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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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#76 ·
the paint will look a lot darker when wet but once its set and dry it will be fine and should blend into the rest of the bodywork with no problems as its just a very small amount of paint you are using as supposed to trying to repair or re-spray a bigger section
 
#78 ·
I followed this guide and got some amazing results (if I do say so myself)
Yes add more paint, mine took a couple of goes to fill the chips so they were just proud for the surface, but I felt this was a better approach than having a massive blob that needed a lot of sanding. I left it just over an hour between coats and 24 hours until the final wet sanding.
Did you fill in the chips or were the chips filled in when you got the car? The only reason I ask is that if it is old paint you might want to give it a little rub with some unigrit 2500 so the new paint keys in properly and won’t come away when you wet sand it later.

Good luck, I’m sure it will go well.
 
#79 ·
well, it was on there when i got it - no idea if the garage did it or previous owner

i have a test bonnet in garage i going to play on 1st before i do my car

want to be sure i can buff out wet sanding marks hehehhe

so, sand the paint and add more then sand again???
 
#81 ·
Help please :confused:

Ive just got a 100mm tin of Star silver metalic from Paints4U, for a Vaux Astra. On the bonnet and top of the boot lid, the colour shade match is near perfect. However, doing a scratch on the vertical section of the boot and door skins, the paint had dried a few shades darker. Any ideas how to get the same shade as a horizontal pannel ( without tipping the car on its side :lol: ) I guess it is the way the flakes are alligned in the paint, and suspect there is nothing that can be done to prevent it :(

Thanks Neil
 
#82 ·
Help please :confused:

Ive just got a 100mm tin of Star silver metalic from Paints4U, for a Vaux Astra. On the bonnet and top of the boot lid, the colour shade match is near perfect. However, doing a scratch on the vertical section of the boot and door skins, the paint had dried a few shades darker. Any ideas how to get the same shade as a horizontal pannel ( without tipping the car on its side :lol: ) I guess it is the way the flakes are alligned in the paint, and suspect there is nothing that can be done to prevent it :(

Thanks Neil
Careful, I was told by Vauxhall there are 3 shades of Star Silver...
 
#89 ·
Extremely good guide Breezy

But I can't be the only person who wishes to do this but is slightly scared by this image!

some nice sanding marks afterwards!

Reassure me that once I have wet/dried the paint level - I can simple polish back with a G220 a polishing pad and some merzerna?

Also I have some paintchips and scratchs on my rear plastic bumper is this applicable to those too?



It's black sapphire bmw if that matters?

I'm definitely willing to give it a go though
 
#91 ·
There are much scarier images, i.e. the look of your car after a full machine sanding! :doublesho

I re-assure you that the 2000 - 300 grit amrks wil leasily be removed with your G220 and Menzerna polishes if you use 2000 grit i find sanding with 3000 grit afterwards makes polishing the sanding amrks out easier, just dont rub too hard!

you can use the same process for bumpers but i find it can be tricky if the scuffs are on a curved area the hardest part is laying the paint down evenly as with a chip you just need to fill it but scuffs can be a bit more tricky and would prob be easier to correct with spraying unless they are slighly deep in which case you can fill them

Extremely good guide Breezy

But I can't be the only person who wishes to do this but is slightly scared by this image!

Reassure me that once I have wet/dried the paint level - I can simple polish back with a G220 a polishing pad and some merzerna?

Also I have some paintchips and scratchs on my rear plastic bumper is this applicable to those too?



It's black sapphire bmw if that matters?

I'm definitely willing to give it a go though
 
#90 ·
I was inspired by this guide, the family has 3 black vauxhalls so Ive invested in some paint and a seperate clear coat. I've got a few sheets of 2000, 2500 and 3000 grit paper, and today picked up a G220, 2 pads and some #83, thats all the shop had left. My sister has a few key marks in her's from 2 weeks after she bought it. Anyway I've filled all the scratches and chips with paint just as in the guide but not applied any clear coat.

Do I wet sand them flat then clear coat and sand again or sand flat clear coat and then the DA? I hope to have a go at the weekend so any help could be useful, she has decided to buy another car.

Thanks
 
#93 · (Edited)
Can this method be used for keying damage as some scumbag has keyed my car ? or am i looking at getting the panel resprayed ? the damaged area is 7 inches long.
I had a go today, a few stone chips and a few nice key marks like yours well these broke through to the base layer. I painted them a few weeks ago with thin layers and built them up to just above the surface, wet sended them today with 2500 grit then 3000 grit to flatten them but I either painted them baddly or took too much away and the edges of the paint in some parts have the white primer/undercoat showing through but some parts are spot on. I then went to it with my new G220 and some #83 and it removed the sanding marks with out problem just a few passes I will need to paint again I think sand then polish and then put a layer of clear coat on to make the area shine as at the moment the filled scratches just look matt and not shiney like the rest of the paint then another polish proberbly with megs #80.
 
#96 · (Edited)
fantastic guide, going to give this a shot sometime. Near the intake vent on my rear arch area on my Porsche, I have noticed it is hammered with stone chips and filling them with paint is difficult due to sheer number of them in that small area. The picutre doesn't really show them that badly due to the flash, but it looks horrendous in person. Any ideas on how to tacke such an area?

 
#97 ·
I think the langka repair system uses a squeegee system to spread paint over an area with large chips and fil lthem all then remove excess paint from around the area.

and yes you can use 4000 grit wet might take you a bit longer to sand down though i've found I have to resort to 1200 grit sometimes to level down the paint/lacquer to the surrounding area
 
#99 ·
Nice guide mate.

My ibiza is the same, black paint, 9 years old and a GTi that the previous owner used for going down the motorway to work with, which is the worst for picking up stone chips.

When i decide to finally order my megs PC G220 i'll definately be giving this ago.

Thanks, Dave
 
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