Deric

My hood looks like poop at the moment. I recently replaced my front facia so the chips really stand out on the hood. I swear I can look at the hood and it will chip. Anyway who here have repaired their chips themselves? I heard of mainly a few methods:

1. Paint Pen - available at most dealers
2. Spray Can - available online.
3. Air Brush - using paint mixed by a shop.

Which method did you use and do you have any tips? Is the repair that noticable and was it on a light or dark colored vehicle?

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks

firestang

I've got two pens. one the body color (alloy G-5), and one clear coat. I feel your pain about the paint.

Rapture

Yea I will have to repaint my hood in two or three years,,,,,,,,,, chips are bad, I count five atm

dustindu4

the front of my car is a mess after 3 years. the highway hasnt been friendly.

hiznherponies

Another Alloy owner here and yea, my hood is chipped like no tomorrow. Just noticed a huge one the other day and been too busy to fix it with my paint pen/touch-up paint. 2 years and 30,000+ miles and still lovin it, just wishing the paint wasn't so danged fragile!!!

jdslow300

I've been looking for a way to fix this, theres one chip straight through the white racing stripe on the hood, making in extra noticable, another serious blow to morale came a week after putting on the chip spoiler, a chip straight through the paint and into the material, Ft Bragg roads are terrible, rocks and dirt everywhere, my car shows it

cloewe

Your in luck, dark cars are easy, light cars especially silver are a nightmare. Depends on how clean a job you are looking for.
An easy to follow guide read http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-d...nt-clinic.html

Scroll down to chip repair. I don't usually do the eraser sandpaper dots but a old fashioned pink eraser (flat, beveled ends) and place wet paper on that. I generally dont do clear.

Good luck

Deric

Hey thanks for the link. I'll get supplies tomorrow and give it a shot next weekend.

RRRoamer

I'm in the process of repairing my car. It has 42k miles on it and there is a LOT of paint chips on the nose of the hood and the front bumper.

I'm doing the clean -> red -> sand (2000 grit wet) -> clear coat -> sand (2000 grit wet) -> compound -> polish method. It takes a lot longer, but the results are worth it. Plus, I can take out the "factory orange peel" if I want. That will probably be a longer term project though. After all those stinking paint chips are filled!

WaltM

Had my front bumper painted <2 weeks ago; it was full of chips when I got the car last year (7200 miles on it).

I almost had them shoot the hood as well, but held back when I found out he wanted to paint the front 1/3 of the car. I thought it was overkill.

There's a product I'm going to pick up from AG. It's called Langka. http://www.autogeek.net/langka-paint...epair-kit.html

I don't have the nerve touch my car w/sandpaper. So I figure this is a safe alternative, and it doesn't cost a fortune.

wjones14

My car's 3-1/2 years old and I've been lucky about paint chips considering it's a daily driver and I live in New England. Recently I ordered a bottle of touch up paint at the Ford dealer to deal with two paint chips I had. It cost $10. The label says Motorcraft Lacquer Touch-up Paint. The bottle is a 2-in-1 applicator - there's a brush attached to the cap, and a ball-point tip.

I tested the ball-point tip on a piece of wax paper, and it seems to work pretty well. You simply push it down gently and a little blob of paint comes out. However, I felt I could control it better using a fine artist brush, so I used a 000 brush. (The brush attached to the cap of the touch-up bottle is huge compared to even a 0 artist brush, so it is best used only to to cover huge areas.)

One chip was on the front of the roof near the passenger window. It was small, about the size of a pinhead or 1/8" at most, but it was down to the bare metal. Since the car is yellow, you could see this chip from a distance, so it bugged me. The second chip was on the front edge of the hood, and slightly bigger than the roof chip, but only down to the white primer, so it wasn't as noticeable.

I cleaned both the chips with rubbing alcohol using another paint brush, and let that evaporate for a minute.

What I wanted to do for the roof chip was to apply a small blob of paint inside the middle of the crater, and hope that it would flow by itself and fill in the hole. After shaking the touch-up paint bottle for a minute or so, I unscrewed the cap with the attached brush (which was full of paint), and just touched my 000 artist brush to the touch-up brush. If you want the paint to flow and fill the crater, you have to work fast here, because the paint starts getting tacky within seconds. It worked as well as I had hoped, and filled in the crater, but the crater was only half full so it would take a second coat later.

The hood chip was on the front edge of the hood, so I couldn't use gravity to fill in the pit like I had on the first chip. So for this one, I simply painted the chip very carefully, and it came out quite well with a single coat. You have to get within a foot or so of the car to see it at all.

So basically, the trick is to apply the paint quickly once it is on the brush, and it should flow into the chip pretty smoothly. It only takes 10 or 20 seconds to start getting tacky once it's on the brush, and it won't flow nearly as well if you wait this long.

Arrow

I got a number of little chips and nicks, none so large they're readily visible. I'm actually surprised I don't have more and larger chips, what with all the fking rocks and gravel the construction crews randomly dump all over the bloody highways around here cause they're too lazy to pull the cover over their trucks.

denlem

I've been complaining about the chips since the first week I got my car! I have one in the rear quarter panel. The dealer offered to fix it under warranty, but I really didn't want then to do it on a week old car!

I have one more on the hood too which to me looks like a canyon! I have since put a clear bra on the hood and so far so good. There are a few scuffs on it like something hit it, but at least the paint seems to be protected.

jimh90sc

I've used LANGKA to smooth out the paint blob, after using factory touch-up paint. Works pretty good. Toughest thing was getting the paint to match (windveil blue).

Iceknyght

I did almost the exact same thing (and have almost the exact same chips, LOL), but instead of using a brush, I use a toothpick... It actually works quite well... Just take the brush out of the touch-up paint tube and touch the toothpick to the excess paint and then 'fill in' the chip... Like yours, far away it looks fine... It's only real close up that you can see where it is now...

05fordgt

Hey Jim, got a question? Why was it hard to match the paint? I would think the OEM touch-up paint should look pretty good. I used a small piece on my trunk lid and can't see the spot at all (paint matched that well). Just wondering? And how easy is Langka to use? I'm thinking of getting it for my car.

adrenalin

On factory paint, I use a touch up stick from the dealer. Add a dab of paint to the chip using a toothpick. Let it cure for a day or two. Then use Langka to remove the blob. Works like a charm every time.

adrenalin

Langka is easy to use. Get their kit. Comes with a precleaner, blog eliminator and a paint sealant. Once the paint has cured you just use the rigid applicator (hard plastic squeegee) and the included cloth. Add a bit of blob eliminator to the cloth and then do a few swipes across the paint and the blob is gone. Then use the sealer over the painted area. Let that cure before you wax the area.

I have about 50 chips on my front bumper right now (**** transport trucks kick up a lot during a rain storm) so it looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me.

jimh90sc

The problem that I had with matching the touch up paint was getting the consistency right with the metallic paint. Sometimes not enough metallic, sometimes too much metallic.

Adrenalin's got you covered on the Langka. Their theory is that the touch up paint is never as hard as the factory paint.