Advice on paint chip repairs to black cars

[wemorgan]

Less than a month old my black car is already showing signs of paint chipping. Mostly on the front bumper as expected, but also a few on the sills and doors. All very minor in size, but several have gone deep enough to expose the white primer paint.

I don't wish to enrol the services of a professional, yet. I'll save this for when the car is returned from lease in 2 years time.

A touch-up pen works well enough for the front bumper as the many feature lines help to hide the imperfections, but the paint marks on the door would be very visible.

Can anyone please recommend a practical, economic and easy way to repairs these chips?

Does coloured Turtle wax with the chipstick work?

Cheers.

 

[Piff]

I've always used a touch-up pot, being very carefull not to put too much on, then using T-cut to blend it in.
Have to be careful, once on a dark blue car I rubbed too hard on a chip on the leading edge of the roof just above the windscreen & when through the paint on the edge
Haven't used coloured Turtle wax recently, but did use it on a Night Black A-Class. It helps, but not much.
We even had the paint thickness tested as we were sure it was chipping/scratching too easily.

 

[developer]

At MB Birmingham, various smart repair specialists attend the site.

It's unfortunate to be spending after such a short time, but I'd want it done properly.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Use a wooden tooth pick and build up over several attempts. Resist all urges to do it in less than three fills per chip - even the weeny - else you'll overfill and rush.

Then when you're happy t-cut/polish.

Might be worth looking at the 3M style transparent protection?

 

[Will]

I wouldn't worry about getting them professionally touched in before it goes back in 2 years - stone chips are fair wear and tear and they should not penalise you for this.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much but perhaps if you like it looking 99% perfect for the duration of your ownership just buy an MB touch up kit for the correct colour and touch in with a very fine brush or a toothpick etc for the tiniest chips

 

[MOCAŠ]

Black SLKs seem to be particularly susceptible to stone chips.

When going through the paperwork for my R171 I was reminded that when I bought it back in 2005 as a one-year-old car, the front end was heavily stone-chipped. The dealership said that they'd rectify it before I picked the car up, but after two visits from their specialist SMART repair guy, it looked no different than it did when I'd first seen it. The salesman I was dealing with agreed, and said they would instead pay for a front-end re-spray, backed up by a letter confirming that the work had been carried out to rectify stone chips:



When washing the car at the weekend, ready for its new owner, I noticed that there was noticeable pitting on the front bumper that was repainted at Tony Fowkes just a couple of months ago.

Mind you, paint chips I can live with. The killers are windscreen chips - picked up another one on the way over to Wayne Gates at the weekend, making three large chips in total, and a few that are too small to be repaired.

 

[wemorgan]

Thanks all.

Applying the paint with a tooth pick then cutting back with Tcut sounds the most pragmatic way forward.

I've tried using touch up pens before and I don't seem to have a steady enough hand, plus the brush seems to hold too much paint despite much wiping off.

I'm not looking for perfection, just something good enough to most people's eyes

 

[sspeed]

Use a wooden tooth pick and build up over several attempts.

Totally agree about toothpick method..
The first thing I do is to cut off the little brush that is affixed to the touch up lid..
I sharpen match sticks (The same principal as tooth picks)..
I also thin down the paint with cellulose thinners as 9 times out of 10 its way too thick (Maybe been on the shelf for years)..

 

[wemorgan]

I also thin down the paint with cellulose thinners as 9 times out of 10 its way too thick (Maybe been on the shelf for years)..

Cheers. Interesting idea. The paint does usually look too viscous as it usually comes off the brush in large droplets.