How to Professionally Repair Chipped Paint on a Car

No matter how much you baby your car, even if you park it at the far end of the lot all by itself and walk the extra distance into the store, whether you keep it in the garage or outside, somebody is going to open a door too wide and chip off a little paint from your car. Or a rock is going to fly up from a truck tire and take a piece out of your hood. After a few years, almost any car is going to have a few chips here and there. Thankfully, there is a way to repair the damage.

Things You'll Need

• Razor blade (single edge or razor knife) Steel wool Touch-up paint Small artist brush Primer (if there is rust) Cotton cloth Paper towel

Instructions

1. Inspect each chip you are going to repair carefully and slowly. The more patience and care to take with this repair, the better the results. Become familiar with the chips and think ahead before starting the work.

2. Buy the right touch-up paint. You need a perfect match. The best place to get the right paint is at a dealership where your car brand is sold. You will often have to order it, but you can probably get it in about a week or less.

3. Prepare the chip or chips you are going to paint before starting. If there is any rust, you must remove it before starting. This is very dangerous so take your time and make sure you don't damage any of the paint around the spot. You may need to mask around the spot, but don't make it any larger. Rub out the rust with the steel wool using a tiny piece on the tip of your finger.

4. Apply a very thin coat of primer to the metal where you have removed rust. Make sure the brush is almost completely dry. Use only a small amount of primer on the tip of the brush.

5. Prepare chips that are not rusted by very gently rubbing into the spot with the steel wool. Make sure you do not touch any paint around the spot, which is very difficult if the spot is small. But you can roll up a small piece of the steel wool and twist it slowly in the spot to prevent it from scratching any paint around the spot. Your objective is to clean out the chip and remove any loose material.

6. Bevel the sides of the chip using the razor blade. Almost microscopically go over the edge around the chip at a steep angle, being careful not to increase the size of the opening. Your purpose is to remove any paint that is hanging slightly over the edge of the chip.

7. Shake the touch-up paint following the directions. Remove the application brush from the bottle and wipe off most of the paint by running the brush on a paper towel. Once you have removed almost all paint from the brush, test how much paint will rub off when you apply the tip of the brush to the paper towel or other surface. You cannot afford to get this wrong, so take your time, and never do this when you are in a hurry.

8. Apply the tip of the application brush to the bottom of the chip once you have determined how to apply the minimum amount of paint with a stroke of the brush. Only apply a very thin coat that does not fill up the chip.

9. Allow the thin coat of paint to dry according to the directions---probably 24 hours.

10. Apply another very thin coat of the touch-up paint to the same chip (or chips) the next day.

11. Continue applying thin coats until the chip cavity is level with the rest of the finish. This could easily take 20 or more applications to build up the chip layer after layer if it is a deep chip---but never less than several coats.

12. Begin applying your car paint treatment to the spot after at least a month so that the repair can properly cure.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider this repair to be a surgery, and you need to take similar pains to prevent further damage.

• Never dab a wet touch-up paint application brush into a paint chip. You will end up with a convex drop that won't match the finish and will stand out only slightly better than the chip.