I'm having a lttle trouble understanding what "very minor hints of surface rust" would look like in relation to a painted surface.
You are wanting to save the paint, so I'm assuming the paint is still there. Two choices at that point. If the rust is bleeding through the paint, means the paint was too thin and will never provide the protection you need. Second: if the paint is blistering because of crusty rust developing underneath the paint, you can pretty much assume any treatment of the rust will make the paint over it go away too.
You need to get down to good sound steel and build your paint system back from there or the rust will just keep boiling sideways........ Pay attention to the back side of the offending panels. The rust may have holed through from the back side.
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