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Stone Chip Repair Guide

1M views 404 replies 251 participants last post by  Breezy 
#1 · (Edited)
A common sight on everyone's bonnet is stone chips unless you've just had it re-sprayed but even then they are still inevitable!







So after spotting a few on mine I thought I would have a go at repairing them after reading a couple of repair guides. Firstly I got hold of some touch-up paint from Paints4U you can alternatively just buy a touch-up stick from the stealers but for the same price, I got a 100ml tin of paint and 30ml clear lacquer which was a perfect colour match too it also came with a fine artists brush.

I also got some IsoPropyl alcohol to clean out all the dirt, crap, polish & wax from the stone chips, once this was done i went round filling the chips with paint and making sure the paint filled the chip and not the area around it as this can easily be done if you use a brush that's too thick you need to fill the chip so that the paint is raised over the area of the chip.

once left to dry the bonnet looked like this with blobs of paint



the wet & dry paper I used was Meguiars unigrit 2500

The next job was to wet sand the blobs of paint down to the same level as the existing paint and the best way I found to do this and keep the repairs to the local area was to wrap a small bit of sandpaper around the end of a flat piece of plastic (aka a bicycle inner tube remover!) or a pencil and gently rub down the raised paint and then level it out with the rest of the surface.

I used plenty of water with fairy liquid which foamed up nicely and acted as a good lubricant and also soaked the sandpaper in some fairy liquid before hand.

some nice sanding marks afterwards!





these were easily removed using my porter cable polisher with a "4 lake & country orange light cut pad & Menzerna Intensive polish, the whole bonnet was then followed up with Menzerna Final Finish Polish (P085RD) with a "6 Sonus SFX blue finishing pad and 2 coats of Collinite 476s wax.

if you don't have a porter cable you can easily remove the sanding scratches by hand using 3M Perfect-It III fine cut compound

I can't see the chips anymore! :D





 
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#3 · (Edited)
Great write up Ive got to get my chips done and every time someone posts on this topic it gives me the confidence to go and do the job just waiting to get a break in the weather!
 
#6 ·
I dont have a porter cable. When you say you can do it by hand with the 3M product is it something that is gona take hours of elbow numbing polishing or would you say its quite easy? I have a MINI so the paint is hard.

Great Write up! Think I will be giving this a go soon!
 
#13 ·
Brilliant write up.

I also have a BM which seems to attract stone chips, no matter how I drive.

Annoying!

I have filled all the chips, so its 2000grit time.

I don't have Unigrit but another make of 2000/3000 grit but bought from an automotive supplier.

I hope it will be ok.


Anyway, any idea the best way to prevent stone chips? Thicker coast of LSP?
 
#14 ·
You got balls mate - and great skill :thumb:

I had a go on a Lexus I had previously.....followed the instructions on a detailing website (not this one)....simple procedure of hole punching out the fine grit-paper, sticking a piece to the end of a pencil rubber, and hey presto you have a super close to use "stone chip paint eraser".:D .........DON'T DO IT !!!!!! :doublesho

I couldn't exactly see what was happening as you had to keep applying soapy water to the surface....and then......I started noticing it was coming back the surface real good....and then.....I noticed two kinda funny looking lines parallel to the edge of the chip area :eek: ......and then.....I wiped it dry to discover that the bloody bit off paper that I had stuck to the end of the pencil eraser had CURLED !!! The edges of the paper had actually "dug" into the paintwork and took it back to the primer !!! :wall:

What a nightmare that was.....talk about being traumatised.....lucky I can look back and laugh about it now.

Anybody want there's done ???? :D :D
 
#22 ·
One question I have for you Breezy

When wet sanding, how do you know how much to sand?

ie. leaving the clear coat intact?

Also, I have some blobs that protrude the surface maybe too much......how should I deal with these as too much sanding may end up with no clear coat!
 
#27 ·
Good work breezy your bonnet came up a treat!.

Quick question, I have a mark where someone kindly opened thier door onto mine hard!
Its gone back to the metal so with my kit from paints4u i got some white groundcoat. When I have put a thin layer of this into the chips how long should I leave it before applying basecoat/laquer mix? Do I have to let it fully cure, only otherwise it will take several days! Thanks:thumb:
 
#28 ·
you should let it sure for 24 hours at least and some goes for the basecoat as you will often find the paint will sink into the chip as it cures and you may need to apply more once its dry to build up the layer slightly. So handy if you have a garage you can leave your car in...
 
#31 ·
I'm just about to give this a go: I've got a Scratchmaster kit and some light grey groundcoat coming tomorrow to try and fix some chips on my Crystal Blue Audi... Thankfully I've got someone from DW coming over this weekend to give it a proper detailing, so if I make a hash of it at least there's gonna be someone to hand to get the paint level again! Now all I need is three solid days of good weather, which in the UK is of course absolutely guaranteed...


...oh hang on, I mean "is extremely bl**dy unlikely", don't I? Keep yer fingers crossed for me: I've never done this kind of thing before! :thumb:
 
#33 ·
I have been told by several people that as you are using the finest paper as in 3000 you should be able to remove them by hand.
I too have scratch X and some proper polishing pads to give a bit more bite. You might want to get some more agressive polish in. I am going to be sanding in the next day or two and I have some Sonus SFX1 at hand but they might come out with scratch X/SFX2. I will be starting with scratch x then working up more aggresive if needed. :thumb:
 
G
#35 ·
Really excellent job! :thumb:

Did you have any problems with dulling the flake by sanding (i.e. shearing the metallic particles)? Perhaps polishing will will correct this anyway? I've not tried wetsanding metallics before.

Cheers,
Phil
 
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