[Jmhockey1920]

Has anyone ever used these products before to repair chips on their car? If so, is it worth it or have any advice you can share with me? I have a 60 mile commute round trip to work everyday and this car/paint seems to love taking small rock damage.

[iceman7]

Originally Posted by Jmhockey1920

Has anyone ever used these products before to repair chips on their car? If so, is it worth it or have any advice you can share with me? I have a 60 mile commute round trip to work everyday and this car/paint seems to love taking small rock damage.

Have a couple of chips on the hood that I noticed the other day.



My local detailer is an authorized re-seller of dr.colourchip so i bought the small package to try. He will show me the first time in order to know how it is done properly.

For less noticeable chips I have been using (in all my cars for the last 6-7 years) some coloured stickers named magicstick
(http://magicstick.gr/index.php?page=...&category_id=1) to cover the damage.

Noticeable only when being very close



Barely noticeable from a normal distance

[Jmhockey1920]

Thank you for the reply, Iceman7! I just reached out to my dealer and they are not re-sellers of Dr. ColorChip. I will just go online and buy their "Dr. ColorChip Squirt 'n Squeegee Plus Kit" kit.

Once you get back from the dealer, can you show me how your hood looks like after they applied the colorchip? Share some knowledge as well how they showed you how to use it

[iceman7]

Originally Posted by Jmhockey1920

Thank you for the reply, Iceman7! I just reached out to my dealer and they are not re-sellers of Dr. ColorChip. I will just go online and buy their "Dr. ColorChip Squirt 'n Squeegee Plus Kit" kit.

Once you get back from the dealer, can you show me how your hood looks like after they applied the colorchip? Share some knowledge as well how they showed you how to use it

I will certainly do once I find some time to go. There is also a light scratch that needs to be removed and I have to find some time to suit us both.

[Jmhockey1920]

Iceman7, do you have any kind of PPF (paint protection film) on your car? Or ever looked into getting it?

[Lucky13]

I had a Titanium Silver E93 with a lot of hood chips and I’d give it about a 4 out of 10. Really hard to match silver shades and also getting the right shine on it. It might work better on black or white but I wouldn’t buy it unless its just a few chips not 10 or more or it because its harder to match color than you think.

[Proper]

Originally Posted by Jmhockey1920

Has anyone ever used these products before to repair chips on their car? If so, is it worth it or have any advice you can share with me? I have a 60 mile commute round trip to work everyday and this car/paint seems to love taking small rock damage.

I went with the OE touch up paint from BMW. It was basically same price and I found it cheap on ebay from a BMW dealer.

[iceman7]

Originally Posted by Jmhockey1920

Iceman7, do you have any kind of PPF (paint protection film) on your car? Or ever looked into getting it?

No, unfortunately!
Had my previous car protected with 4 layers of ceramic pro 9H, but cannot afford the money to do the same in the X1

[Jmhockey1920]

Which does everyone who reads this thread prefer for preventing rock chips? Should I look into getting ceramic coating done on my car (2-3 layers) or look into getting Paint Protecting Film on the front bumper, hood and mirrors done?

If you have either of these on your car or have had it done on on your car, how did you like it?

[Skyline2.0]

Originally Posted by Jmhockey1920

Which does everyone who reads this thread prefer for preventing rock chips? Should I look into getting ceramic coating done on my car (2-3 layers) or look into getting Paint Protecting Film on the front bumper, hood and mirrors done?

If you have either of these on your car or have had it done on on your car, how did you like it?

PPF/clear bra is best bet against rock chips. Ceramic coating, even the most expensive kind, won't really protect against this problem. I've noticed paint on the X1 is very soft compared to other cars/makes, and regret not considering PPF much earlier.

[iceman7]

Originally Posted by Skyline2.0

PPF/clear bra is best bet against rock chips. Ceramic coating, even the most expensive kind, won't really protect against this problem. I've noticed paint on the X1 is very soft compared to other cars/makes, and regret not considering PPF much earlier.

How about cost for PPF?

[Jmhockey1920]

Originally Posted by Skyline2.0

PPF/clear bra is best bet against rock chips. Ceramic coating, even the most expensive kind, won't really protect against this problem. I've noticed paint on the X1 is very soft compared to other cars/makes, and regret not considering PPF much earlier.

I agree man! This paint, even the damn windshield must be the softest shit ever! My bumper, the trim on the front and even the glass pick up rock chips like no other. I have a guy coming to my house next weekend to apply the PPF/Clear Bra on my entire bumper area, half way up the hood and side mirrors. He is also going to touch up the rock chips first with Dr. Colorchip before he applies the PPF/Clear Bra.

The partial front coverage (at least here in Nashville) is about $799.

[Xorbitman]

When I purchase my car in late January I asked for a touch up pen which they do sell however my salesman went above and beyond and gave me two small plastic jars with my paint in it. It's a 2 step process because I have the Pearl Metallic white paint. So you dab a little bit from each bottle on a small plastic plate or bowl then mix them together to get the white and metallic blend.
Then use a fine paint brush...like a water color paint brush your kids used to paint with or a wood toothpick or a paper clip and dip it in to the paint so it forms a small drop and then fill the chip with the paint. Make sure you clean the surface first. I use soap and water then a cuetip with a bit of alcohol to make sure the surface is clean. Then it dries very fast...wait 2 days and polish with Meguiars Ultra Quick Detailer with a microfibre cloth to blend it. Chip will disappear. Good Luck!

[Lucky13]

Amazon sells a micro touch up paint brush in a 100 pack that works much better than a real brush. 100 count $8.99-9.99 and the tip is made of either cotton or foam but works much better than actual paint brush because it fits basically inside the chip so you dab it on vs trying to cover a small hole and getting over the edges. I put the touch up paint on some plastic, stickthe tip into it then touch the chip hole. Much better than true brushes.

[MJE60]

=

Originally Posted by Jmhockey1920

Has anyone ever used these products before to repair chips on their car? If so, is it worth it or have any advice you can share with me? I have a 60 mile commute round trip to work everyday and this car/paint seems to love taking small rock damage.

Thanks for the heads-up. Following your post I had a look on YouTube where there are a large number of reviews. The most common finding is that it is quick and easy way to protect car from further damage (rust) , has a good colour match and for small pinprick chip can be nearly invisible. For larger stone chips the repair camouflages but still visible close-up. The product has the advantage that you do not need to be neat and careful as excess paint is removed. Someone with a lot of experience said that you need to use traditional fill, paint, sand down, polish and top-coat if you want invisible chip repairs however for many people who lack time and expertise it gives “good enough” results and is way better than leaving chip unrepaired.
Thanks to everyone, Lots of options to explore. The biggest problem I can see for most F48 owners is the limited colours Dr Colorchip have available, they do not stock my colour for example. I will just have to continue using my current method, which;
1. I use oem touch-up bottles/pens and apply with a cocktail stick (plastic not wood). I always use small dab of Kurust first, if chip down to the metal.
2. Using a fine cocktail stick I build up paint in the chip until it is a rounded blob (but contained within “chip footprint”. If a very deep bite into plastic, I will fill 90% of hole with filler first.
3. After a week, to let fully dry, I will then level the paint or if the paint has shrunk so there is still a “ hole”, I will apply more. For very small chips, I sometimes use tape and a fine razor blade to level (but practice first and use new single edge blade, you can scratch if not careful), for larger chips, I use sanding block and 2 or 3 grades of glass paper, going as fine as 5000.
4. I finish levelling paint with polishing compound. I then place small amount of top coat. I use masking tape with a 0.5 - 1.5cm hole to retain topcoat and create blending/transition zone. I actually have a small box of plastic file/paper hole-punch reinforcing rings) If on a crease or edge, the top-coat template may be rectangular rather than circular. Note if paint is not perfect/good top-coat will never make it better.
5. After a week, I sand down topcoat and polish, blending in, so that it is invisible. I then refinish repair area with ceramic coat (impregnated wipes in sachets)and then hardwax.
6. With this approach, which is slow and laborious , I would say 50% of repairs are invisible in any light (biggest issue is blending/shaking paint so mica/metallic particles and colour match are perfect. For about 25% of repairs, they are visible in certain light/angles , usually due to problems with metallic/mica colour match. Remainder, can be spotted close-up in any light.
The paint on F48 is definitely softer and thinner than I would like but interestingly no worse than a previous (yr 2000) Boxster I Owned which had to have a hood /bonnet respray from new due to over-thin paint. I am told problem is water-based paint.
My biggest problem, is process requires many stages and easy to remove too much paint (sanding/polishing) and having to repeat or being lazy so I end up leaving blob if it is not in prominent position. For a new car, nothing beats protective film to stop chips in first place. Ceramic coat provides zero stone chip protection imo.

[MJE60]

Originally Posted by iceman7

Have a couple of chips on the hood that I noticed the other day.



My local detailer is an authorized re-seller of dr.colourchip so i bought the small package to try. He will show me the first time in order to know how it is done properly.

For less noticeable chips I have been using (in all my cars for the last 6-7 years) some coloured stickers named magicstick
(http://magicstick.gr/index.php?page=...&category_id=1) to cover the damage.

Noticeable only when being very close



Barely noticeable from a normal distance

Thanks for pics Iceman7, I am surprised how effective those little paint discs are. Do you protect the chip underneath before applying disc so as to stop risk of rust?.

[oakey46]

I haven't tried the Color Chip 'fix' (there is a similar kit available in the UK), but I agree it is difficult to fully hide a touch-in to a stone chip. I have in the past used an aerosol spray paint very lightly across several close chips on a bonnet/hood, allowed the paint to dry but not harden too much, then used a polish with very mild abrasion (Autoglym Super Resin) to remove all the overspray down to the surface of the stone chip. It isn't easy, but it has worked for me although you have to be careful when masking the surrounding area to ensure the spray doesn't have a 'hard' edge. To achieve that I use paper to (widely)mask and only bend up the edges away from the chips, then spray from a slight distance just to try and cover the chip. Polishing the dry spray paint away is then relatively straightforward and i haven't needed to also use a lacquer afterwards, though that may be desirable on a sizeable chip (see below).
I did have one occasion where I caught the edge of an Audi A4 front wing whilst trying to drive it into my garage. The scrape was only about ¼" high, but 2½" or so long. I called in one of the chip repair specialists to do the fix on my drive, but all the chap did was to spray the whole wing with a colour that wasn't a good match (despite having the paint code) and a real orange peel finish. He was due to come back the next day to apply lacquer but, as the job was so poor, after he left I set about rubbing down the whole wing with my polish to remove all the spray he'd applied. I then bought a correct matching aerosol from a major UK motorist products store, masked the wing as outlined above and sprayed it myself and polished it down and used a lacquer a few days afterwards (worth noting the original manufacturer applied finish had been low temperature baked on, so didn't come away with my rubbing). The repair was then almost invisible and wasn't spotted when I traded the car for a new A4 a couple of months later. Needless to say, I refused to pay the chip repairer although, to be fair, he had previously done a good job on a couple of kerbed wheels.

[iceman7]

Originally Posted by MJE60

Thanks for pics Iceman7, I am surprised how effective those little paint discs are. Do you protect the chip underneath before applying disc so as to stop risk of rust?.

Νο. the "discs" are supposed to be used as is.
Been using them for years in various cars and never had any rust problems!