# How to deal with these chips? Pics included.



## Tim TT (Apr 22, 2009)

After over 110k of motorway mileage, the bonnet of my BMW has seen better days!



I bought some paint and lacquer (mixed by the scratch doctor on ebay) and wanted to follow this guide by Breezy http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=20127

I have applied the paint until proud of the chip and left to harden for 36hrs, but most of the paint still just comes off so easily, literally soapy water and a cloth, let alone needing wet and dry paper! Am I not leaving it for long enough or is it not adhering to the surface? Am I missing something or is the paint just poor quality?

There are a few areas where the paint has adhered, but sometimes the colour appears to match, and most of the time it just looks far to light. This photo is an example. This is after polishing compound.



I know the paint in these chips is still not high enough either 

Any further advice on the correct procedures here would be much appreciated.

Thanks


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

have you removed all previous protection on the car with IPA or similar to allow it to adhere to the car?


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## Tim TT (Apr 22, 2009)

danwel said:


> have you removed all previous protection on the car with IPA or similar to allow it to adhere to the car?


No I didn't. In fact come to think of it, the last thing I did (before washing the bonnet) was go over it a while back with Menzerna Fast Gloss FG400 - I am now thinking this is not the ideal preparation!

Is there anything around the house I can use as a reasonable preparation, similar to IPA or contains IPA etc ? Is lighter fluid acceptable?

Irrespective of the prep stage I have missed, the paint still seems insanely easy to wash away! How long should I be leaving the paint to harden? I read 24-36hrs regularly on the net as being enough time ...


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## danwel (Feb 18, 2007)

a strong mix of fairly liquid or WD40 would do the trick and a good wash and dry before you apply the paint


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## Tim TT (Apr 22, 2009)

Ok so chips cleaned out properly and paint is adhering as it should, but I am still having issues with the colour after sanding the paint. The paint dries the correct colour (BMW A19 Sydney Blue metallic) but when I sand the blobs down to level the chip off, the colour changes hugely to a grey/ silver finish and no buffing brings back the correct colour.

Is this something to do with the metal flakes in the paint perhaps? You can see the lighter colour I am left with in all of the chips (bar the largest one) in this pic.


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## Matty12345 (Nov 3, 2012)

you have to polish it once youve sanded it. Of course it will be a grey colour if youve just sanded the area


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## Tim TT (Apr 22, 2009)

Matty12345 said:


> you have to polish it once youve sanded it. Of course it will be a grey colour if youve just sanded the area


That is after polishing compound, hence no sanding scratches in the paint around the chip!


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

You're not the only one that has problems with light coloured metallics or silvers.
Have a read of this thread ......
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=270054&highlight=metallic

And I've just lifted this from another thread

If you sand a metallic you'll ruin all the metallic particles and you'll end up with a darker/dull looking colour as the metallic particles won't be able to do their job of reflecting light.
Imagine lots of tiny little mirrors in the paint - the moment you sand them they no longer remain shiney.


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## Tim TT (Apr 22, 2009)

Thanks for that. As I suspected perhaps then. Perhaps I am just flattening out all of the silver particles making it look silvery grey! 

Just looked, and in fact the transparent tube that the paint came in, rather than being showing a tube full of blue paint, is basically silver to look at, I assume where all of the metallic particles have gathered on the edges of the tube. This is exactly the colour of the repairs after sanding. 

The thing that puzzles me is there are loads of threads and how to's on stone chip repairs and virtually none of these people have these kinds of issues, yet surely most modern cars have a metallic painted finish!?

The paint also seems very thin in consistency compared to the paint from a Halfords touch up pen I have from my old A3. I painted small sections of a sweet tin lid with both and left them to dry. Rubbed down with wet n dry to test and the halfords paint was MUCH thicker and durable than this stuff I have for the BMW that basically just rubbed away immediately. 

Hmmmm. Perhaps I need to try a different paint supplier.


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## Tim TT (Apr 22, 2009)

I have just ordered some more paint from Paints4U (I should have done this in the first place if much of the recommendation on here is to be followed) so I will report back on whether the quality of the paint is a key factor or not!

I have opted for paint with the lacquer mixed in which should be the best bet rather than trying to fit in both paint and lacquer independently into every chip!


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## GSD (Feb 6, 2011)

Just a thought,in the past when i've had this problem,Landrover Stornoway grey,i sanded down then cut a hole sameish size as repair from thin card and given it a quick blow with a rattle can using card as a sort of template/shield,got good results and polished up a treat.


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