Key Repair-Step by Step Procedure

CoachBuesching said:
Rich,

Thanks for the reply.

My bumper is made of painted metal. Think of any F150 (or other truck), typically the bumper is chrome, but mine is black because I have a 2008 F150 Harley Davidson version.

I have seen both the Dr. ColorChip & the Langka system. I agree that the Langka system is good chemical leveler. My chips are pitted quite deep -- was not sure how well the Dr. C would work. I even have a couple of spots that are down to the primer coat / bare metal.

With that said, you believe Dr. C is the best option for a severe road rash? Or try the same method you did on the door panel -- fill the road rash with paint / let dry / wet sand / polish?

I'm just not certain how well Dr. C works, especially with it being winter.
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OK, good news on the metal bumper! Dr C will fill it if you do enough coats, no different than using touch up on it. The Dr C kit just comes with its own leveler, that's all. Kinda convenient. Their site only recommends that you fill the bottom of the chip. While that may make it much less noticeable, getting the paint level with the surrounding area will make it much, much less visible from different angles. As far as being winter, make sure you do this work in a heated garage, or at least in temps over 40°. You are dealing with paint and want it to cure and set up properly. Wait till Spring if that's not an option. Over 50° is probably much better now that I think about it. Do it once, do it right.
 
Rich,

Sounds great I will order some Dr. C road rash kit and will report back my findings.

Thanks much!
 
Rich,

This is very impressive for a b/c finish. A lot of body shops would just say "screw it" and do a panel respray and blend.

That said, I'm wondering if you heard any feedback from the customer since the repair?

Reason I ask is that I notice you instructed the owner to purchase some touch up paint which, if over the counter, is likely to be lacquer-based. If so lacquer tends to leads to adhesion issues when mixed with factory enamel and urethane coatings on a car.

In addition, the results came out very impressive despite not applying a clear coat application post base touch-up. As a result, I assume a major section of clear coat has been burned up and substituted with some high grade polish/sealant. If so, how will that hold up over time? I assume if the owner did not periodically wax or seal the area, the dullness would come back no?

Looking forward to your response
 
Stephen, this method using touch up from Cross Canada is one I have used for years on my own cars with no issue. I infer from your comments that the finish would be dull without a "high grade sealant" as you call it. Not the case at all! The compounding makes the whole area clear and glossy.
And, no, I haven't heard from them which I take to be a good thing. This job was a referral from a friend, so had there been an issue at a later date, I know I would have heard from him.


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So what happens to the clearcoat that gets sanded down. I realize that buffing it out gets it looking like new but what happens to that durable protection of a clearcoat? Do you rely on waxing the car in that situation?

Great job on the car btw.
 
Bare Bones Wash said:
So what happens to the clearcoat that gets sanded down. I realize that buffing it out gets it looking like new but what happens to that durable protection of a clearcoat? Do you rely on waxing the car in that situation?

Great job on the car btw.
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Good question.

The "idea" is to only sand as little as possible and thus remove as little clear paint as possible. FACTORY clearcoats are very thin so always use the least aggressive method to get the job done.

See the pictures in this thread for how thin factory clearcoat paint is....



Clearcoats are Scratch-Sensitive




:)
 
Bare Bones Wash said:
So what happens to the clearcoat that gets sanded down. I realize that buffing it out gets it looking like new but what happens to that durable protection of a clearcoat? Do you rely on waxing the car in that situation?

Great job on the car btw.
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To literally answer your question, the clear gets turned into dust and residue that runs down the side of the car. But, I`m trying to only sand the fill-in area, not the area of factory clear around it. Of course, you do get some of the surrounding clear, but you really try to limit that. This of course, is once again why I say DON`T DO THIS unless you have a paint gauge. And no, I don`t rely on waxing. There is enough clear left afterward. Let`s assume there wasn`t enough clear there to do it in the first place...then you would not sand it and use an alternative method like Langka, etc. Hope that helps.


By the way, I`ve got round 2 coming tomorrow for this thread....another key scratch repair. I`ll be linking it in my next post here.
 
That is downright amazing. Do you think this approach would work for rock chips on the hood? My daughter's car has an A LOT of fron end chips. I have never seen so many. Looks like a bunch of white specs all over the front end of the car. I don't like the cratered look of touch up paint, but this sanding method looks like it might do the trick. I definitely don't want to bite off more than I can chew, though.
 
sparkism13 said:
That is downright amazing. Do you think this approach would work for rock chips on the hood? My daughter's car has an A LOT of fron end chips. I have never seen so many. Looks like a bunch of white specs all over the front end of the car. I don't like the cratered look of touch up paint, but this sanding method looks like it might do the trick. I definitely don't want to bite off more than I can chew, though.
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Yes, or also using Langka. Check out this old job I did a few years ago. It came to mind as I did several different approaches on it:

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/13640-9-year-old-bimmer.html

Langka is a good alternative as is Dr Chip if you're not comfortable with wet sanding or it is not practical to do it given the location (close to an edge, etc).


And thank you Daemon!
 
Langka looks much less intimidating. Although, it seems a bit gimmicky. It has mixed reviews. I wonder what's in the "blob eliminator"? It seems like some type of paint remover. If I could find that chemical alone, I could probably do the same thing without buying that "kit".
 
sparkism13 said:
Langka looks much less intimidating. Although, it seems a bit gimmicky. It has mixed reviews. I wonder what's in the "blob eliminator"? It seems like some type of paint remover. If I could find that chemical alone, I could probably do the same thing without buying that "kit".
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Yes, Langka is basically a paint remover. The hard part with it is learning a deft touch. Too much and you remove it. It won't hurt anything though..the worse case is it removes what you did and you have to do it again. Once you get the hang of how to do it, it's pretty cool!
 
With Lanka, you only need to buy the blob remover. You probably have all the other stuff. IPA, sealant, credit card, etc. The cloth included is some type of felt, nothing special
 
Just ran across this thread. I just purchased the langka kit today. I read this whole post.

With all the advancements in gear and tools would you still use a rotary to pull the sanding marks? The reason I ask is because I have all the sanding discs in 3 and 6 inch. I have M100, 101, 105 and UC for compounds and I have the LC wool pads, Meg's 4 inch wool pad and Rupes 3 inch wool pad for the DA. I have a Rupes 21 and 75e. Will a combo of those compounds and pads be good to level the paint and not cause a lot of heat?
I don't have a rotary because I thought that what I have would be enough.
If I don't get the hang of the langka I was gonna resort to trying to sand it. Just wasn't sure if what I had would be enough.
 
Phimp27 said:
Just ran across this thread. I just purchased the langka kit today. I read this whole post.

With all the advancements in gear and tools would you still use a rotary to pull the sanding marks? The reason I ask is because I have all the sanding discs in 3 and 6 inch. I have M100, 101, 105 and UC for compounds and I have the LC wool pads, Meg's 4 inch wool pad and Rupes 3 inch wool pad for the DA. I have a Rupes 21 and 75e. Will a combo of those compounds and pads be good to level the paint and not cause a lot of heat?
I don't have a rotary because I thought that what I have would be enough.
If I don't get the hang of the langka I was gonna resort to trying to sand it. Just wasn't sure if what I had would be enough.
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Let me just make sure you're clear on something: there are 2 alternatives to leveling the touch uppaint:
1) Langka
2) Wet sanding

If you use Langka, you will not be wet sanding.
 
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