Paint Chip Repair

[d1390]

Hiya fellow Type R Owners!

As the title suggests, I recently got a paint chip on my hood, down to the metal, no dents at all just a chip. I touched it up with the Championship White paint pen, and it now looks like a blob. You cant really notice it, but I know its there, and it kills me inside. Its on my mind all the time and its putting me off driving it

Anyway, does anyone else have any paint chips? did you get it fixed? Does anyone have any idea on the repair process?

Here are some of my concerns:
- can it be fixed?
- have been told that a paint chip will require the entire hood to be painted?
- find someone who can fix it, however my concern is that it wont be perfect i.e colour match, orange peel
- the person who fixes it makes it worse
- painted however mismatch colour with other panels
- expensive just for a small chip

I would rather have a professional to do it, rather than myself as I dont have the necessary tools, and tend to make things worse.

I looked into dr colourchip, and even with all the good reviews, i'm not entirely convinced if they are legit and if it is, their results is not the results I want. It can still be noticeable.

I have also been told not to use mobile paint repair as the results wont be up to paint shop quality. However their before/after photos along with videos make it look perfect, however when inquiring them, they advised that they will use a brush to fill in the chip, which I already did, so I would pay a few hundreds for something I did myself that you can still notice.

Basically what I am trying to say is, can it be fixed blended in with OEM paint to perfection?

Feel free to include experiences, before/after pics, I will upload one when I get home.

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[Estoril4]

Unfortunately a touch up job will pretty much always be noticeable up close if you know where to look. The only way to get rid of them perfectly is to repaint and only way to prevent smaller ones is a clear wrap. As for my method, I use a loew Cornell pen to dot touch up paint within the chip. This minimizes the chances of the paint "overfilling" the chip and appearing as a blob, you want it to be as flush as possible with the paint adjacent which means volume control. Ammonyc on YouTube has a great demo video if I remember correctly.

Best advice I can give to you is to try and accept the fact that cars were not made to be perfect and will show wear over time if used, this helped a lot with my detailing OCD haha

 

[Type_RawR]

ahhhh the dreaded paint chip...they pop nicely on crystal black pearl. I have owned up to the fact that they will happen and I just stopped sweating it, my beast bears all its scars.

 

[Zeffy94]

ahhhh the dreaded paint chip...they pop nicely on crystal black pearl. I have owned up to the fact that they will happen and I just stopped sweating it, my beast bears all its scars.

Same, except my car is white. There’s too many of them for me to count. When I wash my car I notice every one of them but I just shrug it off.

 

[d1390]

The thing is the chip was not from a rock. If it was I wouldn't mind as it was general wear and tear. It was from washing the car with a soap gun that wasn't secure properly to the hose and feel on my hood that chipped the paint! That's where I went crazy because it could have been avoided!

 

[Z06Chris]

I found a local guy that does paint chip repair using an airbrush.... It's so damn good you can't even find the spot when he's done. I literally cannot find where he did the repair in my corvette's door. If you can find someone that uses this method to fill in the chip perfectly then do it.

 

[augustus]

Unfortunately a touch up job will pretty much always be noticeable up close if you know where to look. The only way to get rid of them perfectly is to repaint and only way to prevent smaller ones is a clear wrap. As for my method, I use a loew Cornell pen to dot touch up paint within the chip. This minimizes the chances of the paint "overfilling" the chip and appearing as a blob, you want it to be as flush as possible with the paint adjacent which means volume control. Ammonyc on YouTube has a great demo video if I remember correctly.

Best advice I can give to you is to try and accept the fact that cars were not made to be perfect and will show wear over time if used, this helped a lot with my detailing OCD haha

Estoril4, does that pen wok on vertical surfaces like doors? And do you just get a touchup pen for the paint?

 

[silverrascal]

I've posted a thread about using Dr. Colorchip and I've been pretty pleased with the results. It won't reverse time and make the chip not occur but it does a fine job of hiding the damage and seemingly much easier to do than typical OEM touchup pens.

 

[SixxSpeed]

Unfortunately a touch up job will pretty much always be noticeable up close if you know where to look. The only way to get rid of them perfectly is to repaint and only way to prevent smaller ones is a clear wrap. As for my method, I use a loew Cornell pen to dot touch up paint within the chip. This minimizes the chances of the paint "overfilling" the chip and appearing as a blob, you want it to be as flush as possible with the paint adjacent which means volume control. Ammonyc on YouTube has a great demo video if I remember correctly.

Best advice I can give to you is to try and accept the fact that cars were not made to be perfect and will show wear over time if used, this helped a lot with my detailing OCD haha

Counter to this, a detailing god, er, friend of mine taught me something a bit different for dealing with paint chips.

First, you fill in the chip, with several coats, to make a bit of a blob of paint. Let each coat dry as required before applying another layer.

Once you get a good blob of paint in the area and it is cured, you wet sand the blob down until it is flush with the rest of the body. Use a very fine sand paper. Like 2000-2500 grit. And soak the sandpaper in water for 4-6 hours before using.

The newly applied paint is still softer than the OEM paint, and as such, wears down much faster than any of the surrounding.

The results aren't flawless but they end up looking much better than any other sort of application I generally see done

 

[Estoril4]

Estoril4, does that pen wok on vertical surfaces like doors? And do you just get a touchup pen for the paint?

I've used it on doors yes, it takes a bit of practice to keep the paint flowing through the tip when vertical but it's easily learned. Dabbing a paper towel every few dots does the trick.

All touch up kits I've gotten from manufacturers have been small brushes and using that I transfer the paint from the OEM container to the Cornell reservoir.

I just double checked on YouTube, go watch ammonyc use the pen on a classic porsche. He explains it better than I ever could on here

Hope this helps

 

[Estoril4]

Counter to this, a detailing god, er, friend of mine taught me something a bit different for dealing with paint chips.

First, you fill in the chip, with several coats, to make a bit of a blob of paint. Let each coat dry as required before applying another layer.

Once you get a good blob of paint in the area and it is cured, you wet sand the blob down until it is flush with the rest of the body. Use a very fine sand paper. Like 2000-2500 grit. And soak the sandpaper in water for 4-6 hours before using.

The newly applied paint is still softer than the OEM paint, and as such, wears down much faster than any of the surrounding.

The results aren't flawless but they end up looking much better than any other sort of application I generally see done

I'd agree with this if you have experience and time. Id warn that you will have to taper down from the grit to a compound then polish which becomes much more involved than a simple few dots with the Cornell pen; also make sure you have sufficient clear coat if attempting to wet sand which shouldn't be an issue yet on these cars. The pen method I mentioned will still be noticible for within a foot or so if you know where to look, dont get me wrong there. It is a great low effort option though

 

[Harlaquin]

I use to do auto paint and painted industrial machines for shows with 2 stage paint ( base plus clear) touching up a chip is not hard. Takes couple days with layering the paint in the chip to build it up then wet sanding it. I fixed a total of 21 paint chips on my Si and when I traded it dealer couldn't tell any repairs had been done. Its not for the faint of heart or someone who does not pay attention to what they are doing. Also if you flip out easily this also is not for you because at first its gonna look like you are totally f'ing up your paint. Why am I saying this. Any repair paint shop should be able to fix a chip without repainting an entire panel. That is BS and at the end of the day you are gonna get more chips thats car life period.

 

[SixxSpeed]

I'd agree with this if you have experience and time. Id warn that you will have to taper down from the grit to a compound then polish which becomes much more involved than a simple few dots with the Cornell pen; also make sure you have sufficient clear coat if attempting to wet sand which shouldn't be an issue yet on these cars. The pen method I mentioned will still be noticible for within a foot or so if you know where to look, dont get me wrong there. It is a great low effort option though

Yeah but why half ass it? Yes, it’ll take longer, but the results are much better, too. It really isn’t that hard, from the one or two attempts I’ve tried in the past. Didn’t damage the surrounding clear coat either. With a 2500 grit sand paper that has been properly saturated, with additional water sprayed on during sanding, it would take some time to burn through the clear coat. These are brand new cars too, which should have full or close to full clear coat also.

 

[Estoril4]

Yeah but why half ass it? Yes, it’ll take longer, but the results are much better, too. It really isn’t that hard, from the one or two attempts I’ve tried in the past. Didn’t damage the surrounding clear coat either. With a 2500 grit sand paper that has been properly saturated, with additional water sprayed on during sanding, it would take some time to burn through the clear coat. These are brand new cars too, which should have full or close to full clear coat also.

Not quite sure how what I said came off as half assing especially without experience or seeing results; an important aspect of good detailing I think is important for people to understand is paint preservation.

Would I jump to the most severe form of paint correction after a small chip? Not necessarily. Would I recommend someone who has limited knowledge of correction or potentially a limited arsenal of equipment put sand paper against their new car? Nope, and I'm sure many would be hesitant. There is a finite amount of clear coat over the life of the car, not just when it's new. If you were to poorly wet sand a spot and continue doing corrections over the life of the car that could very well be your point of clear coat failure. I gave a minimally invasive user friendly method that, for most people's DDs, is absolutely acceptable. For OP? He may choose to dive into the world of correction methods by diving into wet sanding and if so I'd be ecstatic to have another peer

Side note, another good trick that aligns with a wet sanding method is to hole punch a small circle of sand paper and super glue it to a pen tip/pencil eraser. Works well before paint application to sand and aid in adhesion to the metal, then afterwards to be accurate when spot sanding

 

[Harlaquin]

Side note, another good trick that aligns with a wet sanding method is to hole punch a small circle of sand paper and super glue it to a pen tip/pencil eraser. Works well before paint application to sand and aid in adhesion to the metal, then afterwards to be accurate when spot sanding

Oh good tip on the pencil erasure. But be cautious. Smaller pieces of sand paper can lead to a slight depression. Its generally better to sand a larger area with a block. To keep the area flat. Gotta let paper do work not use pressure. But with a keen eye and patience the eraser is a cool tip.

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