I am looking to add rock chip repair to my arsenal of services offered. I have tried several methods and have settled on the best one for myself. Now the real question - Do you buy the touch up paint for the customer's car and keep it, or do you have the customer come in touch-up paint in hand?
Logistics of Rock Chip Repair
- Thread starter subygirl
- Start date
I would do 1 of 2 things:
1] for starters get your touchup paint made at alocal body shop. The only real problem that I see with this is color matching, if you have to get it remade it would just be a headache.
2] I would look into purchasing a touchup system. There are several options out there, it just depends an how far you want to go with it.
PM me if you would like some recommendations
1] for starters get your touchup paint made at alocal body shop. The only real problem that I see with this is color matching, if you have to get it remade it would just be a headache.
2] I would look into purchasing a touchup system. There are several options out there, it just depends an how far you want to go with it.
PM me if you would like some recommendations
nonsensez9
New member
feel free to elaborate on your repair methods. thanks
Accumulator
Well-known member
Scottwax said:
Huh...you're lucky about that. No such option at my area's places.
subygirl said:
I've tried both Paintscratch.com and automotivetouchup.com (or at least the name is something sorta like that :think: Sorry, no links handy). Sometimes one matches OK and other times the other brand is better and sometimes neither one is very good. IME it's a crapshoot.
IME metallics seldom match all that great by hand/brush anyhow, though there's apparently a *lot* of skill involved as my one painter is incredibly good at doing them. When I do them OTOH, it's like they look fine from one, specific viewing angle, but it's hardly ever the right/normal one.
xtahoex said:
This is what I was planning on doing, and what made me curious about what others do. I have tried both Dr. Color Chip and Langka, and the process is very time intensive and I wasn't happy with the results (the paint would pull out of the chip after 3 IPA wipe downs and allowing varying curing times from 2 hours to 24 hours) Even if I got a chip repair leveled off appropriately, the surface looks very dull. I've tried polishing the area to make it shiny 2 days later and it just polished the chip right out. What I have settled on is using the finest artist's brush I could find at Micheal's Crafts and use a bottle of OEM touch-up.
If you buy the paint - do you often end up with a color that you use just once and sits there on your shelf the rest of the time?
Accumulator
Well-known member
Scottwax said:
Sheesh, I must live in some kinda backwater! Our WallyWorld doesn't have touchup paint, or AutoGlym, or, well....much of anything I'd want to use
I was just scoping it out the other day when picking up a "carwash brush" for use on the undercarriages of the beaters.subygirl said:
Good move :xyxthumbs Watch how small you go with metallics though, my 0000/00000 (four-oh/five-oh) ones are better suited to nonmetallic colors in many cases; they just don't hold the right quantity of paint to get the metallic effect right. Or that could be my skill level
Accumulator said:Good move :xyxthumbs Watch how small you go with metallics though, my 0000/00000 (four-oh/five-oh) ones are better suited to nonmetallic colors in many cases; they just don't hold the right quantity of paint to get the metallic effect right. Or that could be my skill level
I am using a 5-0 brush right now and had decent luck with a Mazda blue metallic. What size have you found to work the best for your metallic experiences?
Envious Eric
New member
they buy, i use, they keep
Accumulator
Well-known member
subygirl said:
Hey, if it's working well for you then ignore how things go for me
I'm very seldom happy with my touchups no matter what.Last time I tried this (GM carbon metallic from AutomotiveTouchup.com) I think I did best with a 00 . Sorry to be so uncertain/vague but I hardly ever do this stuff and it was a couple of years ago.
My worst results with the 0000/00000 were with BMW Byzanz metallic from Paintscratch.com and silver Audi-branded touchup paint. I just couldn't seem to load the brushes right to get the proper metallic element suspension, if you get my meaning. Made for very inconsistent results, ranging from best-ever to gotta-redo-again.
I bet the touchup paint in question plays a huge role in this, only mentioned my issues with the little brushes so you didn't run out and buy (only) the exact sizes that didn't work well for me.
RaskyR1
Rasky's Auto Detailing
Even if you do get the paint from the dealership there are always variances in the colors and I've never seen a perfect match from them. A body shop would be your best bet as they can at least match up some variance chips to the car and get as close as possible.
Personally I find touching up rock chips a waste of time as it's a never ending battle and the cars often look worse when you have touched up chips that don't match well.
I will do the work if the customer wants it, though I don't advertise it. I also use a fine tip hobby brush.
Personally I find touching up rock chips a waste of time as it's a never ending battle and the cars often look worse when you have touched up chips that don't match well.
I will do the work if the customer wants it, though I don't advertise it. I also use a fine tip hobby brush.
Accumulator
Well-known member
RaskyR1 said:
Yep, I've pretty much quit doing them on my vehicles too, though I sometimes give it a try if I'm feeling industrious.
As the museum curator said in that old magazine article, "Real cars have stonechips". IIRC, he was talking about the vehicles in the Alfa factory's museum, in response to a magazine scribe's surprise that they weren't perfect.
Frito Bandito
New member
FWIW the $20 factory victory red touch up paint was a horrible match, it looked almost pink. Funny thing is the $5 touch up paint I bought at Wal Mart was a perfect match.
If you don't do much touch up, just continue buying from dealerships and body shops. But @ $20 per bottle, that's going to add up! Plus you can't tint the paint if it's not a perfect match. Plus the road time spent shagging the paint.
As for light metallics...they never come out perfect. Doesn't matter who mixed the paint, who applied, who added "metallic suspenders" and used squeegees, airbrushes, paint thickener...doesn't matter. Just do your best and make sure the customer understands the improvement will be better, but not amazing.
Dark colors (metallic or not), solid colors (red, white) come out great, and you should always offer touch up of chips, scratches, and door edges.
There's 3 main kit makers:
Applied Colors ($1095)
Rightlook ($1995)
Detail King ($1695)
All of these kits allow you to tint your paint up and down until you get a match.
I've done lots of touch up. In time, you learn not to be a perfectionist because it just isn't possible. Just tell the customer you'll recolor the chips/scratches and they'll look a lot better from normal distances. Just like every reconditioning service, it's all about selling it right.
As for light metallics...they never come out perfect. Doesn't matter who mixed the paint, who applied, who added "metallic suspenders" and used squeegees, airbrushes, paint thickener...doesn't matter. Just do your best and make sure the customer understands the improvement will be better, but not amazing.
Dark colors (metallic or not), solid colors (red, white) come out great, and you should always offer touch up of chips, scratches, and door edges.
There's 3 main kit makers:
Applied Colors ($1095)
Rightlook ($1995)
Detail King ($1695)
All of these kits allow you to tint your paint up and down until you get a match.
I've done lots of touch up. In time, you learn not to be a perfectionist because it just isn't possible. Just tell the customer you'll recolor the chips/scratches and they'll look a lot better from normal distances. Just like every reconditioning service, it's all about selling it right.