September 10, 2016

Car Chips

Repeat wet sanding until smooth. Next, I brushed on some of the supplied clear coat. Like the paint, it is lacquer based, thin and quick drying. In this picture you can see the boundary between the new lacquer and the original enamel. My original sanding wasn't tapered enough for a good blend. I'm going to try to resist the temptation to sand it down one more time. The trick is to know when to quit.

Step 20: Building Up Layers

I'm a perfectionist, not a quitter. After a sanity break, I sanded the spot back down to primer with a 360 grit, Wet-or-Dry. To keep within the repair zone, the circle was trimmed to the radius of the stick. After repainting and drying, I wet sanded with 1000 grit. Then I clear coated and wet sanded again. This tedious process slowly built up the new layers of paint to the original surface.

Step 21: Use Rubbing Compound

Once the repair is flush to the rest of the paint, take the rubbing compound and polish the area with a clean, cotton cloth. Wash the area to clean off all the rubbing compound, rinse and dry. I would let the repair continue to cure for about a week before waxing your car.

Step 22: All Done

All Done! Here is the same area where the large chip was (without any photoshopping). It won't fool a concours judge, but it is a big improvement. In summary, the Duplicolor paint pen was the easiest to use on small chips. The color didn't match as well as the other VIN matched paint but it was a bargain at around $10. The $90 kit from was better for larger chips but required a tremendous amount of sweat equity, extra materials and the learning curve was steep. If you make a decent wage, it may be better to just have your hood repainted at a paint shop and work some overtime to pay for it. I was quick quoted about $300 to have my hood repainted. Doing spot repair myself cost about $150 in materials and about 20 hours labor over a weeks time.