Touch up repairs - clues/recommendations/tips

[srpocd25]

Hi

I am the owner of 66 plate mk7.5 ST line fiesta and am after recommendations, from experience if possible, of good touch up paint vendors/brands.

Moondust silver for bodywork, Rock metallic for wheels

My car's in generally good shape.  I've not attepted polish but have all the (hand) polish kit ready for when I make enough time for a full decon.

I may graduate to DA polisher, but want to see limits of hand polishing/types of polish first.

I've a few small stone chips/scratches that I want to address. One chip is v small but deep, so will need repair, and another scratch is bigger, deep enough, but still silver ish, so not sure if I'll just paint n clearcoat (as opposed to primer first)

The wheels have a bit of kerbing (I am responsible for 2 - never forgive myself) nothing major but I want to make them look respectable

The car is as good as you could get for 6 years old (2017, but 66 plate).  I won't kid myself it will be perfect but I am perfectionist enough to want to do a great job, so my eyes are not drawn to them!

All clues for best brands/vendors welcome, recommendations with your experiences, and tips for techniques, for chip/kerbing resources plus general hand polishing very welcome and will be grarefully received.

I am also trawling this site for polishing threads.

Cheers!

Ste

[plasticpat]

1 hour ago, srpocd25 said:

Hi

I am the owner of 66 plate mk7.5 ST line fiesta and am after recommendations, from experience if possible, of good touch up paint vendors/brands.

Moondust silver for bodywork, Rock metallic for wheels

My car's in generally good shape.  I've not attepted polish but have all the (hand) polish kit ready for when I make enough time for a full decon.

I may graduate to DA polisher, but want to see limits of hand polishing/types of polish first.

I've a few small stone chips/scratches that I want to address. One chip is v small but deep, so will need repair, and another scratch is bigger, deep enough, but still silver ish, so not sure if I'll just paint n clearcoat (as opposed to primer first)

The wheels have a bit of kerbing (I am responsible for 2 - never forgive myself) nothing major but I want to make them look respectable

The car is as good as you could get for 6 years old (2017, but 66 plate).  I won't kid myself it will be perfect but I am perfectionist enough to want to do a great job, so my eyes are not drawn to them!

All clues for best brands/vendors welcome, recommendations with your experiences, and tips for techniques, for chip/kerbing resources plus general hand polishing very welcome and will be grarefully received.

I am also trawling this site for polishing threads.

Cheers!

Ste

Your post pretty much describes the current condition of my car , niggly stone chips , couple of small dents from careless shopping trolley drivers etc , oh and magnetic tar ! 

I usually just deploy the Halfords 3pen pack for chips and polish out the light scuffs by hand .  It certainly is rewarding to see it all washed/waxed . 

A few fine days be appreciated . 

(Edit) 
P.S.  Other than the Halfords 3pen , I use AutoGlym for just about all else painted and unpainted surfaces . 

[srpocd25]

59 minutes ago, plasticpat said:

Your post pretty much describes the current condition of my car , niggly stone chips , couple of small dents from careless shopping trolley drivers etc , oh and magnetic tar ! 

I usually just deploy the Halfords 3pen pack for chips and polish out the light scuffs by hand .  It certainly is rewarding to see it all washed/waxed . 

A few fine days be appreciated . 

(Edit) 
P.S.  Other than the Halfords 3pen , I use AutoGlym for just about all else painted and unpainted surfaces . 

Cheers plasticpat, that's pretty helpful as Halfords and chipex were the first 2 options I considered

Chipex have a routine with blending solution though which I don't quite understand, so Halfords sounds better now

They do a moondust silver one so i can try that on bodywork. Not sure about alloys in my colour yet

Detail products, I have quite a variety - more than I've had time to use yet!and Autoglym are right in there. Their shampoo, then rapid aqua wax is a frequent combo I use, and interior shampoo is pretty versatile.  Cleaned my sister-in-law's vomit from round the rear window pretty well.  And no, I've never given her a lift since :-D

Many thanks

Also, I join you hoping for a few better days as I find car detailing pretty therapeutic.

[plasticpat]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:11 PM, srpocd25 said:

Cheers plasticpat, that's pretty helpful as halfords and chipex were the first 2 options I considered

Chipex have a routine with blending solution though which I don't quite understand, so halfords sounds better now

They do a moondust silver one so i can try that on bodywork. Not sure about alloys in my colour yet

Detail products, I have quite a variety - more than I've had time to use yet!and Autoglym are right in there. Their shampoo, then rapid aqua wax is a frequent combo I use, and interior shampoo is pretty versatile.  Cleaned my sister-in-law's vomit from round the rear window pretty well.  And no, I've never given her a lift since :-D

Many thanks

Also, I join you hoping for a few better days as I find car detailing pretty therapeutic.

No bother (except for 'that vomit stain' ! ) Euuugh 🙃 

Come to think of it I've actually got some other brands 'on the go' open a while . Black Chrome being one of them and Armor-all tyre foam . I'll just open up the box of tricks one of the days and post a pic or two here . 

[srpocd25]

On 3/4/2023 at 9:26 PM, plasticpat said:

No bother (except for 'that vomit stain' ! ) Euuugh 🙃 

Come to think of it I've actually got some other brands 'on the go' open a while . Black Chrome being one of them and Armor-all tyre foam . I'll just open up the box of tricks one of the days and post a pic or two here . 

I will keep a watch out for your pics, be interested. Just looking for body paint (so with clearcoat kit) and wheel paint online.  Does anyone know if I need lacquer for wheels - it's rarely sold in kits, or so I've seen.  Wheel paint might be helios paint, and not sure of the properties of that. Vendors sat 'helios!' like it's nagic or something lol

PS that vomit came off except for a TINY bit I imagine I still see down rear window seal, Grrrr

[plasticpat]

On 3/21/2023 at 9:24 PM, srpocd25 said:

I will keep a watch out for your pics, be interested. Just looking for body paint (so with clearcoat kit) and wheel paint online.  Does anyone know if I need lacquer for wheels - it's rarely sold in kits, or so I've seen.  Wheel paint might be helios paint, and not sure of the properties of that. Vendors sat 'helios!' like it's nagic or something lol

PS that vomit came off except for a TINY bit I imagine I still see down rear window seal, Grrrr

Et voila , however I'd forgotten to turn the labels out for viewing and I thought I'd taken more than these two pics . 

To be continued I suppose ... ! 

[srpocd25]

I do own quite a few turtle wax products, and rate them

I've not used their hybrid 'one&done' polish yet, but look forward to it. 

Also, the best prices are often found straight from Turtle Wax store, either in UK or Europe - got some good deals

Now Cartec, from what I've read, is meant to be a class above.  How have you found it?

Cartec also do good deals for kits, as I'm sure you know

Gotta polish after touching up my stone chips!

[plasticpat]

On 3/25/2023 at 8:52 AM, srpocd25 said:

I do own quite a few turtle wax products, and rate them

I've not used their hybrid 'one&done' polish yet, but look forward to it. 

Also, the best prices are often found straight from Turtle Wax store, either in UK or Europe - got some good deals

Now Cartec, from what I've read, is meant to be a class above.  How have you found it?

Cartec also do good deals for kits, as I'm sure you know

Gotta polish after touching up my stone chips!

I suppose if one had a polisher then the hybrid kits would come into their own , I just use elbow grease as I find it more rewarding on the few suitable days there are to tackle a full on wash/dry/wax and vaccuum/polish just about everything else inside the car . 

I find it increasingly difficult to find a nice air-freshener these days that isn't rip-off expensive and/or overpowering and smells like cheap aftershave . 
I usually keep one or two Black Ice in reserve as a fail safe . 

[srpocd25]

11 hours ago, plasticpat said:

I suppose if one had a polisher then the hybrid kits would come into their own , I just use elbow grease as I find it more rewarding on the few suitable days there are to tackle a full on wash/dry/wax and vaccuum/polish just about everything else inside the car . 

I find it increasingly difficult to find a nice air-freshener these days that isn't rip-off expensive and/or overpowering and smells like cheap aftershave . 
I usually keep one or two Black Ice in reserve as a fail safe . 

You are probably right, TW hybrid, and quite a few other ranges, are designed for machine polishing, and it's only a matter of time until I get a DA polisher I guess.

Mind you Auto Finesse Pro range have brought out hand pucks too, coded for each stage of polishing - so I'd hope £16.95 per applicator puck would result in some polishing success

For now it's hand polishing for me, and I'd hope that would be sufficient to blend stone chips repairs in.

I've just been quoted £350 to sand and spray 4 alloys, and spray the callipers too (front brakes, being 125 fiesta)

It's minor kerbing on 3 wheels, and I'm going to try myself, but that sounds a reasonable price...