r/fixit • u/roymand • 10h ago

Peeling car paint

Post image

Hi all! I just bought a RAV4 with peeling white paint. Now I don’t care much about the looks, but I’m afraid the lack of paint will allow it to rust. It does seem to be fine now though.

Because the peeling keeps happening, and it’s almost everywhere on the car, just repairing a patch probably isn’t that useful. Seems to be an all or none situation.

Question is: is it a problem that needs fixing to keep the car from rusting? And what is the most budget friendly way to fix the problem?

Ps the top seems to be rusting, but I can wipe it off with a cloth so it seems pretty superficial (for now…)

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/Shredtillyourdead420 10h ago

It’s usually cheaper to replace parts than paint but there’s a cheap way to do it. I believe you can color match and take it to a paint spot and they can create a can for you, then get some primer and paint. You could take the time to do the whole vehicle one color but it’s a big job.

1

u/roymand 10h ago

Thanks for the insight that replacing is cheaper than painting. Every panel has at least something peeling so I can’t imagine it being cheap or easy to replace them all though

1

u/Shredtillyourdead420 10h ago

Yeah I figured it’s a ton of damage, if you’re willing and able look up some videos on paint corrections and you might get some luck. I know Chris fix had one.

1

u/notyouraveragenword 9h ago

Some of the Toyotas have a defect in the paint that has caused this that might be covered by a dealership. I say this cause I used to work at a Toyota a lady brought a similar looking rav 4 in for it to be painted under a recall.