Repairing stone chips on opti gloss coat surface

jimbob

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Greetings all. I have a opti gloss coated car which unfortunately suffered a couple of small stone chips. I've filled the chips with some touch up paint and put a coat of clear over it. However I'm now left with raised visible areas where the touch up was applied.

After some research my plan was to sand down these areas with some 2000 grit then maybe 3000, followed by compound then polish.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be aware of or anything I need to do differently given the car is coated?

Ps, I'm aware I'll prob lose the coating in the areas that's being sanded/compounded/polished. I've got some 4" pads which should hopefully keep this to a minimum.

Thanks! Looking forward to being a member of this community.
 
Greetings all. I have a opti gloss coated car which unfortunately suffered a couple of small stone chips. I've filled the chips with some touch up paint and put a coat of clear over it. However I'm now left with raised visible areas where the touch up was applied.

After some research my plan was to sand down these areas with some 2000 grit then maybe 3000, followed by compound then polish.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be aware of or anything I need to do differently given the car is coated?

Ps, I'm aware I'll prob lose the coating in the areas that's being sanded/compounded/polished. I've got some 4" pads which should hopefully keep this to a minimum.

Thanks! Looking forward to being a member of this community.

you'll definitely crush the coating as soon as you touch it with any grit paper...or compound. even possibly polish, depending on the product/pad and how long you work it.

be EXTREMELY careful when sanding. is this a factory finish? try to find a technique that makes the most sense to you to spare the surrounding paint whilst actually knocking down the touched up clear spot. it's very easy if you don't do it right to start to sand down the spot but end up blasting right through the surrounding clear in a heartbeat, depending on the car. this is why nowadays i'll just polish the area to smooth what i can, clean the area, esp inside the chip, fill with base carefully then top with clear so it's basically right at the same level as the surrounding paint. this is all technique, tool and product sensitive, and many times requires trial and error, but it's what i do because i am not a fan of sanding like this, esp. on factory paint and ESP on factory paint that is notoriously thin. it can get really hairy really fast.

i personally haven't experienced JUST re-coating a spot, and i don't know specifically how Gloss-Coat is with re-coating just a spot...but what i've always done when i've had to chase after something and blown through the coating, i finish polish the rest of the panel and then re-coat the entire panel, new spot included (obv).

BTW i had to do a chip repair and re-coat on my car's hood and i made this vid to show what it looks like when you remove a small area of coating - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0z1AdX1doU&list=UUwaK2aiEquLiOvkzHAfgC5g
 
Thanks for that video mate. I can definitely see a discernible kind of patch that you're alluding to. Was that patch there just from the moisture of the opti clean or was that the paint finish it self? ie. I'm worried the area where the coating is removed by sanding and polishing will stand out and look aesthetically displeasing compared to the surrounding paint. Was it noticble when you were doing your polishing?
 
Also, I just recalled a video from larry at ammo nyc when he sanded down stone chips by hole punching a small bit of sand paper and gluing that on the fat end of an eraser pencil and using that . That way you are only sanding down a very very small area.

Might be helpful for others in my situation.

I might give that technique a try and hopefully by minimising the amount of paint being sanded I can get away with just a quick pass of light polish and preserve as much coating and clear coat as possible.
 
Bullit-
I am not quite following on how do you know if the coating is removed? Can you explain further? I have cquk '14 on my truck but will need to remove it in the spring as its getting pretty beat up from highway drivng daily
 
I believe you'd be able to tell as moisture and water will behave differently on the car once it's removed compared to when the coating is there since the hydrophobic layer is gone. (no more quick sheeting and tight beating)

My question for bullit, or anyone else who may know is: if I were to spot polish a patch on the hood of just where I repaired the chip, would this area "pop" or "stand out" from the surrounding paint where the coating is still untouched and intact?
 
I believe you'd be able to tell as moisture and water will behave differently on the car once it's removed compared to when the coating is there since the hydrophobic layer is gone. (no more quick sheeting and tight beating)

exactly. basically i wiped that whole area with opti-clean but the patch where the coating had been polished off (bare clear coat) showed the moisture from the opti-clean in a much different way than the surrounding area.

My question for bullit, or anyone else who may know is: if I were to spot polish a patch on the hood of just where I repaired the chip, would this area "pop" or "stand out" from the surrounding paint where the coating is still untouched and intact?

it was NOT noticeable without some sort of moisture present to show the difference vs. the surrounding Opti-Coated area however...it might have been in other lighting conditions outdoors or something. or maybe not, esp. with silver/gray...but maybe with other colors or other coatings. i hear about how CQ tends to darken the finish somewhat on certain colors so maybe a bare spot there would look different. Gloss-Coat is definitely a different animal that Opti-Coat in feel and application so it very well might be able to offer a different look than bare, polished clear coat. i still can't believe how slick Gloss-Coat is. it's WACKY slick.
 
Sigh. Might have to polish the whole hood and re coat :((
 
Sigh. Might have to polish the whole hood and re coat :((

it's Gloss-Coat and OPT says it can be layered. i'd just either 1. finish polish the whole hood (just enough to give the cured existing GC some bite for the new coat) and re-coat it all or 2. finish polish a bit past the area where you removed the coating and re-coat that general area and see what happens. or 3. just re-coat the area where you removed the coating and overlap the surrounding area a bit with the coating. if it looks ok and seems to behave the same as the rest of the coated hood over time, then you figured out a shortcut for the next guy in your shoes ; )
 
it's Gloss-Coat and OPT says it can be layered. i'd just either 1. finish polish the whole hood (just enough to give the cured existing GC some bite for the new coat) and re-coat it all or 2. finish polish a bit past the area where you removed the coating and re-coat that general area and see what happens. or 3. just re-coat the area where you removed the coating and overlap the surrounding area a bit with the coating. if it looks ok and seems to behave the same as the rest of the coated hood over time, then you figured out a shortcut for the next guy in your shoes ; )

Oh? Gloss -Coat is layerable? Do you have any links for this builthatch? I've been trying to find info on this to no avail. It'd be such a waste to buy a 10cc syringe of the stuff just for a patch on the hood or even for the whole hood. I'd have thought if the coating was so slick the second coat would not be able to "grab on" to the first coat? Perhaps a light polish to give it some bite as you said would be essential?

And yes, i will report back with results when i get around to doing this project for the next unfortunate person in my shoes! :P
 
Hi!! Just wanted to update everyone on my progress.

Wetsanded with 2500 and 3000 grit sandpaper then polished with orange LC light cutting pad then white polishing pad, both with optimum polish ii. The process did seem to remove some of the opti gloss coat as the area I worked on did not feel as slick as the surrounding areas. I did not test the areas with moisture as I was working under time constraints. But I'm sure we'll see the results next time I rains.

Its interesting and good to know though that visually and aesthetically there weren't any adverse outcomes despite some opti gloss coat being removed. And this is on a black car.

On a separate note on the job I did, I felt I could have went further with sanding down the stone chip repair but being my first time doing this I was so nervous about going through the clear and colour. Overall it looks improved and I might go back in the future and refine it. There was some micromarring, presuming from the cutting pad which is visible from certain angles under the right light which did the polishing pad didn't remove which a) I'd probably put down to my technique b) were leftover sanding marks and I should have used a compound first.

All in all a good learning experience and hopefully helps the next poor bugger that faces my predicament!!!
 
Hi again!! Just want to give everyone yet another update. Went over the area in question with some optimum compound and a LC 4" orange pad and followed up with optimum polish ii on a white pad....

The hazing mentioned in the previous post is GONE!! Furthermore the compound seemed to have knocked off some of the excess clear coat from my touch up. So it blends in so much better now. Very happy with the results!!!
 
Greetings all. I have a opti gloss coated car which unfortunately suffered a couple of small stone chips. I've filled the chips with some touch up paint and put a coat of clear over it. However I'm now left with raised visible areas where the touch up was applied.

After some research my plan was to sand down these areas with some 2000 grit then maybe 3000, followed by compound then polish.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be aware of or anything I need to do differently given the car is coated?

Ps, I'm aware I'll prob lose the coating in the areas that's being sanded/compounded/polished. I've got some 4" pads which should hopefully keep this to a minimum.

Thanks! Looking forward to being a member of this community.

The hood of my car is in the shop being re-repainted (1st repair blistering) at this very second after I did what your planning to do. (Sanded right through the factory clear!) Now I dab a little paint into a chip, walk away and get the hell on with my life.
 
Ha!! Wish I could do the same, would make my life a lot easier. Too OCD
 
It's a little late for this to be useful to you now, but it might be helpful in the future if you ever have to repeat this process. I've done a million chip and scratch repairs using a base (color) coat and a two-component urethane clear coat similar to the one discussed here.

When filling the chip/scratch/or other defect with the clear coat, do it in several thin applications rather than trying to do it all in one shot. Each time you dab some clear into the chip, remove any excess by "squeegeeing" or "slicing" with the edge of a credit card or something similar. If you are really careful, and this is what I use if I'm working on a flat enough area, you can use a single edge razor blade once the clear starts to "set" but before it is completely hardened. By doing this you'll minimize the raised area and the subsequent sanding that will be required.

Each coat of clear will shrink a bit as it cures so this needs to be done over several hours, or even days. Just keep repeating the process until you've filled the defect, while minimizing any excess. When you're done, after several hours or the next day, give the area a preliminary sanding and polish. Then in a week or two, after the clear has had a reasonable cure time (and has probably shrunken slightly), give the repair a final sanding and polishing.

Following this process will yield a virtually undetectable repair, especially on solid colors. Metallics are another story although even they can be done reasonably well.

As for the opti gloss coating, I have no experience there.
 
Hang on, so you dab in colour then clear right?

Also with using the credit card to squeegee the excess colour /clear, aren't you spreading the paint to surrounding healthy paint? I'm picturing it being messy in my head.
 
Also, I think where I went wrong is when you actually apply the clear. I pretty much filled the chip with colour all the way then topped up with clear, leaving noticeable excess blobs.

Am I correct in saying I should have filled the chip enough with colour but just below level. Then filled in the remaining with clear? Then from there sand, polish etc.
 
Hang on, so you dab in colour then clear right?

Also with using the credit card to squeegee the excess colour /clear, aren't you spreading the paint to surrounding healthy paint? I'm picturing it being messy in my head.

You are visualizing this correctly... Yes you do spread the paint to the surrounding healthy paint but the "spread" is easily removed with a q-tip and a little solvent before it dries/cures.

Also, I think where I went wrong is when you actually apply the clear. I pretty much filled the chip with colour all the way then topped up with clear, leaving noticeable excess blobs.

Am I correct in saying I should have filled the chip enough with colour but just below level. Then filled in the remaining with clear? Then from there sand, polish etc.

You are correct again. When I do this type of repair I only apply a minimal coat of color to the defect, well below the surrounding surface, then use the clear coat to finish the "build". If you completely fill the defect with color, then apply the clear, you will sand right through the clear and expose the base coat when doing your final leveling.

I have a step-by-step procedure I wrote for another motorcycle forum. I don't have time to dig it up right now but I'll try to find it and post it here later today.
 
I have a step-by-step procedure I wrote for another motorcycle forum. I don't have time to dig it up right now but I'll try to find it and post it here later today.

Here you go...

Paint Chip Touch-Up

I'm an old body shop and paint guy. Don't do it any more but did a lot of custom cars and bikes back in the 1970 – 2000 time frame.

The best process I've found for touching up chips on BC/CC finishes (short of repainting the entire panel) is this...

1) Using the edge of a razor blade or Exacto knife, test the margins of the chip for adhesion and carefully chip/trim away any paint that is not firmly adhered to the substrate.

2) Clean the damaged area using a swap and solvent. Enamel reducer or alcohol is my solvent of choice as it will not damage the existing painted surface.

3) Using a fine tip artist’s brush, dab the chip with the appropriate color. Do not try to make the color coat flush to the existing painted surface - you need room for the clear-coat. Minimize any application of paint outside the margin of the chip being repaired. If you do exceed the margin, clean away the excess as described below in step 6). As with most paint applications, multiple thin coats/layers are preferred over a single heavy coat.

4) Allow the color coat to dry thoroughly. It will shrink a little as it dries and if you did step 3 correctly the touched-up color surface will be lower than the existing paint surface.

5) Carefully clean away any remaining excess color that may have exceeded the margin of the chip. If you're really careful a new and sharp single edge razor blade works well. Very fine (i.e., 1500G) wet-or-dry sandpaper is another option.

6) Again, using your artists brush, apply the clear coat in thin coats until the chip is filled flush or slightly higher than the existing paint surface. As in step 3), minimize exceeding the margins of the chip. Where you do exceed the margins or your paint build is too high, squeegee or slice away the excess using the edge of a credit card, a single edge razor blade, or a swab dampened with an appropriate solvent. Any smeared paint resulting from squeegeeing can also be removed with a swab dampened with an appropriate solvent, or with a light sanding once dried. Slightly exceeding the margins with the final coat is acceptable, and even desirable, as long as it’s a very thin coat. Allow to dry thoroughly between coats and overnight or longer for the final coat.

7) Wet sand the repaired area with 1500G wet-or-dry paper.

8) Polish the repaired area.

It takes some time and patience, but done correctly, this process will yield a virtually undetectable repair on solid colors such as black, white, red, etc. Other colors such as metallics, pearls, etc., are more difficult because it's very difficult to match the lay of the metallic when touching-up with a brush.

All of the materials needed including the paint can be obtained at most automotive paint supply stores.

Hope this might help some of you in the future.
 
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