Bodywork paint chips

[I'mAnExpertTrustMe]

Hey,

Been thinking over this issue for a while, my bonnet and wheel arch body have these chips all over which I can only assume goes down to primer. Bit disappointed at the amount of damage from stones for a 2014 car. I was thinking of wrapping over these, but I don't know how it would react if the wrap were to ever come off. I also costed up the price of respraying, which was looking to be £300+

Current Solutions: Wrap - Respray - Chip repair kits

I believe the previous owner went over a few chips with one of those pens, but it stands out from the paintwork moreso than the white chips.

Any recommendations? At the end of the day, I just want to make sure my bonnet is protected.  Thanks.

[Luke4efc]

Usually touch up paint does the trick if you know what you're doing. Sadly the downside to owning a red car is the contrast to the metal/primer is massive. A white car will have just as many chips, but they're really hard to spot. You'll find that wrapping (unless you're doing it yourself) will cost just as much as respraying and is really only classed as a short term solution. The colour probably wont match the rest of the car either, and wont fade at the same rate, meaning you either go for a different colour on the bonnet (black/carbon fibre) or wrap the whole car.

[Guest]

I bought a chipex kit for mine. At first the match is not perfect, but after it has been exposed for a while it fades.  Plus once the car has been driven for a little while it will be covered in a little dirt anyway so it all blends in.

I have a white car so cannot comment on the match for red. The white is about a 95% match and I can only see it because I know they are there. Other people can only see the difference when I point it out to them. They have promo codes all the time if you fancy trying it. The kit is pretty good you get the paint, blending solution, brushes, gloves cloths and a polish.

For stone chips it is hardly worth getting it resprayed as your will end with as many again in different areas afterwards.

I would steer clear of Halfords pens. In my experience they are a poor match and the actual applicators are naff.

[martinf64]

Agree Chipex is better than touch-up stick. I've had a red Alfa Mito and metallic blue Alfa Mito which seemed to chip just by looking at it, I used Chipex for the stone chips and got very good results, found colour match very good. Also the Chipex system is very forgiving, if you make a mistake its easy to wipe off the paint using the blending solution and start again...can't really do that with a touch-up stick. It is a touch expensive but they do have promo codes on regularly.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, martinf64 said:

Agree Chipex is better than touch-up stick. I've had a red Alfa Mito and metallic blue Alfa Mito which seemed to chip just by looking at it, I used Chipex for the stone chips and got very good results, found colour match very good. Also the Chipex system is very forgiving, if you make a mistake its easy to wipe off the paint using the blending solution and start again...can't really do that with a touch-up stick. It is a touch expensive but they do have promo codes on regularly.

The only issue I had was the timing before using the blending someone. In the winter it is difficult to know how long to leave it, quite often I applied it and waited what I thought was long enough but it just wiped off. Had to do it several times before finding the right amount of time.

I also found a cocktail stick the best way to apply the paint to very small chips..

[Ian Lanc]

On 1/7/2019 at 12:43 PM, I'mAnExpertTrustMe said:

I was thinking of wrapping over these, but I don't know how it would react if the wrap were to ever come off. I also costed up the price of respraying, which was looking to be £300+

Current Solutions: Wrap - Respray - Chip repair kits

Wrapping can cost a small fortune these days and the chips will show once its shrunk back, so wrapping is a waste of time to cover chips, Last year I looked upon a BMW M5, it had been wrapped for over a year and was looking a right mess, so the owner decided to pull all the plastic off, but unbeknown to him and who'd wrapped it, well the scalpel had cut into numerous areas on his paintwork, the lines was evident around the door handles and the edges of the wings & door shut lines, He was told to get rid of the fine lines it needs to be re-lacquered over those areas.

Also the wrapped plastic may lead to the original paint being pulled off around the chip, Wrapping! Who needs to take that road 💀

If you think of a respray... Shop around and get quotes, don't go to some paint sprayers who has a big workshop & a mass of workers on some kind of production line & lovely carpeted waiting room & heating, they will charge you for such luxuries and the bill will be much higher, look for or ask about back street paint sprayers, some can be as good if not better than the toffee nosed fella who makes out the repair is worse than it actually is 💪

Chip repair kits can cause more harm than good,especially the ones with the tiny wire brush, I've seen folk go mad scratching at the chip only to make matters worse.

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I've been using this method for the past 35 years for chips, many repairs have disappeared completely: 

To fill in a chip I'd suggest you only fill in the hole/chip 'ONLY' and not elsewhere, To fill in chips i use a jewelry magnifying eye piece - scalpel - bamboo cocktail sticks - hair dryer - 1500 grade paper - old plastic debit card - tack rag.

If the chip hasn't gone to bare metal, then there's no need to use primer filler.

Wash the damaged area to remove wax, [use a toothbrush to clean out the chip] dry off with the hairdryer.

Using the eye piece, carefully cut away any loose paint using the scalpel and make the chip a cone shape.

Wet flat the surrounding very lightly with the 1500 grade paper.

Remove any dust particles using the tack rag.

Only use wood bamboo cocktail sticks [bamboo is much stronger than normal wood cocktail sticks] Using the scalpel trim the cocktail stick into a fine point, then cut off just the point, this leaves the stick fine tip  but has a flat spot for the paint to sit on.

Use the correct colour of paint [mixed well] then pour a very small amount of paint onto the old credit card.

Holding the card & cocktail stick close to the chip & using the eye piece carefully & lightly touch the paint with the stick, only get enough paint on the cocktail stick, you don't want a gret spot of paint on the tip, just a little bit.

Then apply the spot of paint quickly to the chip, work fast as the solvents in the paint are evaporating, the spot of paint needs to be proud of the chip, so as it dries out it will go level with the surrounding paintwork, if the new paint has shrunken well back after drying just repeat the same process until it's level or just slightly proud.

Leave it for a few days to fully harden, then use a suitable small flat block and wrap it in the 1500 grade paper, with plenty of warm water & washing up liquid reduce the size of the new paint, when it's level, stop the wet flatting. [I even use the eye piece as an aid to precise wet flatting]

Time now to dig out the T-Cut and your best wax, using old but clean well washed cotton bed sheets [none of these modern day microfibre crap cloths neither] years old cotton bed sheets are the best, just ask yer mam for a sheet, no doubt there will be some in the back bottom drawer 😃   T-Cut the dulled area until you hear no noise whilst buffing, then stop, wash off the T-Cut with warm water & detergent, dry off the area, now's the time to really get waxing & polishing that T-Cutted area, buff up to a high lustre, the whole area will need polshing now though.

DO NOT do such a repair on a red hot day or if the weather is cold & dull.

Hope that helps somewhat!!!