Airbrush, Dr. Colorchip or both?

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jbmeyer13

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Not long ago I had to replace the toe cap/cover on my 325xi daily driver. I ordered a new one which came primed. Obviously taking this to a body shop is an expensive proposition so I instead purchased the BMW touch up stick kit and thought I'd give it a go with my airbrush. I thinned out the paint (1:1) and was able to get a nice uniform finish. I followed up with the rattle can clear coat which was too coarse so I ended up doing it over by thinning and spraying the clear coat from the kit. The color obviously isn't a 100% perfect match but it's very close and the uniformity of the finish is excellent.

While detailing my 03' M5 I discovered some rock chips on the lower door panels/rocker panels and have been pondering the idea of using my airbrush to touch up these locations. However, I'm wondering if I should also consider other options like the Dr. Colorchip solution. I've heard about mobile repair techs that have used used airbrushes with seemingly good results but I can't find anyone local who's done this or any videos online.

My main concerns are time involved and quality of the finish. I want the best possible result but the time involved needs to be commensurate to the finished product. Since these are lateral panels using something like the Dr. Colorchip is likely going to require several attempts with light coats to obtain a level finish. The advantage of the airbrush is that the paint dries fast and can multiple layers can be applied relatively quickly but the downside is that you have to carefully mask off the car properly to prevent overspray contamination.

As for the finish, I'm guessing that anything sprayed is going to look better than something that's been dabbed and smeared.

All in all, I figure there are 4 routes I could go:

1) Dr. Colorchip only
2) Dr. Colorchip for base layer to fill in crevasse, followed by airbrush
3) Airbrush only; multiple coats
4) Bondo or putty to fill in the crevasse followed by airbrush

What do you think?
 
So I attempted to do exactly what you described with an airbrush and it turned out awful. The finish was very grainy and not nearly as consistent as following the manufacturers recommendations.
 
medicscott said:
So I attempted to do exactly what you described with an airbrush and it turned out awful. The finish was very grainy and not nearly as consistent as following the manufacturers recommendations.
Click to expand...

When you say manufacturers recommendations, do you mean with the touch up kit?

It took me three tries to get the clear coat right. The first time I did with the rattle can and that was horrible; then I did it with the airbrush and it was great but I dropped it prior to the clear hardening and it picked up crap in the finish. The third time around I used a heat lamp and let it dry for 3-days prior to installing on the car.
 
The best way to do it is to buy some 1k putty to fill in the chip, level the chip with some thinner like in this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jbu9GvQ7yKY another vid https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv5gTgA3OpM . I would go to napa and have the mix up the smallest amount of basecoat by matching it to your color code (shouldn't cost more then $20 bucks). I have followed the directions of darrelk post 2 to do small touch ups and it comes out great. u-pol fade out spray • How to Paint Your Own Car, Auto Body Discussion Forum & Videos • AutoBody101.com

Instead of fade out you can spray some slow reducer on the clear blend area. If your repairs are coming out grainy you should use some slow reducer so the metallics lay down right. Good luck
 
Just so you know without a good amount of maintenance clear blends can come back to haunt you. Make sure you are keeping a good sealer on the area after the paint has fully cured otherwise the clear blend lines will inevitably face back looking almost as bad as the chipping you may be covering up. You also need to be very careful when polishing in that area in the future.
 
apme123 said:
The best way to do it is to buy some 1k putty to fill in the chip, level the chip with some thinner like in this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jbu9GvQ7yKY another vid https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv5gTgA3OpM . I would go to napa and have the mix up the smallest amount of basecoat by matching it to your color code (shouldn't cost more then $20 bucks). I have followed the directions of darrelk post 2 to do small touch ups and it comes out great. u-pol fade out spray • How to Paint Your Own Car, Auto Body Discussion Forum & Videos • AutoBody101.com

Instead of fade out you can spray some slow reducer on the clear blend area. If your repairs are coming out grainy you should use some slow reducer so the metallics lay down right. Good luck
Click to expand...

So you are using the putty with a thinner from the Applied Colors video to level the defect; but are you applying the base coat paint by hand or with an airbrush?

Are you spraying the slow reducer prior to the base coat, after it or after the clear coat?

Just want to make sure I get this right:xyxthumbs:
 
medicscott said:
Manufacturer recommendations meaning Dr. Colorchip
Click to expand...

Got it. From what I have read the Dr. Colorchip paint is already thinner than OEM touch up paint so it would probably take a fair bit of experimentation to get it to work right with an airbrush. People have tried using the Sealact solution with OEM touch up paint and didn't have good results. It's likely a system that is best used as directed.
 
You can use lacquer thinner. 1k putty are just a thick lacquer primer. Here is how I do it from start to finish.

1. Spray the repair area with wax and grease remover and wipe with a cloth.
2. Sand the surrounding area with p1000-p1500. About 1 1/2 inch further out. I sand very lightly.
3. Spread putty over the repair area, after it drys around 30 min. Or you can speed it up by heating it a bit with a hair dryer or heat gun.
4.Level the putty with thinner using almost no pressure at all.
4. Spray a touch of base coat on the chip or scratch ( I use an airbrush with a .7-1.0 tip). 10 min later apply another coat and spread it out a bit further not going further then 1 inch.
5. Apply clear with airbrush not going further then the sanded area, 10 min later apply a Second coat.
6)spray reducer or fade out over the edges of the repair area very lightly almost like a msit.
7) after about a day I polish it with m105/205, some people like to lightly sand the area with p2500.
 
medicscott said:
As you can see here, the system works flawlessly if used as directed. Practice makes perfect
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/94358-lexus-hd-speed-dr-colorchip-save.html
Click to expand...

Those photos look very nice. I just found this video of Dr. Colorchip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0nDF1Y-1zU

This product seems much easier to use than traditional touch up paint but very hard to tell if the paint doesn't quite match or if it's the shadow from the sidewalls of the chip that makes the repair look darker. If it's the latter then it would be interesting to see what the results would be if the putty were used to fill in the chip and then the Dr. Colorchip paint were applied over the top. It seems to have the clear mixed in so it might work well.
 
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