VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood Repairing pinholes in door skin

What would be the best way to repair several pinholes in my front doors? This is a 32 Special. My thought was to use JB Weld type product. Thanks to all for comments/advice.

If they are small enough, put a bit of metal in them using a mig welder and a copper sheet behind to prevent blow-through.

Thanks for your response. I have had two wolders tell me the metal around the pinholes is too thin and they wouldn't try it. I'll shop around some more.

Several good options are available. If the door is down to raw metal it could be soldered if prepared properly. All of our old cars have solder in them. It was used for its structural strength and used like modern day plastic body filler.

If it is rusty, down to metal, reasonably cleaned up, and even off the car, and flat, you could coat it with Por 15. Por 15 is a rust encapsulator similar to boat fiberglass. You put tape on the one side of the rust hole and apply it to the other so it doesn't run through the hole.

I think the simplest is using today's body filler. You don't even need to remove the door from the car. All the previous solutions and even your solution would require sanding to level the surface, but because of the hardness of the new surface you have applied, it would make it hard to evenly sand it to match the original surface

If it were me I would cleanup the back side(inside) and apply Por 15 to it on the bottom third of the door. On the outside I would use plastic body filler. It can be smoothed to like new condition and few would know that the panel was not all metal. The Por 15 on the other side would insure that your work would not be subjected to rust from the back.

Good luck, Mike

P.S. A lot of us old timers use the word "Bondo" when we refer to modern body fillers. We started using it in the 60's to repair our car's bodies. The most popular brand name was Bondo.

Thank you for your reply. While many don't like POR-15, I use it regularly. I intend to paint the inside with it just as a rust inhinitor. I used it on my frame and it has been outside for 3 years with no evidence of rust anywhere.
I'll try the solder first. Bondo is good but I didn't want to use if I can avoid it. Your suggestions are most helpful. Thanks again.

My only caution is to do your soldering first. I am pretty sure Por-15 will not tolerate the heat of a flame. Good luck, Mike

P.S. I still would not expect perfection from soldering, unless you are experienced in doing it. I see nothing wrong with doing 70 percent of your work in lead and finishing it with a body filler. Eastwood advertises a variety of products.

The problem with using solder for door pinholes is that every bit of rust has to be removed for it to adhere and even solder torch heat can warp panels. I faced the pinhole issue with several of my oldies, not wanting to reskin(best long term solution), tried all sorts of things as others mentioned. Years later the body putty with POR 15 applied to both sides has held up best.I also applied waxy undercoating over the POR 15 on the inside. Dan

Thank you to all who responded. Most helpful.

Dan is right about preparing metal for soldering. The picture below shows that I didn't get the rust out of a small area when I redid my floor and rocker panel. I am going to be writing an article on using POR-15 to post in this forum.

What would posses you to use a torch in the first place is beyond me...Your trying to solder holes, not shrinking, stretching or just plain warping sheet in general...( Oh, I see now your just doing the floor pan...Sorry ) I use a large enough soldering "copper" to handle the heat required...Heat the "copper" with the torch..."Tin" the "copper"...Apply the flux to the holes...You'll more than likely use little solder to get the job done...Unless your inexperienced...Try it on something else first 'till you get the "hang" of it...Don't forget to completely wash the flux away immediately...Soap and water will do...Wait, and you'll have trouble...