Can a vehicle be sanded or roughed up and be painted instead of going to bare metal? I would like to have a few smaller area spot painted and body shops don't like to do that. Not so much in a perfect show room look but for some maintenance pro active spot painting. How hard would it be to do myself and has anyone done some of this work without being in the trade?

Certainly can etch surface and refinish without stripping to metal. In fact it’s most common for simple repairs.

Can you do repairs and refinish without experienced. Probably not !

As long as the paint surface is in good shape...you can definitely

Sand it ...and paint over it.

What year..make and model ?

Fixing some rust ?

!994 Toyota pickup. Small pitted areas really no rust issue concerns. I will take a few pictures later so you can see what I'm talking about. I did take fender well skins/under well liners out and clean metal good and sprayed with rust inverter. Tis is also just a pro active thing.
So, if I go on line and get the touch up paint for that color would you recommend that.

See if you can incorporate a pattern that does that and gives you a design in the process. If it lower panel damage maybe do a stripe along the sides to give it a two tone look. More work but better results get some ideas off of YouTube to avoid common body working mistakes.

Look into www.eastwood.com it might make things easier to do and understand.

Scuff paint lightly with 220 sandpaper, don’t go to metal or primer will be required. NAPA can match vehicle colors and mix in a spray can.

I suspect your factory paint has faded some. If so, touch up spots might not match. Good luck and share your outcome.

You'll want a final sanding of the primer in 400 grit before the color goes on.

Here is what it looks like. Pit chips not rotting from inside out.

Some great advise and thank you very much. I bought this Toyota as a project and is relatively in great shape but want to do some work on it.

That new rubberized crinkle paint they use for rock protection would shine in places like that. Glaze putty might work to smooth that out once it’s sanded so you don’t need to try to sand the paint down too far. Lots of things to make it easier so watch some videos.

Put some mud guards on it...and spray and wipe some fluid film on those areas...done !!

Coonman can probably help with this problem. Chime in Dale.

Thanks again everyone!

So, Ness you saying what you saw in pictures is nothing to be concerned about? It I wanted to spot sand and paint can you give me your steps I could take to do it right.

I appreciate your recommendations.

Is this the bed panel...with a fender flare ???

Yep the box fender well, back quarter panel to bumper.