Small Rust spots on a protege 5
 

Hi again, I posted once before about tires. Anyways I picked up this '02 Protege 5 , and I dont think the people washed it very often during the winter so the road salt kind of got to it in places. (Canada can have some nasty winters) The cars paint is really good still, just a few spots that need some attention and I was wondering if I could get some tips on fixing it since I doubt that Mazda will do anything for it.

Anyways, the spots that have rust are
1) tiny bubble of forming under the paint just above the Protege 5 logo badge on the hatch, I hav seen this before on other P5's so I am assuming this is a common spot it forms at. The rust has not pushed through yet, but im guessing it is forming under the paint somehow? (Is the badge stuck on or does it have a little hole it sits in, im thinking some water might have got in there and thats how it started.)

Anyways, Im thinking of finding some kind of sealant I can put around the badge to keep water from going behind it and maybe this will curb it from spreading further. Is there some kind of silicone I can put on niceley that wont damage the paint or badge?





2) The other spot that seems to have some rust is the ground effects plastic thing that sits on the bottom of the car below the doors. At the back passenger door on both sides of the car, the very back part of the ground effects thing that raps around to the back wheel well, the paint on that corner has some rust, which I can see, and some of the paint has flaked off. Now this isnt a big spot yet, but im guessing it will get worse. SOOOO, my idea is to do the following:
- Take off the ground effects peice that runs on each side of the car ( I think it just pops off?)
- Take some sand paper, and slightly rub the rust patch so it shows metal again and take off some up the flaked paint so I get to the paint that is still attached to the body.
- I havee touch up paint ordered for the car, so I would put two coats over the spot allowing an hour or so between the applications.
- Then get some kind of clear coat from im guessing and apply it over the painted spot.




Now is this the way to go about it? or would it be better to take the car to a body shop an have them deal with it, I just dont have ton of cash for them tear it apart or somthing, if it was a cheap fix I might be able to afford it, im a student :)



I know its a long post thanks guys.

Sounds good - but hit the bare metal first with rustoleum (or equivalent).

Thanks for the info, maybe ill try some of there rust stripper first, then use their primer before I paint it.

libtech,
I know exactly what you're talking about. I have the same rust spots on both MAZDA and PROTEGE5 logos on the rear hatch and on the side skirts toward the rear.
The logos do have little holes they sit in...each hole has some rubber for sealing but water gets in there (obviously). I went to canadian tire and bought some sort of automotive silicone sealant...placed a hole bunch around each hole and rubber seal. I also took a dremmel drill and got rid of all the bubbling. What looked like the size of a dime ended up being the size of a toonie! Covered it up with some rust primer and applied touch up paint. It definitely does not look very professional, but its behind the logo so its not too bad. Did it in November 2005 and no bubbling has come back yet.

Haven't done anything with the side skirts...

side skirts don't "pop". Feel under them for bolts (there is a bunch). also - another possible spot - rear fender wells (dogleg). Mine for some reason also rusted out the rear passenger window guides (the vertical ones between the main sliding window and the solid triangle one. Looked around - doesn't seem that common... Found out that these are easy to replace and are cheap, so I'll wait for them to rot completely.