Question from @Vicious6: Well, I can pull this off but not in a the timely and what I would call a professional manner. What is the best way to do an expert job at touching up chipped paint from simply driving along and someone kicks a small stone or anything that chips the front of the hood, door dings, etc? I have wanted to get a small air brush kit to be used inside or to cover worn interior pieces back to factory looks...what do you guys recommend?
Answer from @Pete
Correcting paint chips is not as difficult or time consuming as most people think. The only time really needed are dry times for the paint. That’s also where patiences comes in.
Simple steps to follow for a good chip touch up.
First:
- Wash the area with soap and water. Make sure the surface is clean of any contaminants like dirt and oil.
- **Note: If it is a newer car with a newer finish then I highly recommend buffing the chipped area to bring the new shine back before the repair. If the surface is an older vehicle then buffing at this stage will not be necessary. Buffing the area also helps to see smaller unnoticed chips.**
- Use a wax pen to circle the chipped areas.
Second:
- Wet sand the area AROUND the chip with 2500 grit sand paper. You will only need a small strip (1” x ½”) of 2500 and a hard sanding block. Make sure to wet sand around the chipped area as that is where there are microscopic cracks that were created from the impact that caused the chip. Also, sanding around the chip helps prevent any more paint being removed from that area essentially making that area larger and larger.
- Use a lot of water when wet sanding as it cuts down on how aggressive the sand paper cuts which limits the amount of clear coat being taken off with each pass.
- Sand the area back and forth roughly 10 times and wipe off the water to see your progress; short amount of passes to make sure you do not burn through. You want to achieve a nice smooth finish with NO visible scratches. The surface should be smooth to the touch.
- Clean the center of the chipped area with a cotton swab and paint thinner. A very small amount with help clean the area and allow the paint to stick better. DO NOT let the thinner touch the un-sanded clear coat.
Third:
- You will need to get the car's color match with some touch up paint. Many dealerships or auto parts stores can get a match for you.
- Using the matching paint color of the vehicle take a fine point paint brush or toothpick and ONLY dab the area with the paint and brush or toothpick. DO NOT Brush on the paint as it will create drag marks and will create matching problems. Dab, Dab, Dab.
- Also, make sure to stay inside the chipped area with the matching color. This will allow for a smoother, flatter finish later.
- Note: You can mix the color and clear at this stage if you have an older vehicle and you plan to not buff the surface once completed.
- Allow to dry its proper flash time. Normally for a base coat it's 5-10 minutes flash time.
- You will need to repeat this step until you have at least 2 or 3 coats of matching color in the chips center. Remember Dab, Dab, Dab and not brush strokes.
- After the 3rd coat is fully dry you will see the matching base color will have sunk into the chipped area. This is good because that's where you want to sit the clear into the concave area of the chip.
- Next apply a clear coat (or nail polish) with a fine tip brush to fill in the chip area and build up to the same 2 or 3 layers of clear coat. Dab, Dab, Dab this as well and DO NOT brush it on.
- After the 3rd coat of clear you will need to make sure the dabbed on clear is sitting above the surface of the car. This is correct.
- PATIENCE HERE - Wait 48 hours min to make sure the color and clear have the appropriate time to fully cure. **IF YOU MIXED THE COLOR AND CLEAR YOU ARE DONE AFTER 48HRS. No scuffing and buffing after this step.
Finally:
- AFTER 48 hours of cure time wet sand down the little hump of clear on each chip with 2500 WET sandpaper. Sand down until the hump is even with the original surface.
- Finish it off the repair area with 3500-4000 grit WET sandpaper. This finer grit will take away all the deeper scratches the 2500 left behind.
- Once the repair area is flat and free of any larger scratches you will need to buff the area smooth.
And thats it!
Airbrush recommendation:
Make sure to use a Dual Action Gravity Feed airbrush. This will allow for smaller jobs at once, using less materials and less clean up. (Iwata NEO)
A compressor with ⅕ HP and oil less will do just fine.
Hobby Lobby normally has a deal with these together for under $150 and also carries any replacement parts needed for that airbrush.
Question fom @slowforty: How would I use a colored wrap to put a flame design on my 1940 Ford Tudor?
Answer from @Pete:
My Peel it Off Challenge entry has a breakdown of the process with pictures. Here is the link: Peel it Off Challenge - Sleek upgrade in less time than expected!
Our team has put together a great article on using wraps to customize many parts of your car. We will be publishing it soon and in the meantime here is a link for you to check out more info on the Vinyl Wrap product.
Question from @JJFerrero: I have a technical question that may be answered by someone that has experienced a similar situation. The project experiment and some back story: I have a couple of Model T engines and I am looking at possibly removing rust and freeing up seized blocks. I would like to clean everything up without having to re-babbit the main and rod bearings if possible. I would like to attempt to perform minimal machine work to the block. Also, I would like to do the work myself, and I am eager to learn more. Normally when I am faced with a project like this, I would break out the pistons, bake, blast, and boil the block to get it clean, fully machine the block (possibly re-sleeve), Melt out the old babbit bearings, set up jigs to repour the babbits, machine the new bearing surfaces, and reassemble with new parts when available. I would like to attempt a less machining-intensive approach as a means to practice for a future 1915 Oldsmobile engine rebuild that I will be working on. The Model T engines I can get replacements pretty easily if I should mess up my experiment, but the Oldsmobile engine is not as easy to come by. My questions below.
Question: Has anyone done this type of project without sending out the work?
Answer from Rust-Oleum R&D team: We checked around on our team and this isn’t something any of us have tried.
Question: Has the Rust-Oleum Rust Dissolver ever "unstuck" a rusted block (freed up pistons, lifters, and valves)?
Answer from Rust-Oleum R&D team: We don’t have any testing or data on this type of application.
Question: If I approach the block with the Rust-Oleum Rust Dissolver, what kind of surface finish will it leave behind?
Answer from Rust-Oleum R&D team: This is probably your biggest challenge. If there is pitting inside the cylinders, it will be removed, there will not be a smooth bore finish and would likely eat piston rings for breakfast or otherwise affect compression.
Question: If there are other "remains" inside the block, will Rust-Oleum Rust Dissolver remove those as well? (like any mice evidence in the water passages). I may play around with this and experiment, but I figure a little information on how to approach this problem may save me some growing pains. I do understand that I may not be using the product as intended, but I hope to push the limits of the product to see how it may help the automotive hobby - thank you for any assistance and opportunity that you can provide.
Answer from Rust-Oleum R&D team: It will dissolve rust and degrade organics but will not dissolve everything. One other note: It may not work well on oiled surfaces since Rust Dissolver is water based and not designed to degrease. If you decide to try this, we'd love to hear back how it worked!
Stay tuned for the next round of Ask the Expert responses!
