I`m so afraid!!!

[joeint]

In early October I purchased a Black 2006 GMC Serria Crew Cab pick up. I detailed her with zaino and while doing that I found numerous very small chips mostly in the roof. I did find two in the hood, and one or two in a few of the other pannels. I took her to the dealer where I bought her and they seemed more than happy to repaint the spots I showed them. They said something about stripping and grinding.:shocked OMG stripping and grinding!!! What should I do, that seems awfully drastic but I don’t want chips in my new truck. If I get her painted what should I watch out for? What should I ask them to do or not do? What about overspray? I’m so glad I found this site.

[roadmaster_Tx]

In early October I purchased a Black 2006 GMC Serria Crew Cab pick up. I detailed her with zaino and while doing that I found numerous very small chips mostly in the roof. I did find two in the hood, and one or two in a few of the other pannels. I took her to the dealer where I bought her and they seemed more than happy to repaint the spots I showed them. They said something about stripping and grinding.:shocked OMG stripping and grinding!!! What should I do, that seems awfully drastic but I don’t want chips in my new truck. If I get her painted what should I watch out for? What should I ask them to do or not do? What about overspray? I’m so glad I found this site.



It is a normal process for a re-paint, they will have to sand down the finish, if the chips are deep enough to the point where you can see the metal they will have to grind it to take away possible rust that the chip might have caused, if there are not dents, they are going primer it, seal it, and the base coat and then the clear.

Just make sure they dont buff it out the wrong way, holograms, etc.

hope this helps

[Eliot Ness]

If it`s a good shop the repairs should come out looking fine. You might want to inspect some of the work they turn out first. Also ask them to be careful when buffing and hopefully you`ll have less holograms than normal. Overspray...... yeah, you`ll most likely have some, but it isn`t anything that you won`t be able to easily remove with some detailing clay (http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-clay.html).



If you have this done you don`t want to wax the new paint until it has cured.... I like to wait 90-120 days if possible, but they might tell you a shorter period of time. You can use a "paint-safe" glaze like Meg`s #5 (New Car Glaze (http://www.autodetailingsolutions.com/Meguiar`s%20Professional%20Polishing%20Products.ht m)) during this time, but you`ll want to reapply it often because it isn`t very durable.

[Hey, Moe!]

I would be careful about the finished product. There are so many "war stories" about dealer-caused marring that it is worth a close inspection.



Likely, they won`t get it perfect, and that is very fixable, but be on the lookout for the marring left from someone who has no clue how to use a rotary polisher.



You are not going to be able to do much with it right away. It takes a bit of time for new paint to cure properly. However, there are a few products that you can use on fresh paint.



"Accumulator" has posted numerous times on what you can and can`t do with new paint. His posts are very informational.



And, oh, I forgot. Welcome to Autopia! You are going to find a gold mine of information here. The nicest car-crazy people around hang out here.

[Hey, Moe!]

Hey, I just saw Eliot`s reply. It is good advice.



Good luck with your new truck!

[Accumulator]

joeint- Welcome to Autopia!



Sorry to hear about all the chips on your new truck, must be a bummer.



If it were mine, I`d do what I actually *do* do on my vehicles, namely avoid repainting if at *all* possible. You just open a can of worms that seldom results in the intended satsifaction.



If the chips are down to metal they oughta be treated with a rust converter or a primer (I prefer the former). Then I`d either touch them up yourself or pay a pro to do it (two painters I know are both incredibly better at this than I am :nixweiss ). Even these painters, who are basically turning away business when they do this, would rather brush touch chips than repaint the panels; I just went this route, at *their* insistance, on two vehicles at the extreme ends of my collection (...uhm I mean my "accumulation") of vehicles- my beloved Jag and my not-so-beloved minivan. In both cases the chip repairs, while not perfect, were IMO a far better idea than reshooting entire panels.



Seriously, give this a lot of though. I have entire panels repainted over chips fairly often, but only when it`s really required- like a front bumper cover with a zillion tiny pockmarks from years of highway driving (did this twice so far on my wife`s car). You simply can`t beat factory paint, and if it`s 99% factory paint with 1% touchups you`ll be ahead in my book vs. a panel that`s 100% repainted.



FWIW, in most cases I don`t even have chips touched up, I just wax/seal over them and don`t let them bother me. No problems and some of these have been like this since the `80s on a few of my cars. No, the chipped spots won`t rust out if you keep things well maintained (or the Jag would`ve had two rust holes in its hood years ago).