galleryvw

While washing my car last night I noticed how bad the front of my car was looking with rock chips. Being a white car, they really seem to stand out, especially on the panels beneath the headlights and around the grill. They seem to show black - I guess it's down to the metal or some primer coat. Are there any fixes for this besides a total repaint of the hood? They show up around the headlights too, so I guess it would need to be blended into the fenders as well. I don't know if it's worth that kind of money for a car with 140K on it. Anyone here with an idea of what it would cost to clean this up a little in California? - SF area specifically? I would probably want to paint the grillwork beneath the bumper as well since that is looking pretty bad too.

E43

I have the same problem on my black car from driving on the Interstate a lot. I have rock chips halfway up the hood and around the lights on the quarter panels, but not on the front bumper because that was repaired from a prior incident. I got a quote from a body shop in Sarasota, FL. They claim a sand, repaint, and blend would cost over $800. Seems like a lot to me.

kevins e55

It could not all be rock chips. Some people who dont maintain their car not saying you dont dont get me wrong the front bumpers are pitted from bugs. If you leave bugs on your car the acidity will pit your bumper and eat away paint just a suggestuion to clean your car at LEAST once a week

galleryvw

c'mon - nobody here has painted their bumper and or hood?

I ain't buyin' it

zoink

If the rock chips are only a few and not big, you should try this: www.langka.com

Buy a touch up paint and clear coat yourself...

How I did was:
- Clean the surface
- Put the pre-paint that I bought from Langka
- Put the touch up paint (make it like a bubble to ensure that the "hole" is all filled with paint)
- Wait 24 hours
- Use the BLOB eliminator from Langka
- Put the clear coat paint
- Wait another 24 hours
- Use the BLOB eliminator from Langka again...

Amazingly, after couple days, you would hardly see that it has been touched up.

Hope it helps...

galleryvw

thanks Zoink, I was looking at their site - does the clearcoat come as a spray or bottle? It looks like they package everything - including the factory paint color touch up paint - was that true? I take it you were happy with the color match if that is so?


thanks

zoink

I didn't buy the paint and clear coat from langka.com. From langka.com, I only bought the pre-paint and BLOB eliminator.

The paint and clear coat, I bought the pen-type ones from PaintScratch.com. You need to give your VIN # and paint code (you could find it on a sticker at the driver's door pillar).

I never tried other sites... but for this one (mine is Obsidian Black), the color match is quite good.

seeksbcdestroy

On a white car (or any other vehicle without a metallic finish) the paint is single stage, which means there is no clear coat. Call a dealer for the correct touch up paint (other brands work fine as well). Clean the chips with some solvent and a stiff bristled brush and allow to dry. Fill the chip with paint and allow to dry, the touch up paint will shrink up to 50% so you may need multiple applications.

Alright the fun part, get out your bucket, a rag, a (hard) sanding block, and some 1000 grit paper. Wet sand the spots till you are approaching flushness, then finish it off with some 1500 grit paper.

Then get out your buffer, a polishing pad and some compound and buff the sanded areas. This is the only way i know of to properly repair stone damage, leaving a completely smooth and undetectable repair. Prep work is key, make sure the chip is clean and free of any wax or anything.

An electric buffer is available cheap off harborfreight.com, and you can find foam pads and compound at 100's of places online.. Once you can do this, you can really fix the majority of minor paint blemishes without spraying anything. The tools are not expensive by any means once you see the results.

Also, it is really easy to sand through the paint completely, or burn the paint if you run the wheel too fast etc. If you want some more details or product names, send me a PM

ZedStyle

this thread reminds me of something... hmmm...

https://mbworld.org/forums/off-topic/84417-i-m-so-fed-up-rock-chips-front-my-car.html

galleryvw

seeksbcdestroy - good rundown, I have most of that stuff on hand, I guess I'm in for a long weekend and a lot of beers in the garage. Are you 100% sure about no clearcoat though? Everything I've heard conflicts with that - seems like even the touch up paint sites have a clearcoat matched up with my paint code. My understanding is that ALL paintjobs have a protective clearcoat.


thanks

seeksbcdestroy

wet sand a corner on the bottom of the bumper to check, the panel, on the last mercedes i worked on may have been painted previously, but the mercedes touch up white came with one bottle of color, silver came with one bottle color one bottle clear, if there is a clear, just hit the spot once with the color, then fill the rest with clear, and follow the same steps

EClass_VIP

They usually do not clear coat paint unless it is a metallic based paint or pearl. Solid colors like black/white/red/ etc. can either be high gloss or have a clear and paint mix.

Richard / E320

I got my first chip in my '01; it's on the drivers' rear quarter panel. I think a rock got me from a vehicle that was in the left lane. It's smaller than a match head; the local body shop quoted me $1400!

E43

$1,400 for one rock chip??? That's ridiculous. At least my quote covered an array of rock chips.

patrick_y

The E in the garage has its front nose pretty bruised up with rock chips. I am a careful driver and I stay quite a distance aways from the car in front of me; thus, my car has been spared from most rock chips. However, another driver in my household is not so careful... Fortunately for her, she doesn't care too much.