Unfortunately, at high speeds the little stones can leave a ding in your paintwork. Stone chips are more common in winter as salt-spreaders throw grit over the roads. The damage can be made worse by winter weather , as water and ice get into the chip and affect the metal underneath. Stone chips are difficult to avoid, but they can be fixed.
See our latest blog for our top tips on removing scratches from your car. Upon finding a stone chip, many people decide to touch up the paint themselves. This can work for small areas of damage, but there are times when your car should go to a professional. Rust is a problem for chip repairs as the paint cannot adhere to rusty metal. This can result in a costly repair or panel replacement in the future.
For more information, read: Can ChipsAway repair rust in a car? When removing stone chips, it takes time, a close paint match and a steady hand. Here are our step-by-step instructions:. There is no way to avoid ever getting a stone chip in your paintwork. But, you can use a paint protection film to minimise the risk. A clear vinyl wrapping may be something you want to consider, to provide another level of protection.
For more information, read our post on how and why to use vinyl wrapping. The cost of repair kits to fix stone chips depends on the type of kit you use. A full panel respray is much more expensive, running to a few hundred pounds.
This is a modern type of repair, which involves repainting the damaged area. This allows the repair to be kept localised to the damaged area, saving time and money. Professionals will use colour-matching technology to mix the paint, to match your car. If the chip or scratch is fairly small, you can use touch-up paint pens or brush kits, The Drive reports. This is usually found on a sticker in one of your door jambs, Popular Mechanics reports. Once you have your touch-up pen or brush kit, the next step is thoroughly cleaning and de-greasing the damaged area.
Then, simply apply the paint as directed, and let it dry. There are some downsides to using touch-up paint pens for car paint repair, though. And, as stated previously, touch-up paint only works on relatively small scratches. What happens if, say, you hit your bumper on a brick wall accidentally? Day 1 of bumperrepair : Surface is primed for tomorrow's painting. Luckily, there are car paint repair methods for deep and spread-out scratches. But the rest of the repair is basically the same. Wash and mask off the area, then sand down the rough edges.
After that, wipe down the area, apply the putty, wait for it to dry, then sand it smooth. Wash the area around the chip.
Once the chip and surrounding area are free from debris, wash that part of your car just as you would for a small chip. First rinse the area, then apply warm soapy water with a sponge before rinsing it again. Ensure the car is completely dry before applying any paint. Use rubbing alcohol to remove grease and oil.
Once the area around the chip is clean and dry, put some rubbing alcohol, Prepsol or enamel reducer on a rag and use that to clean the chipped area once again. This will remove any grease or oils in the area that may make it difficult for the primer to establish a strong bond to the metal. Remember that this will remove wax and even clear coat from the remaining paint, so avoid scrubbing the painted area.
Instead simply rub the chip lightly. Apply primer to the metal. Automotive primer can be purchased at your local auto parts store as well as at many large retailers like Walmart or Target. The primer will come in a small bottle with a brush, unlike the paint pen used for smaller chips. Use the applicator brush to apply the primer to the dry, clean metal, taking care to get very little of it on the paint surrounding it. Use only enough primer to cover the unpainted area with a thin, but solid coat.
Immediately wipe off and thoroughly clean any drips. Make sure the primer dries completely before moving on to the next step. Apply touch up paint by dabbing the applicator brush. Medium and large-sized chips require touch up paint that has an applicator brush instead of the pen.
While the paint is the same, the method used to apply it is slightly different. For medium-sized chips on the smaller side, a paint pen may still do the trick.
Shake the touch up paint thoroughly, then dip just the tip of the applicator brush into it. Dab the applicator brush in the center of the chip and move it around slightly, allowing the paint to stick to the metal and expand. Dip the brush in again, then touch it to the paint in the same area, allowing the paint to flow off of the applicator brush and settle on the vehicle, instead of stroking it on as you might when painting a house.
Fight the urge to apply more paint to expedite the process. Adding too much paint at a time can result in dripping or bubbling. Allow the paint to dry and re-apply if necessary. Once the touch up paint has dried, evaluate the result. If the paint has sufficiently filled the chip and the sides of the touch up paint have become flush with the surrounding paint, you are ready to move on to the next step.
If the touch up paint settles slightly lower than the surrounding paint or some metal is still visible, apply another coat of paint by dabbing it on the chip just as you did previously. It will shrink as it dries, allowing it to flatten out.
Patience during this process will ensure you end up with the best possible final product. Ensure the touch up paint is completely dry before moving on to the next step it may take a number of hours. Wash and wax the vehicle. Wax protects your paint from the elements and from sun-caused fading, so failing to apply new wax to the entire car could result in the paint fading into slightly different shades.
You will need to apply wax to the newly painted area in order to protect the new paint as well as to make the glossiness of it match the rest of the car. Method 3. Assess the damage. A large paint chip is usually the size of a quarter or even larger. Large chips can be the most difficult to repair because the area that you will need to repaint will be more visible.
If the chip reaches a few inches in diameter or continues to flake into a larger and larger chip, you will probably need a body shop to repaint the entire body component.
Make sure the paint damage is something you can handle with touch up paint before beginning. Do not attempt to apply paint over existing paint that is chipping, as it will flake off and ruin the repair. Use tweezers or a dental pick to remove debris and chips. Larger chips are more apt to accumulate debris that you must remove before moving on to the next step.
Use your fingers or tweezers to remove any large debris and try blowing on the area or using canned air to remove any sediment. Large chips may result in the surrounding paint flaking. Make sure to remove the paint that flakes, as it is no longer bonded to the metal and will eventually come off anyway — taking your new touch up paint with it.
You can use your fingernails, tweezers or a dental pick to remove flakes. Remove any surface rust. Because large chips expose more metal to moisture, there is an increased risk of rust. Remove rust by applying some CLR to a Q-tip and swabbing the metal. If the rust has penetrated deep enough to create a hole through the door or your Q-Tip penetrates the metal, it means the rust has ruined the body component and cannot be repaired by simply painting over it. A body shop can determine if rust of that magnitude can be removed and repaired or if you will need to replace that component of the body of the car.
If there is no deep penetration of rust, simply apply the CLR with different Q-tips until they start coming up clean. Failing to completely remove the rust will result in the new paint you apply flaking off with bits of rust. Stopping the progress of rust can prevent you from having to pay for expensive repairs to the body of your car in the future. Sand the edges of the chip. Use fine-grit sandpaper grit should suffice without causing further scratches to round off the edges of the paint around the chip to reduce the visibility of the repair.
Hard defined paint edges surrounding a large chip can make the repair obvious to the naked eye, but by rounding off the edges you can help the new paint blend with the old more effectively. Do not wet the sandpaper as you might when wet-sanding automotive paint, as this can cause rust to begin to form on the bare metal. Instead, use dry sandpaper and replace it often as the paper becomes clogged with paint. Sand the edges of the chip until they are rounded off and less distinct to the naked eye.
Wash the area after sanding it to remove any new sediment. Method 4. Apply the primer. Once the chip is sanded, clean, and dry you can apply the primer just like you would on a medium-sized chip.
Apply a thin layer of primer to any bare metal using the applicator brush.
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