Torch

I got a couple of nice chips from a rock right on the roof of my C32. Ticked, but can not be helped. I sanded it down a little, got my silver factory touch up paint out and put it on. It is too dark, I fixed the area as best I can and would have been pretty good, except for the darker color. Anyone have an ideas about how to fix this better, with a closer color match? They gave me Brilliant silver and got it from the VIN and that is the color. Help....Thanks,

SoCal240/6

This is my first metallic paint car (Brilliant silver), and I can tell you, matching the paint for touchups is a bear!!

You can do it, though.

What you need:

1. Some very good, very fine brushes from an artist's supply store. The brush in the bottle is a joke.

2. Some paint thinner. The touch up paint is way, way too thick.

3. Some paper towels.

You take the paint thinner and put a small amount in a dish or something similar. Use it like an artist's pallet. You then put a dab of the paint next to it. Mix the two together a bit until you get a thinned down version of the paint. You need to experiment to get the right thinning.

Using the superfine brush, put a small amount in the chip. Let it dry a bit and keep repeating until it looks ok. You use VERY small amounts of paint.

Do the same with the clear.

Its hard to get it perfect, with silver metallic, but that method will get it surprisingly close.

Its the best you can do.

Torch

This makes sense, thanks. Going to leave it alone for now, but will give this a try when I have a little more patience. This changes the shade, right? I am printing it out now.

Harris

I just bought the touch up paint yesterday!

The parts advisor told me to shake the paint continuously for at least 5 minutes. Many customers have complained being too dark.....he said you have to shake it REAL WELL!

So, shake it baby!

Torch

5 minutes of shaking, wish my parts guy had told me that to start with!
when I am not tired and a little fresher and during the day, will work on both of these approaches.
SoCal - did you shake it up like this?

Torch

Good thread started here, may learn several different techniques to fixing paint chips.
I like this site, kudos to the administrator!

Harris

Don't you like my site? Although its small.....

Brian Yee

Fwiw, according to my buddy who owns three body shops in the SF Bay Area, silver(metallics in general) will ALWAYS look darker when touched up and viewed at different angles....Something about the light reflection off an uneven surface compared to the surrounding (undamaged) area. Unfortunately, there's no way to avoid this short of respraying the entire area.

Torch

Harris - I found your site from your sig. Never been there until last night. Yes, I like your site! (see post under any prob. with your C32)

Hate to hear that about it always being darker. What about the thinning of the paint? Thinking of removing what paint I have put in the chips and thinning the paint. Lightly put in the thin stuff to match the color and then after drying, build the spots up with clear. Is this a good approach?

Brian Yee

Aside from the chips themselves being very noticable, in this case the "cure may be worse than the disease"... With metallic touch ups, it has everything to do with the concentration and the consistency of the metalflake content plus how it lays in the chip. This is what causes the repair to look fine at one angle, and a crappy match from another. In my opinion, it's more work than it's worth to try for that "perfect" (?) match....After owning many silver cars over a twenty year period, I've given up long ago. I'm just happy to mix the paint to the best of my ability and fill the chips, being happy that I'm doing something to guard against rust,etc. Good luck.

bagwell

I have silver as well....I tried to mix the clear and the paint together and apply with a toothpick....way too dark.

just try the paint alone if you haven't already.

I used this stuff called Langka ( http://www.langka.com )
to get rid of the "blob" it works pretty good. don't expect what they push as you'll never be able to detect where the chip was. But at least the surface will be smooth.

good luck.

bagwell

I think Meguiar's is now making a similar product now.....

SoCal240/6

Yes, shaking it well is a given.

I've used Langka. Its a good product, but not really worth the $$.

This job is really more art than science.

Some other things I forgot to mention:

This is best accomplished over a period of days. Also, while you are working on it, if you get too much paint on, you can use the brush, cleaned in the thinner, to get it off or thin it down.

In between coats, you need to use a light polishing compound to smooth it down.

Once you get the chip properly filled in so that it is very close to level, you can "adjust" the color by using a very thin, diluted top coat. Ends up being a lot of thinner to a little paint.

You need to use high quality, very thin artists brushes. If you don't you will NOT get the best possible results. A toothpick isn't even close to being good enough! Not for metallic silver. (would probably be ok for white).

Is it more work than its worth? Probably, over the long haul. For example, I had 2 chips on one of the doors (luckily, no dents!). To get those 2 chips fixed right, it probably took me a total of an hour and a half labor! Spread out over 3 nights after work, using very bright lighting and the above procedure.

That is a lot of work. But, it is a pretty new car, and those were the only imperfections (I have xpel on the front end, so it is chip free). Also, I have experience with paintwork (once painted my car by myself), and enjoy working on my cars. So, I don't mind.

It is unnoticeable from almost any angle. Yes, from certain angles under certain lighting you can see it, but really only if know its there and are looking for it. A 95% improvement over simply blobbing some paint in there or using a toothpick. (I know because I first tried a quicky toothpick job on the chips, and it looked really bad).

bagwell

Yo ....SoCal...how much was the XPEL and how is it holding up ?

thanks !

Harris

I was looking at my chips last night, I found another one on the rear passenger door. Its a very tiny chip but I can see its turning brownish! Shall I just leave it and let it rust and bring it back to MB when it gets more serious? Or shall I put a coat of paint on it?

Also, what is "xpel"?

Thanks for yr help!

Brian Yee

After reading the numerous responses, I realize one thing is certain...You guys have a lot more time on your hands than I do... Perhaps too much??

awiner

NEVER let a chip rust !!!! Take care of it before it gets too bad. 3M makes a pen type device that will neturalize rust. I know that Griots Garage carries it. Once rust starts you will have problems. So, remove the rust one way or another and touch up the chip. I try to touch up chips on a monthly basis if need be to prevent any problems.

trench

After many touch-up jobs on silver I second the use of many very thin coats applied with a good paintbrush. This does give the best results.

An interesting point regarding metalflake - often you can tell if your car was painted in the morning or later in the day. If it was painted in the morning the metalflakes are larger due to having been put freshly into the sprayers. Cars painted later in the day usually have much finer metalflakes due to having been left in the shakers all day - which actually breaks the metalflakes into smaller particles. Another reason metallic finish cars often don't look good when repainted after an accident - it's almost impossible to match the flake size.

Good luck, BT

My new C230K is also silver - so apparantly I haven't learned my lesson.

SoCal240/6

I actually have very little time . . . but those chips have to get fixed or they will bug me, and no one else is going to do it or do it with as much care as I will . . . so unfortunately, like sleep, there is no choice.

I would not do it for my other, older cars that have chips. Too much work. But after writing a check for $37,000, I'll be damned if I'm gonna let those chips go!

For info on xpel, see xpel.com.

My kit was $199. I installed it myself (they tout it as a DIY thing, but it is harder than you might think).

It is holding up beautifully!

I had a couple of chips on the front end after a few hundred miles. I could tell that, for whatever reason, the front end was going to be hammered by 10,000 miles.

IMO, xpel (or one of the other brands, they all use the same Scotchcal material), is a must for these cars. It is a time proven material (having been used on cars for 20 years now), and it makes the front end impervious to chips.

And, it is pretty much totally invisible. In the year I've had it on, not one person has noticed it. I doubt in the life of the car ANYONE will ever notice it. It is that invisible. (I have it on the front bumper only, if you use the hood or fender kit, I find that those are noticeable. Fortunately, the hood doesn't seem to chip like the bumper).

I highly recommend it to those who are planning on keeping their cars for the long haul (if I were leasing the car, I would not bother).

Harris

Thank you Adam for yr advice.

viper

All metallic colours are notorious for being very difficult to match as any body shop will tell you. Perhaps this is the reason why a lot of people buy black and white cars. Very easy to match.