While attempting to fix a rock chip on my passenger rear door (sedan), I must have oversanded (2000 grit) because I now have a pea sized circle that looks as though the clearcoat has been sanded off. Good grief, what are my options? Should I take it to my detail shop and let them see if they can buff it out?

I'm curious why there isn't a product on the market that lets you isolate minor imperfections (dime size or smaller) with a round "cut-out" and then spray paint over it with a near factory match. When someone figures out how to market a product that is a 95% factory match, they're going to make a lot of money.

 

There are touch up repair kits by companies like langka that can remove the newer touch up paint w/o affecting the rest of the surrounding paint. This allows you to clean out the rock chip area to have another go at it. Do a search on autopia.org because it was a recent topic being discussed. However, if you've removed a large area of clearcoat from the area surrounding the chip I don't think there a cure. The only thing you can try to do is use polishes of different levels of abrasiveness to try to restore the gloss (e.g. Menzerna Powergloss, Intensive polish, Final polish II). Use a buffer like the PC7424 at level 5-6K with the moderately abrasive polishes. It can accomplish much more than trying to polish by hand. Good Luck.

 

I have actually done the same thing, however, I was working on a VERY deep keymark. I had basically buffed through the clearcoat and reached the underlying paint. At that point, there was nothing else to do but get the door repainted. I figured that could happen though because the key mark was so deep. I decided I had nothing to lose. Other than the clear coat issue, the key mark was gone. I tried this process again on a friend of mine whose car was keyed and was very successful.

 

In retrospect, it's not THAT big of a deal. Like you, the rock chip I was trying to fix was very deep, and located on the rear passenger door about halfway up. I applied some more touch up paint and at least got the thing sealed, but now there's a pea sized spot of a slightly different color on the door.

I suppose I could get the door repainted, but that doesn't seem like a good investment after one month of ownership. There are going to be many other rock chips, and I guess I'll just have to get better at fixing them. Like my Dad said, most rock chips are only noticable by the owner of the car. I'm just in the early ownership stage and this one kind of stings. I'm having my windows tinted in a few weeks, so I'll have the detail shop take a look at it and see what they suggest.

 

first off always tape off the surronding area so that you dont mess up the rest of the paint in that area. If you got color on the chip and it looks ok then mask off the area a little bigger that where the damage is. If you say its the size of a pea then you have two choices. You can put a thin coat of clear coat in either brush or spray on the effected area and let it dry. repeat this process until you build up the clear higher than what you have sanded down. after it has cured begin to lightly sand the area making sure to protect the surronding area with masking tape. only leave exposed the area that you worked on at this time. When you get the surface to the same level or a little higher than the rest of the surronding area mask off a slightly larger area and blend in the new area to the car. After this while still protecting the surronding area with masking tape polish the area with a fine polishing compound NOT a rubbing compound. after you get the sanding marks out remove the protective tape and blend the area with the polishing compound. When you are satified wax the area with a good wax. I have repaired many stone chips this way and if the color match is good and can't even see the repair. The imortant this is to take your time and protect all the area around where you are working at all times.