Kokopelli

The cheap b*st*rds in NZ use chipseal to reseal roads. Thats a layer of hot bitumen and a truck loads of rock chips. Cars get to smooth it out, before the sweep the excess off.

It's hell on paintwork.

Unfortunately, I got caught big time a few days ago. Damn SUVs and trucks never seem to slow down on that stuff. I had the chips just bouncing off the car.

What's the best procedure to touch these up? Some went right down to the steel.

Cheers,
Alex

P.S I won't be back 'til Tuesday. The mighty GS is hearing the call of the wild.

Granite 944

They just did the same thing on some of the main roads leading to my house this last summer! Just horrible crap to deal with! Everytime I go over it even now, you can just hear a ton of rocks getting kicked up under the car! The wheel wells on mine hold a nice little pile of rock at the back of the fenders, providing for more "rock chip" opportunities. (at least you have the inner fenders).
I havent had a chance to try it out yet, but I just recieved the paint pens I ordered from paintscratch.com. Heres the link if interested.

http://www.paintscratch.com/


Looks like a pretty good way to deal with it for now, until hopefully next year I can get my car repainted and then I will install new stoneguards, and the 3m guards on the frontend also.

JimV8

A lot of patience and a toothpick and a magnifying glass. Clean the chipped area with alcohol and ensure edges are not ragged. Dip the small end of the toothpick into the paint and and drip off excess. Put the tip into the chip and let gravity transfer it, don't paint it in. Do that several times until the paint levels to the finished area. Finish with block compound, wax and good as new.

Jakerx

hey jim what's this block compound you speak of?

Matt Romanowski

The first thing to do is clean the area with a wax/grease remover or alcohol. Then you want to make sure you get down to bare metal if any is showing. A good way is to glue some fine (>600) sandpaper to the end of a pencil eraser and use that to do the sanding. This also helps to remove the ragged / sharp edges. Then use some primer, applying it with a toothpick as jim 7 suggest. After that has dryed, do the same with the paint. Apply lots of light coats to get up to and a little past the original paint level.

After the paint has dryed at least 24 hours, you can sand it 2000 grit paper using a sanding block and lots of water. Do a small area, just around the chip. This should bring it down to one level again. After this, buff it out by hand with some nice buffing / polishing compound (I'm partial to Meguiar's).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Matt

Kokopelli

Thanks for the info, I'll need to pick a day when I am very calm. Won't happen in the next couple of days.

Cheers,
Alex

jamiejim

How do you repair the chips on door edges and vertical surfaces? I tried using the toothpick gravity method, but if I don't brush it in it just runs out of the chip.

FYI, I have tried the paint pens from paintscratch.com, and found they are too dense and dry up quickly. It worked ok with a thin scratch, but you'll still see it.

emoore924

You could try langka. It is this stuff you use with the touch up paint to keep it from making those little raised bumps after touchup. I think they have a website if you want to buy the stuff. I've never tried it. I have no association with them, etc...

Matt Romanowski

For vertical spots, it's pretty much the same. You do the same prep work. You can then do 2 different things: 1. Let the paint thicken up and then apply it 2. Put on lots of real thin coats. It takes a long time to do the vertical edges becuase you do have to apply very thin coats, but you can get the same results as regular chips if you give yourself time.

Matt