How old is the car?

It's a 2005.

I had some body work done on my 2015 last year. I had a rust spot on the lower front fender that didn’t look too bad. One shop that came highly recommended flat out refused to work on rust. They said it always comes back. Another shop with a good reputation said they try, but ended up calling me to say what you can’t see is worse. Replaced fender. So for a 2005, you might be looking at replacing parts if that is possible.

Rust Repair in castle Shannon specializes in this. They aren't cheap but they have an excellent reputation and I was pleased with the work they did for me.

That said, what you described may be a bit too minor for them. Still worth the call.

If 2005 have some fun and sand it your self and cover with spray can save $1000

Lol no I actually like this car and want it to look good.

Fair point. I think that's possible. It may actually be the rocker panel.

Thank you for the recommendation! Edit: oh yeah this is the place that doesn't do paint. If I go with them, then I'll need a paint recommendation lol. I guess I can start with them to get an idea of what needs to be done.

You said TINY. Dealer have Tiny spray cans that exactly match your 2005 car they use to do this sort of repair and still charge you 1000+ don’t be afraid worst case you go get it done somewhere it won’t cost you more because you sanded away the rust Youtube it unless you’re a girl then ya you don’t want to spray that stuff in your eyes.

Hell yeah. I still regret getting rid of my '04 Camry (namesake of this account) because the rust issues became more to repair than it was worth. Metal itself becomes a wearable part up here in the salt belt.

Have you done anything proactive on yours, like undercoating? Most discussions about undercoat are split 50/50, some swearing by it and other swearing it can create more problems than it's worth.

I have not. I was on the fence about undercoating as well and was going to get through the winter and see how regular car washes went as far as preventing rust.

Is your car new to the salt belt here?

Anecdotally, last year I bought a 2010 Honda from my brother in Virginia, had never seen salt. Just one winter and there is visible rust on the undercarriage. I'm not super vigilant about washing it, but did get it full undercarriage washed after the salt was off the roads last year and it's still rusting faster than I expected. I kind of feel bad that I didn't undercoat it, but it was an inexpensive first car for my new teenage driver so I didn't want to put too much into it.

damn that's fast. it spent most of its life in CA and then maybe a year or two in the midwest before coming to pgh a few years ago.

Classic Auto Refinishing in Murrysville did all the rust repair on my 1998 Jeep Cherokee Classic. They take their time and do it right. They are not cheap either but they did great work.

Thanks for the rec!

Most shops will not touch rust, including the one I work at. We just did a VW rocker replacement for $2800, and it still needs the other side done, we did it for a long time customer. And it was "a deal". A ton of work to do right, and it'll probably return eventually.

I'd try Rust Repair Inc like someone else mentioned. You're probably looking at at least $1K to paint the rocker and blend the quarter panel.

Rust Repair Inc on 88. Won't be cheap, but they do very good work. They saved my 08 Escape a few years ago, one of my rear suspension mount plates was just about gone, I was a single bad pothole away from creating statistics. I dropped it off, and about 4 days later I got a call saying that it was ready for pick up. Ran me about $1200, but kept Blue on the road till the throttle control computer started dying