There is a small rust bubble on the passenger side panel floor/kick panel/door frame? I live in California so I never really seen rust appear. Any suggestions?

 

I always paint correct rusted spots. It's a laborious process, but because it's inside the door, it'll be ok if you mess up! You can also just lightly sand down the area and just keep an eye on it, but paint is there to protect the metal! Chrisfix has a great video on repairing scratches (or chips!).

All I can say, as someone who fixed ALL my rock chips this way, seriously, take your time. Use the grits he says (you can skip the 5000 grit), try not to get frustrated, and seriously, make sure it's smooth. When it wasn't, the color difference showed really easily on my white car, especially if you have a two layered car paint like an opal pearl.

I'd for sure at least sand it down though, since it's bubbling

 

To extend from the previous post, the door jamb is a decent place to attempt DIY rust repair. It's unlikely that anyone will notice if the paint isn't a perfect match (not to mention the fact that the jambs are often a bit dirty).

My main concern would be figuring out what caused your issue. Rust bubbles are often a sign of corrosion coming from the opposite side of the panel, which you may not be able to fix with a DIY repair. If you're lucky and are only dealing with a scratch or chip that has developed a bit of surface rust the Youtube tutorials outlined above and similar videos should give you a decent result.

If this was my car, I would try DIY rust removal and paint repair of the area you can see and I would spray behind/inside the panel with a product like PB Blaster Surface Shield, Woolwax, Fluid Film, etc. You can find cans of these products with long, flexible application tubes that should allow you to get behind the problem area through the panel gap in the picture. Wear eye protection as you absolutely do not want to get those products in your eyes (speaking from experience).

 

Is that the notorious "White Orchid Pearl" paint color?

 

Thank you gents. I'll check out the vid, check out the other side of the panel, and come up with a plan. It looks like the rust might curl around the panel which would make it difficult to repair fully without removing it at least partially to determine the full extent of the issue.

Yes. It looks like there was a recall the year before for paint chipping so I'm not eligible for extended warranty.