little rust bubbles on door - how to fix?

[HFK]

Help

I had my Fiat restored in 1987 for beaucoup rust. The body shop did a wonderful job, and I am only now beginning to see some little rust bubbles on the bottom of the door. (Torontonians - 427 auto body rocks!). The largest bubble is about the diameter of a pencil with the involved area being smaller than the palm of my hand.

I took it in to a local shop here in CT where they are doing a complete rehab on another spider and asked how much. They did a little tsk tsk, looks like work was done here before, hmm could be a big job commentary. Then they declared that whatever they did it would only slow things down, not fix it etc. etc. and quoted me approx $400 per door.

Four hundred bucks seems expensive, even for Connecticut. I'm not sure whether the doors were rehabbed or replaced when I had it done last. My question - is this something that I could tackle as a slightly obsessive, perfectionist amateur as a winter project? If yes, what would be the best approach?

[wikkid]

If you have no idea how the former work was done, then yes, you could take the doors off and strip them yourself, get down to bare metal, find out what the situation is, fix it, prime it, and give it to your painter to do the final sanding/prep and paint, and blend into the adjacent panels. Anything else would no doubt be conjecture.

[TX82FIAT]

The issue may be the cost. To paint the door and blend the panels in a truly professional manner could cost $400 alone. Seriously, a good blend of paint and painting two door panels is no small price deal. I oversee a Vehicle Repair department that works with various body shops at discounted labor rates. It's gonna cost to quality job.

[wikkid]

I Concur about the high cost. A neighbor recently backed into our rear passenger-side door on our Honda. Clean hit to the door, minor adjustments required to the door pillar, nothing too big. Subtract the $600 for the replacement door shell, and it still cost our neighbor $2,000 to for paint and labor to have the repair done. This stuff adds up!

[HFK]

Thanks for the insight. I guess i have to live with rust for a while.

[Eastlight]

From what I've read, bubbles/blisters in paint are likely caused by moisture (humidity) during painting/drying. "Griot's Garage Detailer's Handbook" (and I think sometimes in "Tips" sections of Griot's catalog) deals with repairing paint chips and scratches. I have successfully used their method (without buying their repair kit), which can take a couple days for the layered touch-up paint to dry but when finished, the paint repairs are invisible. Build up the touch-up paint above the surface, wet sand it with 2500-3000 grit sandpaper then polish. Of course. I have a black Fiat which is easier to color match.
I would take an X-acto knife and open one of the blisters, see what is in there. If it is a paint blister, seems to me the paint shop should be held liable. If it were my car, if recently painted and before cutting open the blister, I would get a written "cause" letter from one or two other paint shops (expert opinion) and take the original paint shop to civil court. Of course, I would know the expressed or implied warranty from the paint shop before I got the car painted. Otherwise, test some touch-up paint on the cut-open blister. Hopefully the test blister is in an inconspicuous place. I have a couple paint blisters on my lower rocker panel but nothing that cannot wait until there are absolutely no other Fiat repairs I can have fun with.
I like the Rust-oleum touch up paint from auto supply stores because it has a pinpoint applicator as well as a brush.

[Jimb]

There are too many unknowns. Bubbles be could one of three things.
Either moisture trapped in the paint, poor prep prior to paint, and consequently paint is not bonding, or rust that had been simply covered with bondo before repainting.
The first two are simply reprep the affected area and blend in new paint. The last one however is much much more...and serious coin to fix. Rust have to be cut out and new panels welded in...then new prep and paint.
Jim

[baltobernie]

Take a small, weak magnet (like the end of a "computer" screwdriver) and look for noticeable difference in attraction between the bubbled area and surrounding metal. Less magnetism = more Bondo.