How-to: chip repair/wetsanding (and some obligatory polishing!)

[Picus]

Alright guys - so probably the #1 question I get here and at Autopia is "how do I repair a rock chip or deep scratch", well here is how I do it. Remember, everything in this post is my opinion only. There ARE other ways to do this and lots of different products you can use. Also, remember that trying this is at your own risk. Damaging a paint via PC is hard, but with sandpaper it's very easy. So let's start: What you'll need: 1) Matched paint. A jar is best, a pen is ok. You can get it at a dealer or local automotive store. 2) A fine paint brush (medium bristles, fine tip), and/or a plastic toothpick. 3) Rubbing alcohol, some automotive wash soap, access to water. 4) Some sandpaper. I like Meg's unigrit 2000 and 3000. Non-unigrit and less than 2k at your own risk. 5) A sanding block. Both soft and hard work. I prefer soft as it is easier to manipulate and can go around curves. 6) Polishes. What kind of polishes will depend on if you're using a PC or not. I will be using a PC, but will include by-hand instructions. Onward. First make sure the car has been washed, what wash you use is up to you. How you wash it is also up to you but remember, two buckets and a quality mitt (or 3). Second, make sure the area you're repairing is clean. By clean I mean no sealants, waxes, nothing. To do this you'll need to a) use a cleaner polish or b) (my choice), wipe with ISA:water. What's that? It's rubbing alcohol (the regular 70% kind) mixed 50:50 in a spray bottle with water. Spray the area thoroughly and wipe. Do this twice. You want *no* dirt, wax, anything in the chip. Alright, so filling in the chip/scratch. Two ways to do this, first I will go with my choice for chips and that's using a plastic toothpick. Before I go on, there are good instructions on how to do this here: http://autopia-carcare.com/inf-paint-polish-clinic.html. I basically follow the same process. Dip the toothpick into the paint about half way up, then touch the tip of the pick to the center of the chip and capillary action will pull the paint into the chip. It will take a couple passes to level it out so let the paint dry at least 4 hours in between and be patient. The other way is good too, but less accurate. It's good for scratches that are larger than chips and would take too long to fill in via the toothpick method. Put a little paint on to your brush (very little, immerse maybe 1/4 of the brushes tip), and touch the tip to the center of the scratch. You'll see the paint pull into the scratch. Depending on the size begin to move the brush in one direction through the scratch. Repeat this every 4 hours until you're level. Whether or not you add a layer of clear is up to you. I normally do as I find it makes the paint match better after sanding/polishing. Alright, so now you have a blob, sort of like this: Or in the case of a scratch, like this: No go have a beer and wait until tomorrow (or better yet, two days from now, then come back). This is important - let the paint dry or odds are you'll pop the chip right out when sanding. The night before you said put the sandpaper in some water and let is soak overnight. Alright so sanding time. This is the tricky part so go slow and be patient. Make sure the paper is tight on the block (you'll probably have to cut it) and then spray the blob with a mixture of water and some soap (just mix some in a spray bottle), spray liberally and then start sanding. I like to sand against the blob, so figure out which way the blob is longer and sand the opposite way. Sand very lightly, apply almost no pressure and try to keep the block flat. Also, sand in one direction, not back and forth. It's counter-intuitive but it helps. So swipe one way, lift, then repeat. Check your work often by wiping away with a mf towel. Before you do spray the area liberally again with the soapy water to lift up any particulates. You're done when the blob is level with the paint (as in, you can not feel it by running your finger over it gently). You'll have something that looks like this: And you'll probably crap yourself, but you're ok. As long as you were patient and sanded lightly you will not have removed more than a fraction of your clear. For example, in the second pic above someone might say "holy smokes, you're down to the metal!", but I'm not. As a matter of fact I took a paint reading before and after and I was down less than 0.02 microns. That's under 2% of my total clear thickness. Just be careful! Now clean the area with your ISA:water and get ready to polish. If you're polishing by hand I hope you used uni-grit and 2500+ paper, because otherwise you're going to be really sweaty when this is over. Assuming you did go ahead and grab your polish of choice. Products I like by hand are: Sonus SFX-2 Poorboys SSR2.5 Menzerna Intensive Polish Meg's ScratchX I'd start with something like Sonus SFX-2 or PB's 2.5 on a cotton applicator. Apply a dab about the size of a quarter then start to rub. You *will* need to apply pressure and move quickly. You're trying to generate heat. Repeat until the marring is gone, or 90% gone then use ScratchX to clean it up. You should have nice smooth paint, and the chip should be 100% gone. By PC I like the same products (minus the ScratchX), or if you're in a hurry SFX-1, Menzerna PG, or PB's SSR3. I usually use SFX-2 via an orange LC pad (medium abrasive), and just polish as normal. Apply a couple dabs to the pad, work in at speed 3 for 20-30 seconds and apply enough pressure than the PC almost bogs down, then kick it to 6 and apply the same pressure until the polish flashes. One or two passes will take out 2500-3000 grit marks easily. Now, if you have some marring that isn't coming out you can do one of two things. One, use a stronger combo of pad+polish, or two, sand again with a higher grit then polish. I like option 2 because it's quicker and works better, but if you're nervous about that try option 1 first. When you're done clean again with isa:water then apply the wax/sealant on your choice and call it a day. Here are the afters of the chips/scratches I posted above. The blob was in the circle. Scratch was in the circle. Questions, comments? You know where to find me. Some pics for your enjoyment!

[GLuXuRy]

WoW that came out great !!! Thanks for the DIY... car looks great !!!

[tkman00]

damn picus112 - you almost make me want to reapir my paint chips

[Picus]

That's the idea!

[Triji]

Hey Picus,

Nice write up man! I'm gonna give the spray can a go on my front bumper where the grille rubs near the fittings... I'll let ya know how spraying works out as well

[richie]

picus, good job!!!!

DIY that was greatly in need =)

I'm going to give it a try soon.... ill let you guys know how it goes

[Picus]

Originally Posted by Triji

Hey Picus,

Nice write up man! I'm gonna give the spray can a go on my front bumper where the grille rubs near the fittings... I'll let ya know how spraying works out as well

Ah yes, definitely let us know how it turns out! I was going to mention spraying but I thought that might be a little too confusing. Maybe I will write a little "spray how-to" as time goes on (or you could :P). Spray cans definitely opem up a lot of options. I just used one on a civic Si that had a bad chip on the rear bumper. Here's a before/after.

[k_hojnacki]

Ok with before and after shots like that you HAVE TO give us a write up. Please impart your wisdom to the rest of us mer mortals. You do excellent work!

[Picus]

Alright, well here is a post I'll copy from autopia explaining how I did it. Definitely let me know if you have any questions.

"Sure. So initially I figured it would just be a chip repair, but bigger. I didn't anticipate that the repaint was so thick (you can see in the before, it's like 2mm thick), so I had to run out and get some automotive putty. (3M super red putty). I sanded the crud out of the area around the chip to kind of flake off everything that wasn't totally sticking to the plastic bumper cover then cleaned it and filled it with putty and leveled that with a plastic trowel deal (for repairing drywall in corners), let that dry (it on;y took like 30 min), then I made a template with a peice of paper and cut that into some tape then taped it off as close as I could, then I used Duplicolor black for bumpers (I guess it has a flex agent in it), and just sprayed 2 coats, then a cc coat, then sanded again, polished and that was it.

It came out ~90% as good as new I'd say, my sis was pretty psyched. I have three minor issues with it personally - first there is a small shallow area in the center where the putty kind of sank down as it dried, second my tape template wasn't perfect so there is about 3-4cm of area in between and around the chip that got paint, so they look good but don't match the rest of the bumper totally. I think over time that will fade though. Last there is more OP in the repair than around it, but that was sort of a given. Anyway, you can't see it from more than a couple feet away, so I'll live with it. "

Here is the thread:

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=69958

Next time I do something like that I am going to be more careful with my template so as not to cover any areas outside the chip. I'll also use some paint thinner to thin the paint out so it runs a little less (which is why i got some of the orange peel). Otherwise it came out pretty decent. I guess the tricky part is actually spraying, so maybe I'll write something about that later this week or something.

[Steel Blue]

I would hope I never have to do this kind of repair/touchup, but if I do this is what I am going to follow. Thanks!!!!

[Triji]

I bought my spray touch up paint from here http://www.paintscratch.com/

It is supposed to be an exact match.... Ill take before and after pics of my bumper when I do this job. I hope to have the paint by this weekend so I can start it on Sat and finish up on Sunday night. I plan on blending it into the surrounding area so the metal flake can evenly didtribute, then let the clear overlap even more so to hopefully get a flawless match. The rubbing compound and sonus products along with the good ol' porter cable should take care of the rest, we will see

I am going to attemp about a 3-4 foot long section on the top of the bumper cover.

[twitch]

Thanks for taking the time to document this.

Good job.

[Picus]

Originally Posted by Triji

I bought my spray touch up paint from here http://www.paintscratch.com/

It is supposed to be an exact match.... Ill take before and after pics of my bumper when I do this job. I hope to have the paint by this weekend so I can start it on Sat and finish up on Sunday night. I plan on blending it into the surrounding area so the metal flake can evenly didtribute, then let the clear overlap even more so to hopefully get a flawless match. The rubbing compound and sonus products along with the good ol' porter cable should take care of the rest, we will see

I am going to attemp about a 3-4 foot long section on the top of the bumper cover.

Sounds ambitious - I can't wait to see the pics.

[GEE35FX]

Great article Picus. You are a talented man I always enjoy and learn something when reading your posts.
Thanks

[badtziscool]

This thread should be stickied!