Hello all! I would like to repair a rust spot on my rear driver side corner panel on my 2007 HHR that occurred after I took on a guard rail and lost. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no experience with body work and have no clue where to start with this. What procedure would you recommend? I would rather not replace the corner panel since that requires removing the welds on the old one and getting a new panel welded on from what I was told by the shop. I just want to prevent this thing from getting bigger and/or rusting through since it's only got about 80,000 miles on it and I plan on running this thing into the ground. I've attached a picture of the rust spot that I'm talking about.

 

You will need to clean the rust before repainting. You should pull the dent out, since you don't want to replace the panel. Maybe do some sand blasting to clean the site up, if you don't want to repair the dent, then some good quality primer/paint. A lot of work without the right tools.

 

Well now I have a starting point!

It's gonna be a pain to pull out that size of a dent. I don't believe there's a way to get to the panel from the inside, is there? I think the plastic on the inside is one big piece. I might end up borrowing/renting some tools for this one.