Auto body repair & detailing: Paint Flaking and coming off, aerosol cans, nissan frontier

Question
Hi, Gary.  I drive a 2003 Nissan Frontier (Electric Blue in color) and noticed a few weeks ago that some of the paint was bubbling on the driver door.  About as big as my pinky fingernail.  Well, I live in the northeast US and, between the snow and rainfall (the vehicle is stored outside), it's gotten worse.  Much worse.  I called Nissan and they have touchup paint in 1/2 oz containers, but with that brush size, it'd take forever to paint.  Additionally, I feel like I need to head the bubble off "at the pass", so to speak.  Now, it's as big as a large mouse.  I'm tempted to take a knife to it (I know, I know...) and cut the bubbled portion out and just flake off the existing portion before painting it.  I have no idea what I'm doing.  What do I need to know and how do I do this?  

Thanks!

PS: the nearest Maaco center is about 90 miles away.

Answer
Hi Derek,

I would recommend taking it and having it painted. It sounds like to me that you may be having some corrosion issues. It would really need to be sanded and feather-edged out into the existing paint that's not damaged. The rest of the door would need to be prepped with like 800 grit wet sand paper and the base color would need to be sprayed and blended beyond where the original paint is missing. Then the whole door would need to be clear-coated. If you decide you want to try and tackle this yourself you can buy the paint and clear in aerosol cans. The color match may not be perfect but since you won't be painting the whole door so it shouldn't be too noticeable. You can buy the supplies you need from this place: http://www.repaintsupply.com/. They even sell paint in aerosol cans and a good quality clear-coat called Spraymax. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask a follow up.