Rusted scrape on roof

You just sand the rust off, apply a spray primer and then matcing spray paint followed by a spray of clear coat. It will look bad. 700 is a decent price for a seamless repair and entire panel refinish.

 

I'd always go to the pros, for something like that.

 

In Alabama, rust grows pretty fast. I'd get it repaired ASAP, but don't be surprised if it comes back in a few years. Its VERY difficult to eliminate rust that has advanced that far. So to answer your question: the longer you wait to get it worked on the greater the chance it comes back. There are coatings that are supposed to chemically "freeze" rust and can be painted over. I couldn't say if they actually work.

 

Get some touch up paint from the dealer (small bottle with brush) sand lightly on the rust and dab on the paint, maybe two coats, until the complete repair later.

 

A chemical conversion coating will de-oxidize and inert the base metal, but you really want to clean it up first; abrade away the rust gouges and blend out the surrounding paint area, then apply the conversion coating, then clean the area with isopropyl alcohol wipes, allow it to air dry, then primer it, then apply color, then clear coat if applicable. That's how you get to $500-$700 professionally.

 

Yup, especially with their paint blending magic. They'll make it disappear, and stay gone.

 

OP has a pretty substantial dent right over the roof joint, a particularly difficult detail to fix right. Generally good body shops will repaint the whole panel.

 

May have to drop the headliner to pop or dolly that back to spec from inside.

 

What our shop does, when you can't get around the back, is weld on these nail heads, in the dent. Then they get a grip on the nails and pull the dent out. Then they hit the nails sideways, breaks the weld, and fill/grind to finished surface.

 

That technique works well on tight, compound curves, too. .

 

After going through the trouble of welding, and pulling the dent out, probably better to use a cutoff wheel to remove the nails instead of whacking it with a hammer.

 

I thought 700 was a good deal.

 

Maybe too good?

 

Worth the extra $1000 to pound out a dent you'll arguably put back in moving camping gear onto and off the roof rack?

 

A 2014? I would, but that's just me.