I have a small (.5 centimeter) chip in the paint on my car (probably from an idiot neighbor opening his/her car door into mine, ugh)... I am planning to order a kit of paint touch-up pens (primer, basecoat, clearcoat) and try to fix it myself, since it is only about 2/3 the size of a pencil eraser. Do you guys think this is a good idea? I haven't done this before, but have been reading various "tips" on how to do it correctly... Any additional hints you can provide will be appreciated.
2006-09-08 06:03:45 · 9 answers · asked by Marina 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
First of all we must all come to grips with the thought that the vehicle body is there to protect you from the elements, debris, accidents etc. It will get chips, dings, dents, scrapes etc... that is normal and expected. The more mileage, the more of this we can expect. We tend to feel so strongly toward our cars that they become second skins and we want to keep them perfect.
While the touch-up is fully within your capability, it will never look like new again... heck, body shops have a hard enough time matching things up. You can't possibly do such a good job that the boo boo vanishes completely. You can follow the directions well and take extreme care and do a mighty good job though. Anybody looking to buy your car would see that you took proper action to protect the body from rusting at this boo boo and really getting bad.
If your original problem is 2/3 the size of a pencil eraser, it will be bigger than that by the time you are done feathering the problem down to bare metal, priming it, painting it, clearcoating it, etc. Look at the scrape carefully and determine just how deep the scratch is... just in the clearcoat? Touch-up the clearcoat. Into the paint? Just the paint and clearcoat. All the way to the metal? Well then you will get all there is out of your kit.
When you are done with it all, you will have to polish the area to blend it in and get the gloss to match... This will take some finese as the original finish was level with the surrounding area and you might not be able to keep things on that level.
You don't want to make things worse than they are already so be extremely careful and take your time. A touch-up can be just a touch-up... a screw up can be disasterous.
Good luck!
2006-09-08 06:20:39 · answer #1 · answered by Les 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, this is a good idea. It may not be perfect but it will keep your car looking nice, as well as help protect the finish and underlying sheet metal. It is a good, smart thing to do.
My only tip would be to not overdo it. Apply the touch up lightly and do it again if you think it needs more.
2006-09-08 06:10:38 · answer #2 · answered by pvreditor 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
doing it yourself is cheap but not anywhere as easy as everywhere makes it out to be.
Depending on how well you want to cover the chip will answer this. If you want good as new call a mobile chip repair company.
If just a touch to cover the spot and prevent rust, no fancy finish, DIY.
2006-09-08 06:08:22 · answer #3 · answered by Shockey Monkey 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes
2006-09-08 06:08:35 · answer #4 · answered by Keith W 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That is well within the realm of what you can do yourself.
2006-09-08 06:08:11 · answer #5 · answered by Jack 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
read the lable. unlsee people look real close the will not see it.
2006-09-08 06:12:39 · answer #6 · answered by norsmen 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
if you do not know what you are doing then no
2006-09-08 06:09:26 · answer #7 · answered by C live 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
do it
2006-09-08 06:09:42 · answer #8 · answered by doogie494 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no
2006-09-08 06:07:13 · answer #9 · answered by henchpitbull 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋