Paint & Body Work - Surface rust - What to do?

Recently purchased a '98 SS and my top priority is keeping the body in good shape, engine work can come over time. I do not have any experience working on car bodies though, so what is my best course of action for this? The hardest picture to decipher is the underside of the hood near the front where it latches, and the other two are obviously the low door frames.

See pics

Thanks!

Where that rust is at I would sand, prime, and spray paint it. You can mask the area off to avoid over spray and any small color difference will not be noticeable because of where it is.

Todd

Thanks Todd, and specific grit sand paper, and specific brand/type primer and spray paint?

Mine has some minimal rust there too on the passenger side. It's because the window seals / T-Tops leak, I suggest fixing that issue first, then repairing that rust. My 2 cents.

Thanks Todd, and specific grit sand paper, and specific brand/type primer and spray paint?

A lot is going to depend on how perfect you want it to look. The rougher the surface is the coarser the sandpaper to start with. You might want to use some epoxy or bondo to smooth the seam out.

Here are a couple of links that should help.

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Body_and_exterior_tips

http://www.thebugshop.org/bsfqpnt.htm

You should be able to get everything at a local parts shop. This link shows the things you need to look for.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

Todd

Thanks, I'll do some reading, I've never done anything like this so I do not expect it to be or look perfect.

It seems to be a pretty common issue with all the f-bodies I've seen.

I had the same issue but I fixed it and resprayed it.

I started by removing the door sills, taking a DA sander and using 80 grit paper and sanding down the rusted area and then once it was all bare metal I resanded with 180, and then 400.

After all that I cleaned it off, masked it off, and primed it.

Once the primer dried I dry sanded with 400 but you can wet sand if you desire. After all of that is done, clean it, mask it, and shoot it with some black paint and your choice of clear. I used DuPont "Jam N' Clear" which comes in a aerosol can and to be honest it came out real nice.

There's some pics in my paint thread in my sig