Yesterday my hood was fine, I literally just inspected it because I was adjusting the latch to make the hood sit flush with the headlight housing edges but still seated on the rubber pegs. (before it was flush but had too much play from the latch getting f'd up, so I had my hood latch on the hood side rewelded--it broke when I got hit and run)

So completely unrelated--this morning I get to work and a have a nice filthy fresh stone chip in the middle upper hood that is already completely brown/orange with rust!

I have touch up paint, what's the best thing to use to remove the rust so I can clean the surface/claybar and proceed to touch up?

I gave up on the front end of my Fit a while ago, I just don't want rust so I clean thoroughly and touch up whenever it gets raped...I've had it since March last year and my front end probably has about 100 chips...now that I have the Ings body kit getting installed soon I'm thinking of just doing a vinyl over the hood when I do the roof...although that might be too much black, it's time for some sort of hood protection at least.

 

dont worry, rust is cool

 

HAHA.

seriously, how would you go about removing the rust, should I just tape off around it and hit it with some sandpaper? what grit would you use?

 

also, you can get 3m clear vinyl to protect your paint.

i wouldnt worry about the rust, anything you do will make it look worse than it already is. id leave it or hit it with some touch up paint

 

Way too late for a 3M clear vinyl...maybe I'll get that for the Ings bumper but this hood is F'd.

What could I use to loosen the rust in the chip that won't damage the nearby paint that is undamaged? Touch up on top of rust sounds like it might bubble or something later.

 

itd be better to have a tiny rust mark than to sand and **** even more up

 

Rust grows dude I have to stop it in it's tracks!!! There has got to be a way through the rust back to the metal without messing up the nearby finish.

 

just let it go and have a rusty hood. theres a thread on here that shows CLEAN cars but with rusty hoods.. pretty tight.

 

Nooooooo

If abrasively removing the rust is out of the picture...
Do you think if I washed it with degreaser soap and clay bar it would have enough rust off for the touch up to adhere?

 

lol "way past 3m clear bra" that may be true but some people could read this wanting to learn from your mistake... should have used touch up paint before it got out of control cause rust is like cancer... it spreads and is nearly impossible to get rid of.