Dr. Colorchip questions and my observations...

[bourmb1969]

I have a Rio Red 2017 SS that I bought in Dec that now has 4k miles. I have NEVER owned a car that had paint as chip prone as this car! In my short time of ownership, I have probably 25-30 minor chips on the hood!! Better late than never, but I`m going to get an Xpel clear bra put on the full hood, quarters, and front bumper in about a month. In the time being, I`m touching up the chips with Dr. Colorchip.

Here`s my question; my Dr. Colorchip touch ups look great when looking straight on at the front of the hood with my fluorescent light behind me shining towards the front of the car. However, when I look the opposite direction towards the front of the hood which is toward the light, I can easily see all the touchups as they are flat paint and dull compared to the surrounding shiny, factory paint. Is everyone else`s results similar? I installed a 3M clear bra scrap piece on a chip I touched up and I could still make out the Dr. Colorchip flat paint under the plastic. Does anyone dab clear on the touchups to offset the Dr. Colorchip flat paint? I would think dabbing clear on the spots would be counter productive to Dr. Colorchip as you`d easily see a clear dab. Thoughts? Suggestions? Recommendations from more experienced users?

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[rlmccarty2000]

It all depends on the color. Metallics are the worst. I’ve used Dr C on red Nissan and white BMW paint and the red came out great but the white is similar to what you described, a little dull. The best thing I can say is Dr C looks a hell of a lot better than an ugly chip or scratch and you may have to learn to live with it. Other than a respray or a pro touch up artist Dr C is the best I have seen. Sure beats those touch up pens sold at the dealership. Dabbing clear over the top would probably make the flaw stand out more unless you are adept in sanding and can get it absolutely flat. Good luck.

[Stokdgs]

In my experiences with that product, it has to be shaken up really good, and then you have just so long to use the 2nd bottle to clean up around the chip and it has what looks like thinned down paint in clear, that also helps the gloss part..

I have used this product on metallic paint and it has always been shiny and not flat..

I only use a camels hair sword brush that is a small sword shaped brush that comes to a very fine tip. It is only sold at auto body paint stores..
I use an either fast drying or slow drying thinner to wet the brush, put just enough paint in the chip to fill it precisely, and on to the 2nd bottle, using the same cleaned in thinner, brush..

If applied correctly with good, fresh paint, in that cleaned, dry, chip, the paint will flow out on its own, level itself, and dry if not monkeyed with, really nice..

I used to do this all the time in the Paint Shop to fix chips in vehicles that were not even part of the work we did on the car, to just help make the car look better.. Had extra paint, so why not use it to fix those little dings?? :)

Perhaps call the people and tell them what happened and ask them to send you out a new factory pack exact paint code bottle and to be sure it has clear somewhere in the process to make it match..

I know all about clear bra`s and have never had a vehicle without one for decades.. And of course because of them , I have never had to deal with paint chips on the entire front ends..
Lots of things hit the front ends and the clear bra has always been there to take the hit and save the paintwork..

When you get the touch ups sorted out, please leave a little time for them to dry good, because once the clear bra is in place, if it is ever removed the chips might come off with it..
Not a big deal because chances are, that clear bra is on there for a long time and you will never have to think about that possibility..

Good luck with this - call them... :) Perhaps it was a bad or old batch of paint...
Dan F

[rdorman]

Having used Dr. Colorchip, Langka, air and regular brushes I would say not to expect Dr. Colorchip to be invisible under close inspection. For any method to be completely invisible is situational and difficult at best. For a quick, easy to use and generally unnoticed (unless you are looking for it) the product works fine. As for a `flat` appearance have you waxed the area or taken a bit of polish to it? May, or may not, help.

[Accumulator]

bourmb1969- Welcome to Autopia!

What they already said :D

Some additional sorta-random thoughts follow:

-Metallics are *always* a PIA to match and hardly ever turn out right
-Different colors turn out different; what one maker does great another does lousy and vice-versa. It can take numerous tries to get the best match and the next color will be a different ballgame
-Red is a hard color to match, but with something as new as a `17 it oughta come close (how it`ll age, OTOH...)
-Even when the paint is a good match, for a metallic you might have to redo it over and over and..to get the flake right (my "good" painter redid three chips on my Jag for an entire *day* before he got `em right. Yeah, really, and he`s been at this since forever and is better than I am)
-Fluorescent lights are great for spotting texture issues (think "orangepeel") but pretty lousy for other types of inspection, so if something shows under those it might be kinda bad
-I`ve never tried clearing over DrColorchips as I figured there could easily be a bad solvent-action response and it was never necessary. That stuff is a little fragile as it is (and I apply/use/treat it like a regular touchup paint, none of that "smearing around" as I learned the hard way)