Rust Spots

Funny story.

Well, amusing story.

Last night after work I walked with a friend to my car. As we neared the car I saw him start to look around in confusion. You see, it was late and most people had gone home - so it was the only car around. But, Tim figured it couldn't be my car because he didn't see the huge rust spots in the roof.

Yes, I painted the Mazda.

Of course I didn't take before and after pictures, but you can imagine a 1992 Mazda Protege with about a dozen rust spots on the roof, a few of which were salad-plate sized. I can't find any stories on the web (well, interesting ones), but it appears that there was a change in the paint formulas in the early '90s that made the paint not so hot. If you keep your eyes open, you can see a lot of older cars with white paint that is peeling off in sheets. For whatever reason, our Mazda had the good fortune of rusting as well.

It's been rusting for two (four?) years now, and I'd kept on saying, "yeah, I'll paint it..." But never did. A real paint job would cost a few grand, and I wasn't about to drop that much money on a beater car. It runs well, and we'll keep it for a long while, but it doesn't need to look great.

I finally got around to doing the job. I was getting worried that the roof would rust through, and then I'd have to deal with an actual hole - which I knew I couldn't fix myself. I went to the hardware store and bought a can of primer (lovely grey) and a can of semi-gloss white paint. Figured the "Rustoleum" brand would do the trick as I was covering rust spots. A couple of hours of sanding later (that rust was thick) I was able to begin painting.

Mary had the brilliant idea of moving the shiny black car across the street from the house so none of the paint would land on it. As a result, we still have a black car.

I taped up the windows and various pieces of trim and began painting.

The semi-gloss matches the dirty-white color of the car pretty darn well. There's obviously a difference in the finish of the painted portion and the non-painted, but the color is pretty close. And, "no," I didn't repaint the entire thing. I only did the patches. I kept some of my lazy attitude.