I own a 2001 Nissan which is in excellent condition and has only done 80,000km...just recently i have noticed a line of small rust bubbles under the paint along the bottom section of the passenger door and the rear adjacent panel and wish to get it repaired before it becomes a serious issue,,,does anyone have any recommendations as to where to get it fixed?.....yesterday i took it to a bodyshop opposite Tesco on Hang Dong Rd and they quoted 10,000 baht which was way over the top so looking for small operation that will do a reasonable job.

If it's a minor as you say, just DIY. Sand off the paint, use rust converter on the rusty spots and put a skim of fiberglass body filler on it. sand smooth and use spray can of correct colour paint to cover. Look on U Tube for "how to spay paint with a can".

 

It's only a real problem if the rust is worse than it looks, and there are large holes in the metal. In that case 10,000 if it included painting would be a reasonable deal.

If you can see the rust, it's already worse that it looks.

 

That 10,000 baht job will be rubbish and the rust will come back in 6 months. They will just cut or sand back what they can see, fill it with filler and paint it. For $300, you can't expect too much.

 

If you know anything about bodywork, make sure you inspect every stage of the work - they will take every short cut they can.

 

The car is likely full of rust just waiting to show itself. Is it really worth it, or just drive it till one day it collapses into a pile of rust dust?

1 hour ago, DLock said:

If you can see the rust, it's already worse that it looks.

 

That 10,000 baht job will be rubbish and the rust will come back in 6 months. They will just cut or sand back what they can see, fill it with filler and paint it. For $300, you can't expect too much.

 

If you know anything about bodywork, make sure you inspect every stage of the work - they will take every short cut they can.

 

The car is likely full of rust just waiting to show itself. Is it really worth it, or just drive it till one day it collapses into a pile of rust dust?

My 1990 car has loads of little rust spots that I spray with rust converter. I don't even fill before spraying with paint. If it was as bad as you think it should be it would have collapsed long ago.

Before that I had a Hunter that had loads of bog in it, and it was still chugging along happily till the new century. I only stopped using it because I left the country.