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Chipped Paint

jdenn47

Active member
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
37
Location
PA
Corvette
1986 Red Coupe
I have many paint chips on the front of my Red 86 Vete. I went to a Meguiar's Class and was told to use their sanding block to make it flush to the surface. Then to use their Diamond Cut Compound 2.0 to buff it out. My problem is that you still see the area where I put the paint drop and it won't smooth flat. There is a very dull area if you sand it too much and you have to start over again with the paint drop to fill in the imperfections from the sanding block. The Compound doesn't help smooth it much either. I am afraid if I keep re-doing it, I will wear off the existing paint finish near the chip. Any ideas ? Entered a Car Show in PA next month.
Thanks,
John
 
I moved this to Care and Detailing where you will get more exposure to people "in the know", John. :CAC
 
With touch-up paint, I think the main goal is to make it "better". It will never look like it did pre-chip.

You should be careful about how often you sand, though. As you said, you are not just sanding the chip, but rather all the surrounding paint. If you are sanding until you have to add more touchup, you are sanding it way too much. The problem is that as you level the touchup, you lower the regular paint.

How are you applying the touchup? You don't want to have a big blob of it there, you want it to be pretty flush already. Using a toothpick works well, and I've heard a match works great too.

Then, sand it to help level/smooth the blob, but you will never get it to all be perfectly flush, because you are sanding the touchup and the original paint. You need to polish it out after sanding, because sanding leaves a haze. What grit sanding block are you using, and how are you applying the Diamond Cut? If it were me, I'd use something like 3000 grit paper or block, spend a bit more time sanding (as 3000 grit is pretty slow), and then start with something like Dual Action Cleaner/Polish to remove the sanding marks. Then step up to the next level if this isn't strong enough to remove the marks.

To fix what you've already done, it might be better to try polishing with a lighter polish to see how it ends up, and then I guess take it from there. Hopefully you don't need to add anymore paint or do anymore sanding, you just need a milder polish to restore a smooth finish to the paint. Sorry this is kind of rambly, it's not exactly clear what state your paint is currently in...
 
Thanks all

I am using a Swirl Remover Polish and then applied wax today. It seems to be working but you still see the areas where the paint was applied. Just trying to remove the dull areas and it should be OK. The Car was re-painted several years ago before I bought it last year. Not a great paint job though.
 
Hi,

As stated above.... an old auto body trick is to paint paint chip holes with the back end of a soft match. Dip the match "base" in paint, then dab excess on a paper towel before touching the spot. A couple of careful applications (let it dry then re-apply) will slowly fill the hole -- don't blob it on. Excess paint must be quickly wiped away if needed.

I never heard of sanding paint chips... you'll just do more damage by wrecking the surrounding paint.
 

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