My apologies if this isn't the best forum to ask this in. I've been searching for rust repair forums and this is the best place I've found!

2002 Isuzu Trooper...Michigan truck...this is the worst of the rust. No way can I afford to have this repaired, and not able to repair it myself.

But, I wanna slow this down as best as I can. What would you suggest I do to slow things down? Best I can figure is to cut out as much of the cancer as I can, then use something like POR-15 or the like to stop the rust from spreading - or at least slow it down.

Any thoughts? I paid $1800 for this truck and the body is in good condition other than the pictured areas.

Thanks!
Andy

Not much that can be done it is far more extensive than what is shown the panels will be worse on inside and under exterior trim.
Needs to be cut out and replaced.

If you could get POR15 on inside as well as out side it may slow it down some but I doubt it.

Where are you located? There may be a member that might take the project on for a good price you never know?

Good luck

Doright wrote:Not much that can be done it is far more extensive than what is shown the panels will be worse on inside and under exterior trim.
Needs to be cut out and replaced.

If you could get POR15 on inside as well as out side it may slow it down some but I doubt it.

Where are you located? There may be a member that might take the project on for a good price you never know?

Good luck

Yeah...rust really stinks!

I'm located in Grand Rapids, Michigan...anyone game?

if you don't figure any other way you can try this. get some Devoe bar rust 235 its a marine grade epoxy. clean the metal with a scraper wire brush or what ever but get it as clean as you can then brush 2-3 coats of this on. its about 90.00 a gal. on line, if you have any marinas around they may have it. its good stuff for what you want to do. I worked in a ship yard for years and saw how this stuff will hold up, its amazing.
but I think you know your car is slowly going to the auto graveyard .
Jay D.

I wouldn't very much labor or money in it if it was mine. Being that old of a car from a heavily road salted area such as Michigan, and showing rust like that, you would be throwing good time and money away. The rust you can see is just the tip of the ice burg, that you can't see. Save what ever cash you would have to spend on it and put it into the next vehicle purchase. That makes the most sense to me given the condition and value of the vehicle.

Jay D.

what Lenny said.
i live in michigan,too-west metro detroit at the time. when i lived up north ways i was doing body work in my garage. many,many times people would want similar and id have to show them that what they saw was just a small portion. rockers,wheel wells, cab corners on trucks-pretty much anywhere salt can get( it doesnt always get washed off at the car wash- theres many places it sits,dries out, then once it gets wet again, reactivates) into and create havoc.

take a crawl under your truck with a work light and check out the rockers and wheel wheel wells. if theres a plastic liner in the wheel wells, pull em back a bit and look. you probably have a plastic rear bumper that wraps around to the wheel wells. take a look behind there.
if ya have the fancy schmancy plastic body trim all around along the bottom and around the wheel wells , theres probably a lot of rot under it.

I'm rookie when it comes to body repair and paint, but I wouldn't even see that rust on a 2002, $1800 vehicle that has no apparent classic, or otherwse value potential. You could probably drive it for several years without any problems. Geez, if (big IF) it's reliable, who cares?
The most I would do is run it through a car wash occasionally during the winter to get the salt off the undercarriage.
I drove my '69 Ranchero (in the 90's) until it didn't cast a shadow any longer. (A bit rusty!) It didn't owe me a penny.