My tail gate has rust stains comming from the corners by the window ledge, I just got the truck(97 Runner) the stains are about 5inches long on each side and look terrible. Is there a way to get rid of them without damaging the paint.

 

well, the stains are a sign that you probably have some rust under the weather stripping at the corners. you can take some light rubbing compound or polish, use a little elbow grease and get the stains off your paint; but they'll just come back over time if you don't fix the rust where they are coming from. i had a little orange drizzle coming from underneath the outside weather stripping on my rear driver's side door, popped it off and found a some cancer going on from the paint being worn off from the weather stripping rubbing against it. i went at it with my Dremel and did the POR15 treatment and popped the weather stripping back on and i'm done! although, i've started to see some orange haze around my side mirrors now, i'll have to investigate that too.

check into the rust at the corners or you'll have a bigger mess later on. good luck