The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop rust pits

Hi All,
I am working on rusted fenders and I am not sure how to handle them. The metal is pitted, not rusted through, just pits. I grind and sand the old paint off and I am left with pits with rust in them. These are small bb size. Does this mean the fenders must be replaced? If I grind down to the bottom of the pits there will not be much metal left. I know better than paint over them but I am not sure what to do with them. Is something like por15 in order here, then fill with body puddy, prime and seal and then paint?
I don't think it is practical to try to get all the rust out of the pits. Okay, I am sure you see where I am coming from. Ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks! Rick in Va

What year/model truck are you working on? There may be naw replacements available. If not, you may consider trying to find better ones at a swap meet or salvage yard rather than repairing the ones you have. Ypu are right, it'll be a lot of work to try to bring back fenders that bad, however POR-15 does have a filler that may work. It's called Resto-grip and is made to work with por-15.

get phosphoric acid get a spray bottle and spray the rusty areas be carefule hardware stores cary it it turns the rust into somthing defferint and it kills it i just did my truck very happy with what it did

I had/have the same issue with my 54 cab. I prepped the areas with phosphoric acid solution I got from Home Depot, cleaned off the residue, profiled the metal with 80 grit on a DA sander, skim coated it with filler and then sanded down with 120 & 320 grit paper prior to priming. The primer then filled in the remaining issues.

I had a hood that was badly pitted. I had it blasted. if you blast it and all's they hand you back is the emblem....you need a new or used fender.if it is still solid, a skim of duraglass(polyester resin type bondo-water proof,hard as nails)works great. they also sell a "metal to metal type filler(eastwood) skim it keep movin

Totally agree with Eagle117. I had some pitting after media blast on pieces of the box. I used Duraglass also with excellent results.

Thanks for the input! I was hoping this is what was going to be said. I didn't think it was necessary to replace the fender just because the pits didn't come out. Thanks for taking the time to answer, I appreciate it!
Rick in VA