# Appropriate way to cover stone chips?



## RyanM (Mar 3, 2010)

My car has plenty of stone chips on the front and I plan to use a 
paints4u.com kit (consisting of paint and lacquer) to fill in the stone chips and then machine polishing about a week later to blend in (as the spot repairs are bound to not match that well).

Obviously, best option would be to get it resprayed, but budget wont allow at the moment and I'm very scared of wet sanding my car!!!

Thoughts? Also, any comments on paints4u much appreciated!


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## Rust.Bucket (Feb 11, 2011)

I've used the paints4u kit (£14.99) and pleased with the results.
If you look really closely and with certain light, the filled in chips show up. But this is only with me purposely looking at random angles and with certain lighting.

Obviously a respray would be best, but is also costly.
The paints4u kit is a good price for what you get and isn't too hard to use.


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## Kaz (Apr 19, 2006)

I have the paints4u kit too, the colour match is absoutely stop on, I've not even finished building the laquer up yet and I'm already pleased with the progress!


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## oktapod (Jun 12, 2009)

A word of caution - I got some paint mixed up a year or so back to do just this, and initially the results were decent, although what I have found is that the colour has faded slightly over the past year on the stone-chips so that now it's not as good a match. It's nothing disastrous, and I can certainly live with it, but just so you are aware that (depending on the paint type and formulation) there may end up being a slight colour difference...


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## twissler (Apr 6, 2009)

I've just done the bonnet of my Alfa with the Chipex kit. The colour match is perfect, which given the amount of fleck in the paint (Carbonio black), is really impressive. I'd say 95% of the chips have been filled so well that even at a few inches it's nearly impossible to see the repair. 
This kit is great for road rash, just smear the paint using a gloved finger over the area, it's a little scary the first time you do this, and remove with the blending solution, really makes a difference.
I did however modify the technique from the instructions given to achieve the best results. Dont smear the paint after applying it, you will end up pulling paint outof the chip. Just be a bit more careful with your application so there is not as much excess paint to remove. Use the blending solution to lightly remove the excess making sure you leave too much paint in the chip, so that it sits proud. let it dry, with the current weather thats about 5 mins, and the use the polish to remove the rest of the paint and flatten it down level with the surrounding areas. Use this method and the results are fantastic, far and above what I expected. 

For me where the Chipex Kit excels is the timescale for a complete repair. The whole bonnet has taken me about 4 hours, my bonnet had terrible chipping, this is from start to finish. No waiting 20 mins between coats then letting the paint cure over night and best of all no wet sanding.

Highly recommended


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## robertjp (Apr 13, 2011)

twissler said:


> I've just done the bonnet of my Alfa with the Chipex kit. The colour match is perfect, which given the amount of fleck in the paint (Carbonio black), is really impressive. I'd say 95% of the chips have been filled so well that even at a few inches it's nearly impossible to see the repair.
> This kit is great for road rash, just smear the paint using a gloved finger over the area, it's a little scary the first time you do this, and remove with the blending solution, really makes a difference.
> I did however modify the technique from the instructions given to achieve the best results. Dont smear the paint after applying it, you will end up pulling paint outof the chip. Just be a bit more careful with your application so there is not as much excess paint to remove. Use the blending solution to lightly remove the excess making sure you leave too much paint in the chip, so that it sits proud. let it dry, with the current weather thats about 5 mins, and the use the polish to remove the rest of the paint and flatten it down level with the surrounding areas. Use this method and the results are fantastic, far and above what I expected.
> 
> ...


Im just about to try a similar method myself, thanks for the feedback. I have read elsewhere that Electrolube Ultrasolve is just as effective as the chipex blending solution so off to RS to buy that and sourcing my paint from paints4u. Call me a skinflint but im hoping thats around £20 vs 50!

Couple of questions - did your paint have laquer mixed in?
What type of glove did you use? 
Did you polish back by hand? 
how long did you wait?


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## Pk777 (Apr 12, 2011)

Any pics twissler


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## twissler (Apr 6, 2009)

robertjp said:


> Im just about to try a similar method myself, thanks for the feedback. I have read elsewhere that Electrolube Ultrasolve is just as effective as the chipex blending solution so off to RS to buy that and sourcing my paint from paints4u. Call me a skinflint but im hoping thats around £20 vs 50!
> 
> Couple of questions - did your paint have laquer mixed in?
> What type of glove did you use?
> ...


Just the gloves that came with the kit, disposable rubber glove type, nothing fancy.

Polished by hand using the "ceramic" polish in the kit. I'll let the paint cure for a week or two before machine polishing, just to ensure its hardened up enough.

How long did I wait? I'm assuming you mean before polishing? About 5 mins, the paint turns matt when dry and as soon as its dry I started polishing and to answer your first question the paint has laquer in it, but needs polishing to bring out the gloss. Which is why it's so important to leave the paint proud before polishing. If the paint in the chip is below the level of the surrounding area then you won't be polishing the paint in the chip and therefore you won't get the gloss and the paint will remain matt.

I've got a few before and after pics taken on my Iphone. They're not great but you can still see a big difference between the two. I'll get them uploaded and then maybe take some better pics when i tackle the front bumper.


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## twissler (Apr 6, 2009)

Before








After


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## lofty (Jun 19, 2007)

robertjp said:


> Im just about to try a similar method myself, thanks for the feedback. I have read elsewhere that Electrolube Ultrasolve is just as effective as the chipex blending solution so off to RS to buy that and sourcing my paint from paints4u. Call me a skinflint but im hoping thats around £20 vs 50!
> 
> Couple of questions - did your paint have laquer mixed in?
> What type of glove did you use?
> ...


I've used the Dr Colorchips kit and the blending solution does not work with normal paint, only the paint supplied in the kit.
I have also just bought a Chippex kit for my RS4,the colour match is spot on and it's just as easy to use as Dr Colorchips.I'll check to see if the blending solution will work with standard paint.


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## Pk777 (Apr 12, 2011)

twissler said:


> Before
> View attachment 17255
> 
> 
> ...


Mate that's class! Where do u get these kits?


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## Chufster (Nov 21, 2010)

Pk777 said:


> Mate that's class! Where do u get these kits?


www.chipex.co.uk


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## Pk777 (Apr 12, 2011)

Merci


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## robertjp (Apr 13, 2011)

lofty said:


> I've used the Dr Colorchips kit and the blending solution does not work with normal paint, only the paint supplied in the kit.
> I have also just bought a Chippex kit for my RS4,the colour match is spot on and it's just as easy to use as Dr Colorchips.I'll check to see if the blending solution will work with standard paint.


Im guessing that the blending solution of some kind of paint thinner / cleaner, i know certain paints will thin with white spirirt, certain paints with methylated spirit...so i guess this is the same principle?

I had kinda assumed that all modern car paints were water based and therefore should have a common type of thinners / 'blending' solutions?? :speechles


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## twissler (Apr 6, 2009)

robertjp said:


> Im guessing that the blending solution of some kind of paint thinner / cleaner, i know certain paints will thin with white spirirt, certain paints with methylated spirit...so i guess this is the same principle?
> 
> I had kinda assumed that all modern car paints were water based and therefore should have a common type of thinners / 'blending' solutions?? :speechles


The paint in the Chipex kit for example dries and cures much much faster than standard paint, so I guess the blending solution has to be tailored to the paint. I tried a bit of IPA to blend the paint but this was too strong and just removed all the paint.

However, I found that trying to get a perfect finish with the blending solution was too difficult so I deliberately left too much paint in the chip and then used the polish and a large amount of elbow grease to blend the repair. Because the polish removes smaller amounts of paint than the blending solution you have far greater control and also because the paint has dried once you get the chip flush with the surrounding area it will buff up nicely giving a good indication when the paint is well blended.


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## robertjp (Apr 13, 2011)

I have just ordered a 100ml touch up pot from paints4u, andim popping out to get some Ultrasolve this lunchtime, apparently paints 4u thinners are xylene based so whether this will wok or not i dont know. 

I also bought the g3 compund, and have several menzerna compounds now so if all else fails will use your method. 

I guess its about timing if the paints dry at differnet rates...i.e. catching the right point to polish so that you leave paint in the chip but while the paint is soft enough to polish back...


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## twissler (Apr 6, 2009)

robertjp said:


> I guess its about timing if the paints dry at differnet rates...i.e. catching the right point to polish so that you leave paint in the chip but while the paint is soft enough to polish back...


Thats true but I think you will find that no matter what you do with the blending solution you will always remove a little too much, meaning you have to re apply the paint.

I just used it to remove the excess paint. Be warned though, if you do use my method, it takes quite a lot of work to blend the chips using polish but like most things, the more you put in the more you get out!:thumb:


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## WaxOnWaxOff (Sep 12, 2010)

What would be the best thing to polish the repairs by hand do you reckon?


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