Damn stone chips...

Steedie · 5 Apr 2019 at 18:25

After a bit of advice.

Had a massive bang yesterday while driving to Portsmouth which I assumed was a stone hitting the windscreen, but after having the car detailed today, he noticed a rather nasty stone chip

I’ve emailed a couple of reputable mobile places who all said that for a totally perfect finish, it will need a full bonnet respray.

For now, I’m not after a 100% perfect finish, just to minimise the nastiness of it. Would a touch up kit be worth it? My detailer said he’ll reapply the ceramic coating to the area if needs be but what would the most simple yet visually acceptable way of fixing this?

Thanks

robj20 · 5 Apr 2019 at 18:28

The way i do it.
Use a cocktail stick to fill the chip so its proud.
Then use wet and dry on the end of something to sand that flat.
Then polish.

Unless you know where to look it wont be noticeable.

If that needs a respray you will be respraying your car a lot.

Spleen Sauce · 5 Apr 2019 at 18:30

My S4 has a load of bonnet stone chips (though none quite this big) - I’ve been to a few paint shops and detailers and all have recommended a bonnet respray to rectify, even the local ChipsAway guy (who did some cracking work on the Mrs car) popped over to have a look, said the same.

Steedie · 5 Apr 2019 at 18:30

robj20 said:
The way i do it.
Use a cocktail stick to fill the chip so its proud.
Then use wet and dry on the end of something to sand that flat.
Then polish.

Unless you know where to look it wont be noticeable.

If that needs a respray you will be respraying your car a lot.

That sounds perfect, thank you

Steedie · 5 Apr 2019 at 18:31

Spleen Sauce said:
My S4 has a load of bonnet stone chips (though none quite this big) - I’ve been to a few paint shops and detailers and all have recommended a bonnet respray to rectify, even the local ChipsAway guy (who did some cracking work on the Mrs car) popped over to have a look, said the same.

Yeah I think I will go ahead and do that towards the end of the year once it has a few more but for now it wouldn’t be worth it for the few I have.

LiE · 5 Apr 2019 at 21:51

Time to get a clear wrap on the bonnet bro.

Housey · 6 Apr 2019 at 09:04

Cost of doing business I’m afraid

Nasher · 6 Apr 2019 at 09:37

Touch-up paint and some polishing then call it done. Unless it's some kind of show car it's a bit pointless fussing over stone chips as it will be a never ending battle. You could spend £100s getting it fixed and the it happens again the next day.

Or plasti-dip the whole front end I suppose

Diagro · 6 Apr 2019 at 20:46

I found that I've had some big ones on rear arches. Which have surface rust on them now

Nasher · 6 Apr 2019 at 21:55

Dab some Kurust on them with a cotton bud and touch-up+seal

As long as it's just surface rust it won't come back.

Steedie · 6 Apr 2019 at 22:09

I went down to Mercedes this morning and picked up some touch up paint. Used a cocktail stick to fill what I could then touched it up with a couple of other layers. The biggest chip looks a bit rough where it was harder to touch up, but the smaller two are nice and tidy. Bought some 2000 grit wet and dry sandpaper and will go to town on it after 24 hours then polish it. Detailer has said he'll take a rotary to it if needed next time he works on the car but I'm confident it should look a lot better after I go at it

Thanks for the tips

Diagro · 7 Apr 2019 at 06:51

Steedie said:
I went down to Mercedes this morning and picked up some touch up paint. Used a cocktail stick to fill what I could then touched it up with a couple of other layers. The biggest chip looks a bit rough where it was harder to touch up, but the smaller two are nice and tidy. Bought some 2000 grit wet and dry sandpaper and will go to town on it after 24 hours then polish it. Detailer has said he'll take a rotary to it if needed next time he works on the car but I'm confident it should look a lot better after I go at it

Thanks for the tips

Did the touch up contain clear coat?

Steedie · 7 Apr 2019 at 07:36

Diagro said:
Did the touch up contain clear coat?

Yeah, but I wasn’t sure when to apply that? As surely if I apply it before sanding down, I’m just going to sand that layer off getting it level.

Steedie · 7 Apr 2019 at 15:25

So taking sandpaper to your paintwork is a little nerve wracking...

From the wrong angle, you can see a slight change in the reflection, but you have to be looking for it and know what you’re looking for.

It’s by no means perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than it was

[TW]Fox · 7 Apr 2019 at 15:37

Wow, amazing result! I'd be far too scared to try that :eek:

Steedie · 7 Apr 2019 at 15:42

[TW]Fox said:
Wow, amazing result! I'd be far too scared to try that

My detailer said not to worry about sanding, as anything could be fixed and he’d be happy to look and give it a go for nothing providing I hadn’t completed ruined it. So that helped massively, otherwise I’d have probably bottled it.

He’ll still need a pass of it with his machine polisher as you can see a shift when moving over the paint slowly where I’ve not been able to get 100% of it out by hand. But the result I wanted was that you wouldn’t see it unless. I pointed it out, and I’ve definitely achieved that I think.

tom_e · 7 Apr 2019 at 15:51

I bet your bum was twitching when you started sanding! Looks spot on bro.

Steedie · 7 Apr 2019 at 15:59

tom_e said:
I bet your bum was twitching when you started sanding! Looks spot on bro.

Definitely did. When I’d finished sanding and took a look, I was convinced that I’d gone too far and done some damage, looked horrific. But ScratchX and some serious pressure got the majority out.