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Touching Up Paint Chips

The Rebel

The Rebel

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I've located a local auto paint company that will match my paint (PP1) with fading. Charge is $35 a can & will take them a 1/2 hr. while I wait. From what I understand I would only need a single stage paint.

1st I use some grease remover on the area & then using painters tape around the chip so I can minimize my coverage & try to match the contours of the chip. I'd then use several layers of newspaper outside of the chip to avoid overspray. The metal is clean, no rust.

Do I need any filler or can I just spay over the chips? Any thing else I need to know?
 
This needs to be filled and primed to repair properly. It will be impossible to spray paint to fill perfectly to the edge of the chip. If you have ever tried this on a scratch with a small brush, you will understand how many coats it takes to fill from metal to paint surface. The advice you get here would be much better if you can post a picture of the chip you are trying to fix and your expectations when the job is done.
 
I've had fair to good results using touch up paint in brush form. Clean the scratch out with denatured alcohol, brush in some primer. Then build up the scratch with multiple applications waiting in between for layers to dry.
Then using mother's scratch remover polish and buff multiple times. It is sort of like delicate wet sanding.
As I said results are fair to good, but better than just having the scratch.
BTW I learned this method from a friend who works at a used motorcycle dealer.
 
Thanks for the help! I'm Looking to get it looking as good as I can not expecting to get it 100% flush & unnoticeable.

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That metal is not clean.
 
Anything that small may be better approached with a small brush. Clean thoroughly in the chip and around the chip with thinner. Brush with an undercoat first if bare metal. it will take many coats to build up to level of the surrounding paint. Paint needs to be put on in light coats as a heavy coat will run downward on vertical surfaces. Once the chip is filled, allow paint to dry hard and begin wet sanding. You can probably begin with 600 grit paper and progress to 1200 before going to a rubbing compound for the final finish. This method can produce decent results, not perfect, but is very time consuming. Try a small spot in an inconspicuous area to start.

Some high end detailers do this kind of work on exotic cars where they are trying to keep original paint. Most detailers and body shops won't touch this kind of work.
 
Thanks! I'll look into the brush. I've used a brush touch up paint on cars and was never really satisfied with the results. I felt using a rattle can would allow me to control the amount I applied & not leave brush marks.

67GTX440 said:
Anything that small may be better approached with a small brush. Clean thoroughly in the chip and around the chip with thinner. Brush with an undercoat first if bare metal. it will take many coats to build up to level of the surrounding paint. Paint needs to be put on in light coats as a heavy coat will run downward on vertical surfaces. Once the chip is filled, allow paint to dry hard and begin wet sanding. You can probably begin with 600 grit paper and progress to 1200 before going to a rubbing compound for the final finish. This method can produce decent results, not perfect, but is very time consuming. Try a small spot in an inconspicuous area to start.

Some high end detailers do this kind of work on exotic cars where they are trying to keep original paint. Most detailers and body shops won't touch this kind of work.
Click to expand...
 
I think your goal should be matching the color at this point. Those types of scuffs and chips typically require a panel repair. If that's metal your seeing and not a primer layer, there's not much material on the car. I would be very careful with any wet sanding and buffing. Also, the paint has texture, if you wet sand you'll flatten out the piant and you'll end up wet sanding and buffing the entire car to make that match.
 
That's my plan to match the paint as close as possible. I talked to the shop & they say they can match the color using a camera as well as the paint codes, which I have.

You are correct that there is not much of a paint layer or any primer that I can see, which is why I was leaning to just cleaning up the area to remove any grime, give it a shot of primer & then a final coat of paint. Makes me wonder if the car has any, which it must as I can't see how the paint would have been applied to bare metal alone.

69L48Z27 said:
I think your goal should be matching the color at this point. Those types of scuffs and chips typically require a panel repair. If that's metal your seeing and not a primer layer, there's not much material on the car. I would be very careful with any wet sanding and buffing. Also, the paint has texture, if you wet sand you'll flatten out the piant and you'll end up wet sanding and buffing the entire car to make that match.
Click to expand...
 
I would apply it over the bare metal, your don't have anything to lose. If it falls out you can reapply.

Another way to prep is use a hole punch with adhesive back 400 grit. Stick the dot to the end of a pencil eraser. You can get in and lightly scuff.

The PPG jobber does the camera thing here too, works well. I've had them match up silvers before. Red is really hard to match too.
 
My body shop used spot putty to build up my first door scratch. Can't vouch for the integrity of that type of repair.
 
Hey guys. Taped off the chips, used pre-paint prep, used 400 grit to clean the chips. Began with a few coats with self etching primer, then switched over to primer & slowly filled it with primer to fill in the chips.

Now that the primer has cured since Sunday, tonight I wet sanded with 1000 grit to smooth everything out to be even with the existing paint.

Now the big question, do I (I think #2 is the correct way):

1. Use compound to clean up the scratches 1st, apply a base coat, and then a 2nd coat and then apply a final coat of paint?

2. Apply a base coat, then a 2nd coat, compound out the scratches & even smooth out the paint and then apply a final coat of paint?

Thanks in advance!
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Picked up my paint tonight. Guy at the shop said to apply 3 coats of paint, 3 coats of clear, then compound & buff. No wax for 90 days.

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The Rebel said:
Picked up my paint tonight. Guy at the shop said to apply 3 coats of paint, 3 coats of clear, then compound & buff. No wax for 90 days.


How did the paint chip repair work come out?
Click to expand...
 
From what I can tell, it looks good so far. I compounded the car today in the garage as it was pouring rain all day. I don't have adequate lighting so I can't see it really all that well. There are some areas that I might need to re-compound or respray with another coat of clear.

Tomorrow the weather might be overcast so I can back the car out to get a better look.
 
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