How to Repair Automotive Paint Chips

Repair your car's chipped paint.

No matter how careful most people are, small chips in their car's paint job are sometimes unavoidable. These chips can be caused by salt on snow-covered roads, a grocery store shopping cart or a small accident involving an overzealous teenage driver. Before taking your vehicle to an automotive repair shop and paying a lot of money for a small job, repair the paint chips on your car's exterior for a fraction of the price.

Things You'll Need

• Automotive soap
• Water
• Bucket
• Hand towel
• Fiberglass pencil
• Safety goggles
• 800-grit sandpaper
• Car's owner's manual
• Touch up paint
• Small paint brush
• 1500-grit wet/dry sandpaper
• Small bowl
• Rubber sanding block
• Rubbing compound
• Soft cloth

Instructions

1. Mix together a few ounces of automotive soap with a gallon of water in a bucket.

2. Clean the affected area with a hand towel that has been soaked in the automotive soap mixture.

3. Rinse the soap from the car with plain water and allow the area to dry completely before continuing. It should take about 10 minutes for the car to dry.

4. Remove any loose paint or rust from the affected area by rubbing it off with a fiberglass pencil, which is a pencil that has fiberglass bristles on the end. Wear a pair of safety goggles during this procedure to avoid any debris getting in your eyes.

5. Wash your hands after utilizing the fiberglass pencil. Fiberglass can irritate the skin.

6. Remove any rust by rubbing it in a circular motion with 800-grit sandpaper.

7. Read your car's owner's manual to discover where the data plate is located. This data plate contains the car's color code.

8. Take this color code to a local auto parts store and purchase a bottle of touch-up paint that corresponds to that code.

9. Apply a thin coat of the touch-up paint with a small paint brush. Allow the paint to dry completely.

10. Continue to apply thin coats of the paint until the newly painted area is higher than the original, factory paint. This could require several coats. Once again, allow each coat to dry before applying the next coat.

11. Allow the newly painted area to dry for 24 hours.

12. Wrap a small piece of 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper around a rubber sanding block. Dip this sandpaper into a small bowl of water.

13. Carefully rub the sandpaper over the newly painted area, dipping the paper back into the water periodically to remove any paint that has built up on the sandpaper.

14. Continue to rub the area until the newly painted area and the factory painted area are the same height.

15. Place a small amount of rubbing compound onto a soft cloth and rub it into the touch-up painted area to give the car a more glossy appearance.

Tips & Warnings

• Apply car wax or polish to the whole car to help protect the newly painted area and to make the car shine.

References

• Auto Media: Paint Chip Repair