These days, there is almost no way to begin a restoration project without having a fair amount of rust damage to repair. It is usually the first thing to look for when purchasing the project car. The extent of the rust damage also effects the price of the vehicle. People with more money—professional car builders, for example—can afford to spend more on a car with minimal rust damage that he can turn around quickly.
    An average guy with a family and a garage will usually start with something that’s going to need significant TLC. No matter how much money you have, you may just have to take what you can get. Whether you’re a body shop owner, professional car builder, or Average Joe, this is one skill that you will have to become well acquainted with or your project won’t be going anywhere.
    In the many years I’ve enjoyed in this business in various garages, body shops and my own employees, I’ve watched, learned and performed many rust repairs. I’ve worked with a lot of body technicians over the years and it seems that everyone has their own way of dealing with rust.
    After years of working with rust myself and working with other people’s rust repair techniques, I’ve developed my own personal way of dealing with rust repair. In fact, it’s how I try to teach my employees to fix rust. Some of my employees are older and have been working with cars even longer than I have, but for some reason they still have no idea why I want it done this particular way.

Chevy expert
At Huntington Beach Bodyworks, we get a lot of '55, '56, and '57 Chevy classics because we’ve built a reputation for knowing our way around this particular type of car. I have two of my own and restored countless others.
    First I ground away the damaged area with a grinder and a 36-grit disc. After that, I used some diluted Metal Prep Cleaner. My choice is Metal Ready, because it gently etches the metal, helping the primer adhere to the metal. It leaves a light zinc phosphate coating which helps chemical bonding of the paint, with the extra bonus that it is environmentally safe.
     Next, I began to cut out the rotted area in a circular pattern, which is where my technique seems to differ from most. Almost every employee or colleague I’ve worked beside cuts out rotted areas in square patterns, probably because it’s just easier to cut a square than an arch or a circle.