Hey guys, I just noticed a small rock chip on my hood that goes all the way through the paint. After I fill it with the touch-up paint, what's the best way to make it look as good as new (or as close as possible)? I've got some zaino sitting on the shelf to put on the car for the first time, but I thought I should cleanup the rock chip before putting on the zaino. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

Clean the chipped area of all waxes, polishes, sealants, etc...
Dry
Apply touch up paint over time with a tooth pick/small applicator into the damaged areas
Allow to build up and dry just above the rim of the rock chip after a number of applications
Wet sand with nothing less than 2000 wetsand paper, and let that soak for A drop of dish soap makes it slipperier.
Make sure paint is flush and completely dry
Polish using PC

just off the top of my head.. hope that helps

 

good summary simon...

couple of other ideas:

1. some guys love langka and some dont
http://www.langka.com/complete-paint...pair-p-30.html

2. http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=27

 

I bought the Langka blob eliminator many years ago. I used it a few times, but it got to the point on my old car where I just had too many rock chips in my front bumper to keep up. Well, I recently got a chip in my driver's side door from an inconsiderate person parking next to me. I've been trying to use the Langka to level it off, but each time the paint ends up an odd color after using the Langka. I think I'm going to try their method for metallic paints. Thanks for the link Wannabe.

 

Instead of wetsanding, let the paint cure about 12 hours, depending on temps,
then clay the blob down like you would use sandpaper. I was surprised and Happy that this works to level off the blob. Make sure you turn the clay alot because the paint residue that gets trapped in the clay can gouge the finish.

Then pc to taste.

 

how could the clay level off dried paint? i thought u used sandpaper in that famous thread of yours...

 

The paint isn't fully cured at 12 hours so the clay works...I was quite surprised.

I did use wetsanding on my first stab at leveling out the blobs, it is time consuming and very scary...I am claying from now on.

 

I have to wait awhile for the touch-up paint to come in so in the meantime I guess I'm just going to wash & wax the area like normal -- I just have to make sure that I take off the wax (using Dawn dishsoap?) before I apply the paint right?

Is it okay to zaino the car before filling the chip? If I zaino it before filling it in, how do I clean out the area before filling it?

Also, I probably won't have access to a PC, so is there an "easy" way to clean up the area after filling in the chip without using a PC? If I go without a PC now, fill the chip and then Zaino it, will I still be able to go back to it later with a PC and clean it up even more?

Thanks for the help everyone

 

Saw this on Speed TV, a product for repairing rock chips. A company called Norton. Here is the link. They also showed a kit that you could do by hand but did not see it on their site. http://www.nortonautomotive.com/Data/Eleme...000000000001777

Good luck