Irish Mini Owners Club

how hard a job would it be to repair some small patches of rust around headlights
what steps would i need to follow to prepare for painting

How handy are you with a welder? What sort of 'slight rust' are we talking here?

And welcome to the forum

First thing you will need to do is strip the area affected back to metal. This will give you a better idea of how bad the rust is. Small bubbles in paint can hide a lot of rust underneath.

In relation to around the headlights, most of the rust comes from inside the wing and works its way out through the seam in the panels.

Depending on how bad the rust is, it may be possible to cut out the rotten steel and weld in a new patch. If the rust is severe it may result in replacing either the wing or the front panel ( bare in mind repair panels for around the lights are also available so the whole panel may not have to be replaced )

It all depends on how bad it is........pop up some pics if you get a chance.....but ideally you should strip it back to bare metal to see the extent of rot.

I would suggest sealing the inside of the wing when the new metal is in.......something similar to underseal would do the job nicely and will slow if not prevent any rust coming through the seam in future. Will be tackling a lot of rust on my car over the next few weeks.

its only a bit along the seams, i dont think its that deep only surface rust
i will try put up some photos later