hey guys, i just bought my first evo a few days ago.. i love it so far but the body as a few dents and a little rust on the door. I was wondering if anyone new how to fix this door and what grit sandpaper do i need? I dont feel like taking it to a shop, and i want to learn how to do it my self.

 

your plan is to do what do the door? You're going to professionally paint it or just sand it down for now?

I'd recommend a shop.

 

well I kind of want to learn how to do it my self.. and If i ruin it then ill take it to a shop.. but yeah i wanted to sand it down and paint it.

 

Depending on your skill, patience, and tools you possibly could do a somewhat decent job on the door...but it depends on what your expectations are. Just sanding it is not going to do anything. Are you going to do anything with the dents? Are you familiar with metalwork and getting the metal to return to the original shape? You will need a set of metalworking hammers and dollies, patience, and skill getting that panel back.... Paint-wise, you will need to sand the paint back being careful not to gouge a trough in the metal. You will need to get the paint off of the section that is delaminated from the door skin and a ramp out through the surrounding paint. then you will need to seal the metal, prime it, paint it to match (blending into the original paint), and then clear. The painting, priming, and clear will be hard without the correct equipment. Without UV lights to bake the paint, it will take a long time to cure and harden.

I commend your ambition in wanting to do this work yourself, but I would advise against it. Instead, maybe you can find a job that will allow you to help work on your car so that you can learn?

If you car about getting the dents out, it is possible that the dents are too acute to work out and the door will need to be re-skinned.

if you are just trying to stop the cancer, you can hit the area with some 600 grit sandpaper, then you will need to either apply some base product that converts rust into an acceptable paint base, or you will need to remove all of the rusted metal....then rattle-can some self etching primer and then paint followed by a couple coats of clear...but this will obviously not match the existing paint... they do make aerosol sprayers that you can put the correct automotive paint in (in lieu of a compressor/sprayer) but I have never used one.

Good luck.

Edit: goes without saying, after you get down to the correct level with the around 600 grit, you will want to finish with something finer...any scratches that you put in the actual metal will need to be removed or filled in..To be safer, you can use a finer sandpaper to start with, but it will take longer..

 

Can u say steep learning curve and no tools? LoL

 

yeah sounds like some hard work. I dont have the tools or anything for it. i think im just going to leave it alone but thanks for all the info man