How to - Invisible Stone Chip Repair

ATC

Active Member
Messages
87
Having attempted this a couple of times on my Integra now, and recently picked up a couple more chips for the collection, I thought it'd be worth documenting my process for repairing stone chips and giving you an (almost) invisible result, especially having seen a few members of the facebook group asking about stone chips...

In short, there are three methods available:
1) Follow the instructions on your touch-up pen (not all that pretty, but prevents corrosion)
2) As per this guide - I've had some great results with this method
3) Respray the front end of the car (very spenny)

So let's jump to it:

Difficulty: 2/5 (Patience and being gentle are the toughest part of this!)
Time required: ~25mins per chip, spread over a 48hr period

*DISCLAIMER 1* - while in theory this will work on all paint colours, you'll have best results on the block colours such as red, white and black. Metallic colours will not allow such a hidden repair.

*DISCLAIMER 2* - this repair requires sanding your paintwork, which obviously can be pretty damaging. Always keep this in mind and sand as little as possible with very little pressure at all times.

Tools Required:
  • Wet/dry sand paper in various grits: 1200, 2000, 2500, 3000 (optional: 6000, 12,000)
  • Paper towel
  • Microfibre cloths
  • Washing up liquid
  • Sharp point (scalpel, cocktail stick etc.)
  • Polishing/Cutting compound
  • Optional: Dual Action Polisher and polishing pads

"Parts" Required:
  • Touch up paint (pick one which you think will look good ;)):
    Champ white: 08702WNH0HE
  • Milano red: 08702WR81HE
  • Nighthawk black: 08702WB92PHE


Step 1: Locate all the stone chips you wish to repair (it can be useful to stick a strip of masking tape next to each so you don't lose them). Give the chip and surrounding area a good clean with soapy water (yes, use washing up liquid - we want to strip the wax locally). The chip shown below is about 2-3mm across. Due to (lack of) light I won't focus on this exact chip throughout, but I will show the end result later.


Step 2: Grab a small piece of 1200 grit paper and let it sit and soak in some soapy water for 5mins. Very gently abrade the surface of your paintwork, keeping this as local to the chip as possible. DO NOT APPLY PRESSURE - you want to be barely touching the surface of the paint at this stage - your aim is to remove any high points and sharp edges around the chip.


Step 3: (Optional but recommended) Apply a small drop of rust treatment/converter to the chip (e.g. Kurust) and leave to dry. Make sure it sits below the level of the surrounding paint by dabbing with paper towel. Repeat step 2 once dry to remove any discolouration to surrounding paint.

Step 4: Clean the chip with a damp microfibre cloth one last time and grab your touch-up paint base coat. I've never bothered using the supplied clear coat that comes with the kit - clearcoating a stone chip just gets messy.


Step 5: Apply drop to the chip, ensuring it's fully filled and sat proud. I recommend only working on one chip at a time when working with the paint.


Step 6: Grab your pointy object (cocktail stick/ scalpel tip) and dip this in the large drop. As you lift it away it'll take some of the paint with it - wipe this on a paper towel. You can also use it to push the paint around and ensure the corners of the chip are completely filled. Keep playing around until the paint is just proud of the surface and only in the chip - work quickly as this stuff dries fast. Repeat for other chips. You want to leave the paint standing proud as it shrinks as it dries.


Step 7: Wait a couple of hours and grab your pre-soaked 1200 grit paper. Again applying just the weight of the paper, drag it over the chip until any excess is removed from around the chip. If you're lucky you'll have a perfectly filled chip and smooth panel (pic 1), or more than likely there will still be a slight divot (pic 2). Repeat step 5,6 and 7 until you have a smooth surface. Leave to dry fully for 48 hrs.


Step 8: Wipe the panel down to remove any dust that's arrived since you last worked on the car. Start to work through the sandpaper grits (always keeping these wet and well rinsed), using fresh water for each roughness. Aim to sand at 90 degrees on each pass (i.e. 0 degrees 1200 grit, 90 degrees 2000 grit, 0 degrees 2500 grit... and so on). Your aim here is to sand the minimum amount possible to remove the scratches from the previous sanding activity. As you work up the grits, gradually expand the area you're working on. Note that the smaller you keep this sanded area the less work you'll have in the polishing step. Continue to 3000 grit.


Step 9: If you have a dual action polisher and cutting compound, you can probably set to work buffing and polishing the area. I'm no expert on this, so you'll have to do what works best for you. I continued with the sanding, using 6000 and then 12,000 grit emery paper to create even finer scratches, as I was going to be polishing by hand. Now at this stage you'll be looking at your car thinking "for god sake, I've ruined the paint and it looks crap" - but trust me it gets better. As you can see below it looks smooth, but it looks dull and there's no shine to it yet.


Step 10: Polish - I used Autoglym super resin polish and a lot of elbow grease to bring the cloud areas up to a high gloss. This is where a proper DA polisher would come into its own. I needed to do several passes by hand to get it to a level I was happy with.


Step 11: Protect - apply your favourite wax, stand back and admire.



I will warn you this is a frustratingly slow process, and you've got to make things worse before they get better, but I think it's well worth the effort.

Hope this helps :)
 

Vteccin_teg

Advanced Member
Messages
166
Looks great mate, bet your well happy with that. Wouldn't even noticed anythings been done if you looked at it.
Great job. Great write up aswell. Bet your fingers were killing haha

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Marky.

Active Member
Messages
59
Nice write up on this. Given me the confidence to do mine in the near future!
 

JordanSuth

Advanced Member
Messages
225
Excellent write up. A local detailer always said to just layer up some base coat and not to bother with clear coat because if you get it wrong it can get messy. Eventually over time the paint might come out but well worth doing as stone chips are a nightmare on Hondas soft paint.

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Crackfox

Advanced Member
Messages
622
I just use 5k with lacquer mixed in. Put a zinc primer down, leave 4 days, add colour, wait another 4 days, level.off with Lanka.

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wocka

Advanced Member
Messages
1,088
Great job and write up, not sure I would have the balls to try it though


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ATC

Active Member
Messages
87
Thanks for all the positive feedback - glad it'll give some of you some ideas

wocka said:
Great job and write up, not sure I would have the balls to try it though


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I was so worried when I first tried it - especially as it looked like it changed the colour of my paint - turned out the whole car just needed a polish.
Key is to sand as little as possible and apply very little pressure - can't really go wrong then, but yeh - it's a scary step
 

Modmedia

Advanced Member
Messages
589
Nice guide. Done this serveral times and wet-sanded many dodgy panels on several, friends etc. cars, over the years and I must admit I had no idea 6000 and 12000 emery even existed!
 
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