Fixing paint chips

[Quickstep192]

Over the years my car has accumulated some paint chips on door edges and other spots like that. Most are about 1/8” or so. If I can fix or even just disguise them, I could turn my car from a 10 footer to a five footer.

I found this kit:





Has anybody used it? Good? Bad?

Are there other ways to fix or disguise chips that don’t involve re-spraying entire sections?

[Fairview]

Get a tiny artist brush from the craft store and a small bottle of automotive paint from your auto paint vendor mixed to your car’s color. Clean any wax or dirt out of the chip with a paint prep solvent, also available at the auto paint store. Very carefully, like you are defusing a bomb, dab paint into the chip. Don’t overfill the chip with paint, don’t go beyond the edges of the chip. Let it dry and see what you think.

Good luck!

[LIRS6]

Dr. Colorchip is another similar product, check it out on YouTube. They even have my somewhat rare color; Casablanca Beige Metallic

[Dpmulvan]

All that stuff is a rip off, go to local jobber have him mix up a pint and apply with toothpick then leave as is or buff out later.

[megerian]

Dr Colorchip is quite good for a very specific type of problem, which is road rash with many little nicks and chips like on the front bumper. I used it with good success. For some paint chips, I think the suggestions mentioned above would work better.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by megerian

Dr Colorchip is quite good for a very specific type of problem, which is road rash with many little nicks and chips like on the front bumper. I used it with good success. For some paint chips, I think the suggestions mentioned above would work better.

This.

Dr. Colorchip comes to some of the Porsche Parades as a vendor. They set up a tent and do rock chip repairs most of the week. On two occasions they fixed several new rock chips and did great. It does take a little practice. And the product does not last very long on the shelf. Buy a small quantity and it goes a long way.

Once applied and dry it does a dang good job of fixing a rock chip. Maybe a pro detail and paint guy can do better, but It would be interesting to see a side by side of the two.

[rw229]

Years ago I had good luck with Langka. It's basically just solvent that you use to sand/polish down the blob of touch up paint to blend in with the surrounding paint. I have not used Dr. Colorchip, but I'm assuming it's the same concept.

[Bill Douglas]

Yep, as Fairview said, don't put too much paint in the chip. almost a case of put too little in, then some more again later if you need to. And don't put any on the paint outside of the chip.

[Bigtoe32067]

I use an air brush that works pretty good. No brush strokes, no dabs and you can coat it as many times as needed to make the edges even. Then a little wet sanding with 3000 and polishing compound after.
This works great for larger chips. The really small ones I use the toothpick method or a paint pen. I also have some really tiny qtip looking applicators that work also in place of the toothpicks.

I’ve tried everything over the years and found this to be the best solution. At least for me.

You can buy a small air gun and compressor with a regulator and filter setup for under $100. Make sure it comes with a dual action gun. That way after you lay down the paint you can move it to edges of the chip with air and not use too much paint that it becomes convex on the surface when it dries.
Even if it does then it can be sanded down smooth and cleared over.

It takes a whole lot more time, effort, and money but you get a much better result than the paint brush or paint pen method.

Do some experimenting with the cheaper easier methods like paintbrush or toothpick and see if they work well enough to meet your standards. I went the airbrush route because I was doing it on a Ferrari and I need it to look as close to perfect as possible

Good luck

[Quickstep192]

I found this video on you tube. Curious to know if you guys think this is the right way, overkill or whatever.

https://youtu.be/4f9zqVbcZDQ

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Bigtoe32067

I use an air brush that works pretty good. No brush strokes, no dabs and you can coat it as many times as needed to make the edges even. Then a little wet sanding with 3000 and polishing compound after.
This works great for larger chips. The really small ones I use the toothpick method or a paint pen. I also have some really tiny qtip looking applicators that work also in place of the toothpicks.

I’ve tried everything over the years and found this to be the best solution. At least for me.

You can buy a small air gun and compressor with a regulator and filter setup for under $100. Make sure it comes with a dual action gun. That way after you lay down the paint you can move it to edges of the chip with air and not use too much paint that it becomes convex on the surface when it dries.
Even if it does then it can be sanded down smooth and cleared over.

It takes a whole lot more time, effort, and money but you get a much better result than the paint brush or paint pen method.

Do some experimenting with the cheaper easier methods like paintbrush or toothpick and see if they work well enough to meet your standards. I went the airbrush route because I was doing it on a Ferrari and I need it to look as close to perfect as possible

Good luck

Can you expand a bit on how you do this? I wasn't aware that an airbrush could be controlled to this degree. I have a compressor and would be willing to get an airbrush. Also, what is the q-tip type thinger you talked about?

I feel comfortable applying the paint within the confines of the chip; the prospect of sanding terrifies me!

[TimT]

You can also use something like this.. you can really control how much you fill the chip..

You will have to play with thinning the paint so it flows through the pen well..

I cant find it now, but I also have a pen like tool which is a bundle of glass fibers, which is greats for cleaning out, and giving some surface prep within the chip






Comes with a little reamer to clean the tip.. I have a few of these, you can get different diameters as well

[Quickstep192]

So, is it best to just dab some paint in the chip to disguise it, or “do it right” and sand level.

Is the risk of sanding worth the risk of the more invisible repair?

[ASD]

wow a super cool guitar amp....the spark!

i filled in chips with a toothpick brush from amazon. Pack of ten or more is cheap.
Now going to wet sand with 1500 and then polish. Fingers crossed. I wet sanded my old 911 it came out lovely

[HarryD]

I am not patient enough for this but a way to go: https://carcarespecialties.com/paint-chips/

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I found this video on you tube. Curious to know if you guys think this is the right way, overkill or whatever.

https://youtu.be/4f9zqVbcZDQ

This. Well, kinda. I use one of those fine line paint pens like Tim suggested, not a brush.

A couple other things I wouldn't do, especially on the Ferrari with its soft paint on which he's doing this, is that the initial wet sanding is redundant and is adding an unnecessary sanding step, further thinning the clear coat. The raised lip in the paint at the chip from the impact will get levelled in the wet sanding process after the touch up has cured.

However, some sanding to prep the chip and provide some mechanical grip for the touch up paint might be useful. A very small piece, like a little round circle from a hole punched piece of sand paper should be sufficient, maybe stick it to the eraser end of a pencil to sand. I haven't found this necessary, just a good cleaning with lacquer thinner or isopropyl alcohol should suffice. Unless the chip is rather large, in which case, I'd sand it a bit.

As well, his second layer of touch up paint, the clear, will likely get sanded away unless the layers are VERY thin, which just won't happen using a brush. Perhaps one of those paint pens might apply it thin enough, but I can't get them to lay the paint down thin enough and still cover.

Another thing that guy said is just plain wrong. Wet sanding vs dry, using the same grit of paper is actually MORE aggressive. It doesn't "tone down the sand paper's aggression". Dry paper will load up with paint when sanding and then become less effective, while the water in wet sanding will clean out the paper and allow it to actually bite.

I've filled rock chips and then wet sanded and polished and many of them are indistinguishable from the surrounding paint. And I mean in the 'can't find it even though I know there was one right there a few days ago' kinda way.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by ASD

wow a super cool guitar amp....the spark!

i filled in chips with a toothpick brush from amazon. Pack of ten or more is cheap.
Now going to wet sand with 1500 and then polish. Fingers crossed. I wet sanded my old 911 it came out lovely

I got a spark novelty wears off after a few hours.

[ASD]

truly?The features are no big thing?I guess.I can't play now just listen and observe.My friend is National sales manager and rep for the company.

[ASD]

i was really hesitant to wet sand on my 911,but it was rewarding when the polishing step was done, and the car sold really well.

[Bucketlist]

Lots of good info here. The paint on my car is a very slick clear coated metallic blue. Most of my touch-ups have been on the bottom edges with just the color and look OK. I am now working on a couple of 1" scratches on the fender that appeared after the last car show. I would like these to disappear as much as possible. There was some cracked paint along the edges which needed sanding so I started with 1200 which worked pretty well. I really like the idea of sandpaper dots glued to a pencil eraser. After a few coats of touch up paint from an old bottle I let it set overnight then started wet sanding with 2000. The touch up paint seemed to roll up on the wet paper which I've never seen before. I don't know if this is because the paint was a few years old or whether some touch-up paints can't be wet sanded. I ordered fresh touch up paint from "Paint Scratch" and will start over. I will increase the drying time since there is no hurry to get a good job. This new paint came with a bottle of clear coat so that is my plan.
Keep the great advice coming!