After looking over your car's body, you may have noticed a few areas that have become rusty. Because the corrosion appears to be surface level, you may decide to try to remove the rust and touch up the area with paint. However, before you start the job, be aware of a couple of mistakes that you need to avoid making while preparing the area for painting.

1.  Neglecting to Remove All of the Surface Rust

When touching up a rusted area on your car, the most crucial part of the preparation process is removing all of the surface rust before you even begin to think about painting it. If you neglect to remove it, a couple of things can and most likely will happen.

First, if you leave the corroded area untouched, the rust will continue to eat away at the body of your car. Even after you paint over the rust to camouflage it, the body panel will continue to erode. You will not be able to see it, but the damage will still be there.

Second, if you leave the rust under the paint, the paint will not have a solid surface on which to adhere. It will not be long before it starts to peel and crack. Make sure you lightly sand away all of the rust, feathering the edges around it to create a smooth finish.

2.  Forgetting to Primer the Area Before Applying Paint

Once you have removed the rust, you are still not ready to start applying the paint. Even if you have gotten rid of all of the corrosion, the paint will still need something on which to stick so that it does not come off. You also need to seal that area on the body to help protect it from moisture and future rust.

Before you paint, apply a primer that contains epoxy. The epoxy in the primer will not only protect against moisture, but it will also provide a solid, permanent foundation for the paint.

Touching up a rusted area on your car's body can be tricky. If you do not remove all of the rust and/or apply primer correctly, the corrosion could still spread and eat away at the body and the new paint. Instead of trying to do the job yourself, consider taking your car to an auto body repair shop to have the rust removed and covered by a professional.

For additional information, reach out to a company like Prime Body & Paint.