I have just bought my car from the East Coast. Quite a lot of paint chip on the hood in the front edge . A lot of these paint chips have rust . Should I just touch them up with paint or should I try to at least scrape off the rust first ? Thanks.

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1992 300SD, 290K miles.

2 options,

A) A front end respray, should run you about 400 bucks.

B) Go to Vw and get a touchup paint from them for the reason that it has a little steel brush provided along. I havent seen any other touchup paints who provided that along to clear the chip of any rust.
Then touch up with the proper paint from MB, dont use any other brand or it will be off even more. The paint you get from MB will also often be a shade off. Depending on the condition of your paint and how well you shake it before using the touchup.

Peter

I would defer to more knowledgable people here, but in my experience you wouldn't want to completely remove the rust to create a totally smooth surface. I would scrape it with a small brush to remove excess rust, but if you leave it as a rough surface, the paint will bond better. I.e., paint likes a toothed surface, not a baby's-butt smooth one, so scrap the rust flat but don't anihilate it. Someone who knows what they're talking about is welcome to override my advice, though.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I have had really good luck with smoothing down the rust a little bit with fine sand paper, applying cur-rust, allowing it to dry, and then painting. The end of a match stick works really well to apply the touch up paint instead of the brush they provide in the tube.