In this video, I show a case study of how an inexperienced amateur was able to repair and paint the rusted doors of a 1998 Dodge Ram, in his driveway, with no prior experience spraying automotive paint. This is worth watching if you are considering accepting this challenge yourself, because you’ll see several examples of what not to do along the way.
This video clearly shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of DIY rust repair. The result is not perfect and you’ll get to follow along as I climb up the novice part of the learning curve. Professionals generally don’t fix these problems because old trucks are rarely worth the cost of repair, which leaves it to amateurs to experience how difficult this can be.
One of the most critical parts of the task is to have a protected area where problems of pollen, insects, rain, wind, dust, and cold/warm temperatures can mess up the job. I used an old carport tent that offered some protection from wind, though it was far from perfect.
In the end, it was a lot of work, I’m reasonably happy with the result, and I learned a ton about how this is done.
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Awesome job in my unprofessional opinion. Your exactly right, makes you appreciate the pro's.
You did a good job, the actual metal patching and repair was probably better than you would have gotten at a commercial body shop. The paints not perfect but really good enough to me. Main thing is it wont rust again any time soon
You restored those doors as well as a restoration shop, cool job.
all the respect to YOU! you actually did a decent job for a DIY! A+ for effort!
You did a good job for a nonpro!
Greased lightenin
don't bother uncle, buy a new door
Loved the video. I'm about to do some bodywork for the first time on my 1961 GMC.
I picked up some very valuable info from watching your video.
Thanks for posting it.👍
i went to the autobody shop to get an estimate on my 2013 silverado wheel wells the uppers have a little bubbleling showing on each side of the box, anyways the shop said we can do it for 2000 thousand dollars each side so thats about 5000 dollar in all, so, i know how to do it , just was feeling lazy, but anyways, i went to the auto paint shop and bought the paint etc… i needed to do it myself for under 200 bucks.
Not bad for an amateur and I'm impressed with your abilities. I painted cars for nearly 30 years and done all kinds of repairs spot jobs touch ups you name it and I've probably done it. For future reference you don't have to remove aka tear down the entire door to do that kind of repair work. Kudos for applying the epoxy primer Before applying the body filler! Most people don't have a clue about how much that will help however you should scuff sand the primer Before applying the body filler with something like 80-180 grit sandpaper, dry. There's a simple fix for the right door just tape up everything that you can and remove just the Ram 1500 emblems and the mirror then block sand the door with 400-500 grit set sand paper using water final sand with 600-800 wet then mask off the door and simply respray allowing adequate time in between coats and leave a little place in your masking to peel the tape back on the front edge and rear edge of the door to better match the color. Tip: on the primer Before you sand it apply a very light coat of black rattle can primer or paint ( I mean just lightly fog it on ) this will act as a guide coat for all the high and low spots to ensure that you have sanded the primer completely and smoothly. And next time try doing an overlap with the sheet metal putting the new metal just under the old, that will help you with the welding and once all is completed get some bad and chain oil and thin it down with kerosene and coat the inside bottom half of the doors and you'll never see rust like that again plus you can do that for the entire undercarriage for rust protection, that will require you to get a Body Shultz gun in order to spray it, warning it Will Be Very Messy.
Please feel free to ask me anything about paint and bodywork if I can help you I will if I don't know I could probably find out but if not I'll simply say I don't know, I would Not tell you to do something that will not work.
I enjoyed the video very much thanks!