Fixing little chips in paintwork

bear2020

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As in the title - is there any company you would recommend to buy a kit from to fix the odd little chip? Obviously Chipex but wondered if anyone else had used any kits they would recommend?

Cheers
 

AntStark

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The Chipex kits are good if you take your time with it. You can buy just the paint on eBay too if you know what colour code you need
 

Althulas

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This guide might be handy if your feeling adventurous https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/threads/stone-chip-repair-guide.20127/

I can second the paint from chipex but use some of the techniques in the thread above as well as just using the chipex system. I have a kit from Halfords as well and the paint was a good match in cosmos black. You have to experiment to get the right result, there’s lot of vids on YouTube as well.
 

bear2020

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This guide might be handy if your feeling adventurous https://www.detailingworld.co.uk/threads/stone-chip-repair-guide.20127/

I can second the paint from chipex but use some of the techniques in the thread above as well as just using the chipex system. I have a kit from Halfords as well and the paint was a good match in cosmos black. You have to experiment to get the right result, there’s lot of vids on YouTube as well.
Thanks luckily I have a few panels to practice on first :)
 

John_B

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Sorry, a bit late to the thread, but I just used the Chipex kit this weekend and was reasonably impressed. The bumper in particularly has come up really well. Before it looked like I'd been following the truck painting the white lines too closely, now from more than a few feet away the majority of the chips are gone.

The bonnet on the other hands still looks a bit rough. I'm not sure how much of that is in the eye of the overly-critical owner who still see them, but the chips in the bonnet seem to be larger and deeper than the bumper, so the kit has just painted the bottom of the chip, rather than filled them in. I mentioned in my progress thread that I will probably go over them again (and again) and see if I can build the paint up over time.

IMG_2210.JPG
 

bear2020

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I used halfords touch up paint on the z4 and it was horrendous and looks crap. Colour match was poor and stands out more than it did before. Have the chipex for the Z3 but John_B that looks good!
 

bear2020

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My Chipex paint arrived, cleaned the car, opened it up and it was purple! Put a tiny bit on the car to send a pic to Chipex but if they offer a 100% colour guarantee and sterling grey is the new purple I am going to need a lot of little bottles! :) Has the right paint code on the bottle and shook it to make sure pigment had not separated.
 

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AntStark

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Had a go at this little scratch yesterday
IMG_1799.jpeg

Masked the area then a very gentle sanding with 3M 2000 grit wet and dry to take the edges off the scratch. Cleaned everything with the blending solution from my chipex kit.
Paint (which I bought from eBay) dabbed into the scratch using the corner of a business card..loads easier than a brush
IMG_1801.jpeg

IMG_1806.jpeg

Let it dry for a couple hours then another very very light sanding using the chipex blending solution as a lubricant for the wet and dry
Quick once over with some abrasive compound then some polish
IMG_1821.jpeg

it’s not disappeared completely but with a bit of practice I think I could get it better..got a whole bonnet of stone chips to practice on 😁
IMG_1818.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Pond

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@AntStark that looks very good IMO.
I have two horrendous round chips right in the middle of the bonnet of my Melbourne Red F31. They have been there for a while as the bonnet has rust showing on the bare metal.
I have been contemplating how to tackle them but not sure if they are too big for a 'touch up' type approach.
From experience, If I do them 'properly' the area needed to be tackled seems to get larger and larger until I need a full bonnet respray! :whistle:
 

bear2020

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Yes did that on the Z4 very fine sandpaper and then suddenly I was through the lacquer. As such the bonnet is being sprayed along with the front wing that had a scratch and the same thing happened. Hence the car is going into the bodyshop this Friday. That was using Halfords paint which was a crap match. Not bad £20 for the kit turned into a £600 spray job - wish I had left the chips & scratch lol
Found the lacquer on the Z4 a lot thinner than on the Z3. The Subaru I have was fine and the missus merc was fine using the same method. Lesson learnt sell the car when its done!
 

TJS

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instead of using abrasive wet and dry paper to smooth out the paint I use Langka solution. Small chips are filled with the BMW touch up paint ( dream black metallic) applied with a cocktail stick. Let the first coat dry then apply a second coat of 50/50 colour and clear lacquer and leave for a couple of days before smoothing out the paint blob with Lanka applied with a cloth wrapped around a flat surface like a credit card. If you make a mistake and take off too much new paint no harm done, unlike abrasives.


 

AleNod

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Q: Anyone have experience of paint matching with Chipex for Melbourne Red ?

Chipex seems the consensus best kit with their paint match guarantee. Plugging in my Reg shows the car is Red and paint code will be confirmed once order placed. Plugging in make, model & year, there is a list of paint codes for the car including imola and helrot reds (weren't those E85 colours?), but not Melbourne Red (E89).

So I'm a tad nervous . . .
 

John_B

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IIRC They do a money back guarantee, so if you treat a small inconspicuous one first and aren't happy you can send it back 🙂
 

bear2020

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Q: Anyone have experience of paint matching with Chipex for Melbourne Red ?

Chipex seems the consensus best kit with their paint match guarantee. Plugging in my Reg shows the car is Red and paint code will be confirmed once order placed. Plugging in make, model & year, there is a list of paint codes for the car including imola and helrot reds (weren't those E85 colours?), but not Melbourne Red (E89).

So I'm a tad nervous . . .
They took 3 attempts to match sterling grey and in the end I gave up and binned it. It was nowhere close to the colour. They then told me the car probably was not a standard colour!
 

Duncodin

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Q: Anyone have experience of paint matching with Chipex for Melbourne Red ?

Chipex seems the consensus best kit with their paint match guarantee. Plugging in my Reg shows the car is Red and paint code will be confirmed once order placed. Plugging in make, model & year, there is a list of paint codes for the car including imola and helrot reds (weren't those E85 colours?), but not Melbourne Red (E89).

So I'm a tad nervous . . .
Can they really get the paint code from the vehicle reg number? I assumed they make it look that easy till they get your order then they tell you where your paint code is on the car so you can read it for them.

My car was green and now it's in grey gelcoat. Giving my reg number to their site comes up 'grey' and that they can guarantee perfect match if I place the order. How they can say that I don't know.
 

AleNod

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They took 3 attempts to match sterling grey and in the end I gave up and binned it. It was nowhere close to the colour. They then told me the car probably was not a standard colour!
Especially as Sterling Grey was so rare . . . (it was the most popular colour wasn't it?)
 

AleNod

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Can they really get the paint code from the vehicle reg number? I assumed they make it look that easy till they get your order then they tell you where your paint code is on the car so you can read it for them.

My car was green and now it's in grey gelcoat. Giving my reg number to their site comes up 'grey' and that they can guarantee perfect match if I place the order. How they can say that I don't know.
Fair point, thinking about it. Reg number gives you access to the DVLA database which is just the generic colour on the V5. It was a little more concerning that searching by make and model threw up BMW correct but Model incorrect names.

Shoot, I'll find a way to message them to check . . .

Thanks all . . .
 

Duncodin

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. . .
. . .
They then told me the car probably was not a standard colour!
That's the 'get out clause'. It'll be in the small print of their 'colour match' guarantee.

My old green colour, 275 Boston Green Metallic. My local motor factor mixes paint from paint code. But ask for BMW 275 and their computer can produce recipes for 5 different shades of Boston Green. 275/a, 275/b etc. BMW musta changed it slightly in different years or different models. So even with the paint code I could never get an exact match. Only way to get it near would be to take the car to a proper paint shop and let him scan a panel to get the actual mix - even then it's hit and miss especially on 25 year old metallic. Real paint shops use overspray and blending to blend new paint in to old so the difference doesn't stand out.
 

Ianmc

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Presumably the paint code is accurate when new; doesn't take account of 20 plus years exposure to the elements.
 

bear2020

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Presumably the paint code is accurate when new; doesn't take account of 20 plus years exposure to the elements.
Agreed but when they send you purple twice instead of grey you have to ask if they are colour blind and it had the right code on for Sterling grey!
 
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