by 80Flareside » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:34 pm
That definitely needs to be taken care of. Its minor now, but living in the salt belt here, seen minor rust turn to cancer at a surprisingly fast pace.
There is no real harm in trying to fix it yourself. Your not welding or cutting, or panel beating, so it will be nothing you can screw up badly enough that it would cost any extra at the body shop if you find yourself unable to do it.
First excise the chips and blisters to get to bare metal, wire (tooth) brush the areas, and hit with POR 15 Metal Etch. Paint all exposed metal with with POR 15 paint, feeling free to pour it right into the bottom of the door letting it seal (but be sure to keep the weep holes free).
Use a small amount of body filler to level if needed, lightly wet sand the area smooth, clean with denatured alcohol, and rattle can prime. Most real auto paint shops can mix a small amount of your paint color and put it in a rattle can for you. If not, get the color from Dupli-Color, and a reusable/refillable rattle can from Eastwood. Once painted you can blend it in with some polish.
Might not look perfect the first few time or two, but its a hell of a lot cheaper than an auto-body shop, keeps it from getting any worse, and is easily un-done if you really do manage to screw it up.