I have a little patch of rust (mabe 1 inch x 2 inches) on my hatch. Is there any preventative maintenance i could do to prevent it from spreading. I was thinking about sanding down that little area and mabe spray painting just that spot. What do you guys think?

 

the only REAL way of getting rid of it is to cut it out and weld a new piece of metal in there..now thats extreme if you never do that stuff, so..sanding it down and covering it with a little body filler and paint is good, on the backside of the panel..spray is down with rust check, or even better, go get your car rust proofed and tell them about that spot to make sure they get it, doing that will GREATLY slow down the spread of the rust

 

You could sand blast that area and then prime it too. mill$civic is right though, it keeps coming back. replacing the panel is always the best. Cutting in a new piece and welding it is cheaper and works well but it makes the metal more prone to rust...something to do with heating it up I guess.

 

they make some rust converter spray can stuff and i use it a lot. it really works. you can get it wall-mart i think. lol my civic is ALL ALUMINUM so i cant get rust