Rust repair questions about my trunk lid. Should I just get it dipped? Cost?

[Wakko]

Since I've had my car, there's been a small bubble of rust growing in one of the corners.  Today I was examining the trunk lid very closely and found lots of similar bubbles along the edge AND on the top flat surface.      Since I'm going to have to redo the whole lid now anyway, should I have it dipped or just have the body shop use POR15?  What's it cost to dip something like a trunk lid?

Now I'm kinda scared where else there's hidden rust too, but if it holds up for a couple years till a repaint, it'll be alright.

[Doc74]

If it's just bubbling it may very well be some surface rust and nothing more but whatever you do you'll have to put something on it afterwards to seal it, even if it's just primer.(not the cheap spraycan stuff)
Either you can have it mediablasted, or do it yourself if you have one of those little blasters.Or you can grind it with a steelbrush on a drill or similar, no 36 grid grinder, that would take away some of the material and you don't want that.
If it's only slightly pitted you can use any rusttransformer,the stuff that turns black, or use por15 altough personally I'd keep that for floors and frame only .
If the rust has turned into cancer get ready to cut and weld.
Dipping would be good if the whole lid needs work, is it covered in bondo ? But really not needed if it's only got some bubbles, unless you can have it done real cheap, then I'd say go for it, you'll have a clean slate to start with.Just make sure you don't forget to wax the insides or rust will start forming again on the inside and work it's way out which in a few years would give you a not so nice surprise.I can't count the cars where I've seen people tackle one part and try to cut corners and while working on the next see that same piece rust all over again.
Should I put you on my list of mopars to fix once I get there ? I'm sure i can paint a very nice flag on that car

[Wakko]

Heh heh.  Maybe!  The base of the left sail panel scares the hell out of me, as there's a crack in the filler and a blob of something in the corner of the lip that holds the trunk gasket.  When I tried to put magnetic crossed flags back there, it didn't stick.     

[Doc74]

Yikes that's a sure way of finding out, however you do it doesn't matter, just strip the whole thing.
Better safe than sorry .

[Drop Top]

Wakko;
I can't tell you how many times I've see this happen. You buy a car that has been painted/restored and after a few months this starts to happen. I would strip the entire hood down to bare metal. Eather dip it or with plastic or soda blasting. By doing this you can find out exactly whats going on and repair it right. In my area dipping is not an option. But to have it blasted with plastic media would run you around $40.00 to do both sides.

As far as the sail panel goes. This is one of the worst places for rust to get started. Get a flash lite and get in the trunk on your back. If the panel is rusted all the way through. You will see filler where there should be metal. More then likely with what you described its going to need replacement or at least patched.

When I'm hired to inspect a car for someone I always take my flash lite with me And get inside the trunk and have a close look at it. I get my hand down inside the inner lower 1/4s to see how badly it will be damaged. Then I take a little tool that measures the mils of paint. I check all around in the normal places with it. This tells me allot about how well the car was restored. If they just filled in over the rust with plastic in these two areas. Keep a close look out in the lower 1/4s, door corners and lower corners of the front fenders. These areas will be next to show signs of problems.

[Doc74]

Then I take a little tool that measures the mils of paint.

Hey Drop which one do you use? Saw a fancy one our paint supplier carried but don't know what brand it was.
Handy gadget to bring to sellers 

[Wakko]

I'll see what the body shop recommends on the trunk lid.  I'm not concerned about the sail panels (yet) since the car looks awesome and doesn't need to be painted (yet).  Considering how straight the body is and how slick the paint is, I'd think they did the prep the right way, but considering the trunk lid I'm no longer sure.   

[Drop Top]

Doc74; It says PPG on it. I got it from a PPG rep along time ago. But I'm sure PPG didn't make it.

[runningman]

Just had my trunk lid dipped, $125 dipped and e-coated

[Doc74]

Doc74; It says PPG on it. I got it from a PPG rep along time ago. But I'm sure PPG didn't make it.

Cool that's a good enough place to start, I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what they use these days.
Thanks