Touching up deep chips in the paint

[William]

Hey! Bound to happen, I guess, but my Miata got broken into a couple of weeks ago. The thieves, being especially dim, didn't bother to cut the top (which needs to be replaced anyway) and broke a window. That's been fixed, but naturally there are lots of light scratches in the door, plus a few really deep, at least primer deep chips. The scratches I can buff out myself, but what's a good way to fix deep chips (I have a few bad stone chips out front, as well. That's what happens when the local roads get torn up every year and sent to the factory in Sweden for tuning). The MGB has a lot of bad stone chips as well, so I'll probably end up tackling that project. Any advice?

Thanks!
-W.

 

[screenprinter]

WIlliam - Deep stone chips are not easily remedied - If you're fortunate enough to find either a can or bottle of some touch-up paint such as "Dupli-Color" you can, very carefully fill the chips with a toothpick dipped in the paint. It's a patch job and as such won't really ever look good - trying to feather them out and respray is tough to do neatly.

Sorry for a gloomy prognosis - Cosmetics on Automobiles are seldom easy or fun.

Hope you work it out

Bob M.

 

[PC]

You can save a little time by filling the chips and deep scratches first, before dealing with the small ones. After filling the gouges you'll have to block-sand and buff anyway so you might as well save it for the end and do it all at once.

If you use touch-up paint from a regular auto parts store your chances of getting a decent match are just about zero. A dealer or paint shop should be able to set you up with the touch-up paint for the MX-5. Unless the B was recently painted with some new car's "off the showroom floor" color you'll probably need to get it matched at a paint shop.


PC.

 

[screenprinter]

I agree with PC's assessment of the order of events and that finding a match is slim. The dealer appraoch is probably your best bet, but if (as PC mentioned) it has been repainted with a non-stock color then you'll need to take the last approach- You can probably get it matched at a paintshop but they'll probably want ( or need) to mix you a pint or quart at minimum because their formulas can't easily be "rubbed down" into "Give me a Shotglass full" So if you're going that route have them mix enough so you have enough ( for a small car like a Miata 2 quarts of color should be enough after it's thinned to the correct consistency - 3 quarts if you want to have some stuck back for future incidentals) for a "Maybe" respray down the line - it'll never be cheaper than now. And if you love your auto like I do you'll probably opt to have her repainted to go with the uncut soft top ( sorry - the wiseass surfaces in me occasionally, but it was not meant maliciously - strictly for a joke!)

Sincerely hope you escape a full respray..

Bob M.

 

[t8nwa]

Another option: get your factory touch up paint and fill the scratches until you get the dreaded bump in the paint. This if left alone would look terrible. However, you need to get a product called Langka. www.langka.com

This stuff just plain works. I was astounded the first time I used it. Amazing stuff.

Afterwards, if you look really close, you might see some indication of the scratch. But a ten feet, you will not.

Alan

 

[Tim Tucker]

Thanks for the link...

and I thought I had surfed the entire internet...

 

[Basil]

[ QUOTE ]
Another option: get your factory touch up paint and fill the scratches until you get the dreaded bump in the paint. This if left alone would look terrible. However, you need to get a product called Langka. www.langka.com

This stuff just plain works. I was astounded the first time I used it. Amazing stuff.

Afterwards, if you look really close, you might see some indication of the scratch. But a ten feet, you will not.

Alan

[/ QUOTE ]

Alan, I'd also like to say thanks for that link! I have some fair rock chips in the hood of one of my non-Briotish cars and that product looks interesting!

Basil

 

[PC]

Note that Langka says; “You will need to purchase the touch up paint that matches your car... Your dealership or local auto parts supply store will have your paint color.”

If you read the details on their site it’s basically another way to block-sand and buff. Whether you use their products, Meguiar’s, 3M or whatever it’s the same process.

If you like to build really big blobs before flattening them out Eastwood sells a little razor plane to shave off paint nibs. They also sell a chip repair kit and some micro-brushes for chip filling.



PC.

 

[William]

Thanks for the replies. My Mazda is pretty beat up as it is-door dings, scratches, etc.-since it lives outside in all weather and is daily driven. I'm more concerned with getting the chips filled back in and looking halfway reasonable. Fixing stone chips is not something I've ever done.

As for matching the paint-the car is black. Finding a match cant be all that difficult.

-Wm.

 

[PC]

[ QUOTE ]
As for matching the paint-the car is black. Finding a match cant be all that difficult.

[/ QUOTE ]
You'd be surprised how many different colors of black their are. Your MX-5 is relatively new so it should be easy to get a good match.

Quite some time back a friend re-painted his black '79 Trans Am with Dupont acrylic enamel. Not even vaguely close to the original. Luckily he had to spray the whole thing and not just a couple panels. Parked side by side with a factory finish (PPG I believe) it looked gray. After that I started noticing different makes/years of black cars parked next to each other. The variety was startling.


PC.

 

[Steven]

i thought the same thing about white. There are a lot of different shades of white, and no matter how hard you try to match it off the shelf, it's always just a shade different than the original.