Long story short, bought a semi-crusty Miata a few years back from a friend. Fast forward a few years and I am getting married and this out of town friend is going to be my bestman. I've told him that he'll have a car to drive while in town to visit with family and what not, so I figure I'll let him drive "his" car. Now on to the problem in the few years that I have owned the car the major rot has been cut out and repaired, but the car is a 91 and is showing that it is 20 years old. There is only one true rust hole behind the driver rear wheel that needs some bondo, the rest of the car has some surface rust and what not that needs to be ground down.
What I'm looking for is to do a decent quality job on the not uber cheap, but rather a modest budget. My plan is to get the damaged panels down to bare metal, from there is where I don't know where to go. My thoughts are to grind the rust down as much as possible spray with some rust converting paint (por-15?), cover and smooth with bondo and prime it. Am I way off or anything? Not looking for a show quality job, but something that will hold up for 5 to 10 years.
As far as paint goes I have not decided whether to roll on or mid priced Maaco paint job. I figure if most of the prep work is done by me, as much of the trim and other obstructions are removed, that a mid priced job should look decent and hold up for awhile. This is my first foray into any real body work and would appreciate pointers. Thanks.
