How to Repair Chipped Car Paint

Finding a new scratch or chip on your car's paint is one of life's frustrations. Finding the right touch-up paint can sometimes be difficult, especially if you have a factory applied "pearl" or similar finish. Getting something this small fixed at a shop, however, is expensive and leaves you without a car until the work is done. However, there is an easy way to touch up and seal nicks or small scratches; it doesn't cost much and should keep your car safe from rust spots until you can have it repainted.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Nail polish, one the approximate color of your car's paint, the other clear.
• Alcohol and either cotton balls or swabs.

1. Pearl and similar coatings give paint an iridescent glow or a fine, glittery appearance. The problem with matching metallic, pearl or other, special paint, is that it's sometimes not simply a matter of buying a can of touch-up paint. In some cases, you can't even find your car's color. Often, these paints are applied in layers and the pearl or flake particles are added separately in the process.

2. But all you need to touch up small scratches is a couple of types of nail polish. Nail polish comes in a wide variety of colors, including black, blue, green, silver and purple. The good news is many come with a pearl or iridescent hue as well as flat and it dries with a shine. You'll also want to get some clear or "top coat" type polish, especially if you're using a dark color. Dark colors tend to break down faster.

3. First prepare the surface. Gently brush away any obviously loose flakes, but be careful not to pick at the paint's edges or you'll end up with an area too large to fix yourself.

4. Try not to touch the area with your fingers or you'll leave oils from them and the polish won't adhere. Use a cotton ball or cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol to gently remove any road oils or soil from the metal. Let dry (this should take only a few seconds).

5. Add the color polish first, using the applicator brush that comes with it. Don't glob it on at once. Do it in layers, letting it dry before putting on the next layer to build up the color to the thickness of the surrounding paint. Then put on 1-2 coats of clear. Let everything dry thoroughly for at least a day or more and harden before washing your car. It may not be a perfect match to the trained eye, but it will look good and keep the metal from getting rust spots.
   
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Tips & Warnings

• Be sure and shake up the nail polish before using!
• When it comes time to paint the car, a body shop may use acetone to strip old paint. Acetone is also used to remove nail polish, so it will come off with the rest of the paint.
• Nail polish, especially using the clear topcoat is highly durable. We used some clear nail polish on an old car just to keep the spot from rusting and it lasted for years, although it did begin to yellow.
• Do check with an auto shop on whether they have your color of touch up paint. They can look up the color if you don't know the name. Obviously you'll do better using the real thing, but nail polish method works great in a pinch or if your color isn't available.

[godfather25]

on 9/2/2009 Very nice article on repairing chipped car paint.