inner braces and no that metal is very, very thin.

A coworker also suggested tape but he suggested that automotive metal tape or flex seal tape. Pardon my ignorance but why not silicone based fixes?

 

[likes2build]

Silicone in a body shop is like putting Holy Water on the Devil . It's a ***** to get rid of silicone on a vehicle and even just a little can contaminate an entire shop.
Paint pushes itself away from it and causes huge craters called fisheyes. Masking tape, fillers, adhesives and all kinds of other stuff just wont stick to it and fall off. Armor All type products are full of silicone type chemicals and painters hate them as do the body men.

Gorilla tape is fine if you go the tape idea, that stuff sticks really good. A shop would rather remove some tape adhesive residue than some hardened sealer or silicone.