Paint Chip Hack: Can You Fill a Car Paint Chip with Paint, Sand & Buff?

Can you fill a paint chip with touch up paint, sand it flat after it dries and buff it? Find out in this brief video testing this idea or paint chip hack. Tools and materials listed below:
***** Wet Sandpaper: 3M 400 grit

[anthonyring]

This method works a lot better if you just sand the edges of the chip to be a smooth transition. Like a smooth hill instead of jagged cliff. That extra step really helps blend the new paint with the old.

[Fireship]

Looks darn good. I think most people would be happy with this kind of repair. I know I would.

[scottp]

I had a bunch of chips on the front of the hood on a pickup truck I bought. 220, 000 MI driving through Florida put a lot of bug scratches in that front of the hood. I washed it with hot water and ammonia so we had a clean base instead of a bunch of crud sanded into it. I put some spot putty on to fill the scratches instead of using paint. I sanded everything smooth very lightly and did like you did on the scratch but I was sanding down the putty. I mixed up some primer and put that on with the brush over the parts that were puttied.I taped and curled up masking paper back and I give it a couple light coats of white paint also. I let that dry for about a day I was afraid of the shrinkage on that spot putty. Then I went ahead and wet sanded it. I kind of sanded through the paint so I had had to clean it and spray it again. Look good when I was done hit it again with a spray and then was a coat of cheap clear I had laying around. I buffed it out it looked decent but I had to buff because I had overspray back towards the masking paper. That was in 2008 and that truck and I still have the truck now. It still looks real good. I thought that clear coat with a yellow but it never did.

[philjohnston]

For what it is it came out alright. Looks better than a chip. If haters want perfection then spend the $$$ and get the respray done. Thanks for sharing your upload it's appreciated by those of us curious to try

[subliminal]

Sanding the edges lightly and using a couple coats of filler primer, then paint and then clear would probably give better results

[akenedy]

Yeah, you're correct. The new touch-up paint will usually be softer than the original, and exact color matching is a challenge, especially with metallic paints where the size of the metallic flakes vary and also affect the appearance. Filling as accurately as possible and as level as possible with the original paint saves a lot of sanding. And that also reduces the sanding pressure required and consequently reduces occurrence of deeper sanding scratches within the repair area, as well as reducing "melting" of metallic flakes (in metallic paints) due to excess sanding friction which can cast the repair paint color with a grayish hue. I found that wet sanding by hand with 600 grit followed by 2000 grit is the perfect combination. Then follow by hand-buffing with Meguiar' Swirl Remover 2.0, which works surprisingly fast even by hand because this product is just so effective. Overall this method works best from my personal experience, and the results are better than repainting an entire panel, since that usually results in the entire panel color not quite matching neighboring panels. That's visibly far worse than a small paint chip touch-up repair, and is also far more time-consuming and expensive.

[andicog]

Breaking down the hard edge of the chip with some 1500 before starting works, takes away the outline when finished. I've also seen people use a rubber blade to actually fill the chip in one go, think the panel would need laying down for this. 👍

[garyburgess]

You're right Jerry..it looks better than a big chip. Have a great weekend..

[andrewhudson]

Finally. someone doing a video with paint, not a kit. Kits don't work with custom colors. And extra points for using safety goggles!

[ceesklumper]

I used this approach a couple weeks ago and it worked great.

[ROADKING]

Good stuff Bud!! I've done that a few times, it works good but it's a process that can't be rushed!!☻

[ericcarr]

That came out a lot better than I thought it would, and definitely a lot faster and cheaper then the correct way of doing it. Another fantastic video, Sir. Thank you for making them.

[The_R-n-I_Guy]

After sanding you should've put some clear coat in it to level it out. But for demonstration purposes this was great.
If you do this to your own vehicle. Try to use the same type of paint that is on the vehicle. Single stage, base clear, tricoat, whatever is on the vehicle. The more time you put into it, the better it can look. And it's definitely better than painting the entire panel. Especially if it's a classic car. Repairing original paint is always better than a respray. Paint is only original once

[zakibird]

I've tried this with a two stage mix from the paint shop, it's hard to get it right but better than a paint chip, couple of them were perfect, rest had outlines, even used a pin to dab the paint in the smaller ones, came out okay

[AAAA-lthq]

I'm not a detailer or body shop specialist. But I'm learning a lot as I go having to fix my own vehicle's small scratches and rock chips.

I find toothpicks are helpful here. They also help remove small amounts of clear coat when wet sanding, especially if you overapply the clear coat.

If the new clear goes on too thick or overruns, you can scratch it off with a toothpick before it sets up without scratching the surrounding OEM clear. If you're careful, you can roll the toothpick like a rolling pin to get a smooth, thin, even layer of clear coat.

Using a Duplicolor paint/clear coat scratch fix pen I am able to somewhat match the OEM 209 black sand pearl and clear coat on my 2020 Toyota Corolla, but it takes a lot of slow, careful, tedious work.

The paint and clear coat in most of these pens is way too thick for most OEM paint, but I understand the point is to protect that scratch and prevent rusting.

I clean the scratch with IPA. I then dab paint in with a toothpick and let it set up for a day or two. Depending on how the paint levels, I might put on more paint then, or I might try to put on the clear.

I have had times where the paint and clear are unlevel with the OEM. I sometimes add more paint on top of the failed clear attempt, then add another layer of clear. I don't want to use any Duplicolor clear or paint remover to protect the OEM paint job.

I realize paint on clear is not ideal, but the spots are so small (less than a width of a fingertip) that I'm more concerned about a level, smooth appearance than any layering. The paint seems to stay on well enough even if there is some roughed up clear under it.

I know a lot of detailers prefer to wet sand the paint then add clear, but the clear coat from the pen is so thick it makes more sense to add it on top then level the whole thing. It's like glue or pancake syrup. I would rather sacrifice the clear than the paint, so a bit of clear that is too thick is fine as long as it can be leveled.

For that process, I wash, decon, clay, then use a light compound, polish, and then a wax.

For sanding, I prefer using sanding sticks up to 7000 or even higher grit. I like to start high so I don't go too aggressive, find what works, and then work up in grits from there. I like narrow, thin sanding sticks so I only touch the area that needs to be sanded, as opposed to a block.

I use DA foam and a microfiber to take it off. Nothing fancy. One of those bonnet machines with a 20v battery. Even a 5-6" bonnet polisher is a bit big for these jobs but I'm willing to compound/polish the OEM so the new clear coat feathers into the OEM without edges.

After a lot of layering, patience, and many weeks of building up and taking down, it's almost flush with the OEM. The light still distorts from a certain angle due to how the clear coat went on, but close enough without going through the OEM clear works for me. The main difficulty is feathering the edge of the thick, new clear into the thin OEM clear and making it look like the same, level coat.

The repair here looks good. All that worries me about it is it is such a big area to polish and buff, especially with a sanding block.

I plan on keeping a car for 20+ years, so I'm always concerned about how much clear coat is left, especially on black cars.

Usually, at best I only compound, polish, and clay when absolutely necessary, even if the paint is not as smooth and clear as it could be. Most of the time I just IPA and wax to protect the clear, since even a mild clay/compound/polish will take away clear over many years.

I prefer non-abrasive mild chemical paint cleaners to deal with paint defects, but they seem to be getting harder to find.

My hope is any glaze or clarifiers in the wax (many are AIOs and cleaner waxes now) will fix any small blemishes without even having to resort to a polish. Once that clear is gone, you can't get it back without taking the whole panel back to a body shop to be refinished properly.

Generally, I will work most with the parts exposed to the elements--front grille, roof, trunk, and hood. The sides and back will often retain carnauba wax protection even for 6 months here in hot, humid Arkansas (based on water beading, anyway). Mild winters and we use sand instead of salt for icy roads.

In short, I'd rather the paint look less than perfect and the OEM clear coat last than the paint look great but there be almost no clear left.

I find a lot of paint correction products on the market are aggressive and for people who let their vehicles get in bad shape before they do anything. I prefer just keeping the car clean with a wash every 2-4 weeks, a wax every 3 months, and a clay/polish (and rarely a compound to fix a big problem) only if the car absolutely needs it.

A little prevention is better than taking it to the body shop.

Sorry for the length, but I hope this helped.

[malcolmandtheboy-getonwith]

I have this exact problem in white on a fully restored 67 Bonneville convertible. Thanks!

[farmerjoe]

I just wanna say THANK YOU! Your videos have been a holy grail of learning and information ... the way your videos are detailed to the point and imformative have made it so much easier to understand and repeat the processes shown ... i have been restoring a 01 ram 1500 ( canadian rust bucket) for 4 years and im finally on the last legs to having it completed 98% done by myself / with friends and these videos have helped me so much along the way 👌🙏

[krismcleod]

Going to try this with stone chips on my single stage gloss black paint, see if its good enough save on a respray

[steve]

DAP Dynaflex 230. If you can't find it use any equivalent elastomeric latex. Dynaflex Ultra is newer and probably better as it's more flexible and UV resistant. Both are paintable within an hour, come in multiple colors (clear if unsure), and waterproof. However 230 due to being a bit less flexible is able to handle gaps up to 1 inch whereas Ultra covers up to 1/2". All these fancy fillers are using the chemical compound of this. As a matter of fact DAP makes custom colors of this very product under Dynaflex 920. For clear coat I would recommend Angelus Leathee

[dwinnorell]

have anyone tried using filler to build it up and finishing with spraycan? specially for metallic paints