[BlownSierra]

I've got a fair amount of rock chips in the hood of my tb. After a compound and polish it looks good except for the deeper scratches and chips of missing / diminished paint. Do I just apply touch up paint, wetsand it even with the rest and compound and polish? Does gm use a 2 stage or 1 stage paint on solid black vehicles? Do I need to clear over the touch ups?

 

[Empire01]

I would also like to know. I've got some pretty good scratches on my truck, but I've always been scared to sand the paint.

 

[wagonproject]

You can fill the rock chips with touch up, but there is not always going to be a solid adhesion just because your not able to "sand" the chip. I would fill, let sit and fill again usually. Then various grits of unigrit until I got it looking uniform. Its risky as you have no way of knowing the thickness of the paint without a paint gauge (one of my next "big" purchases). Without caution or just thin paint to begin with you could be sanding into the base coat. I always tell people its a daily driver and its going to get rock chips/light scratches there's really nothing you can do. I will sand out scratches and guarantee there gone, but I won't guarantee that a rock chip is gone for good.

 

[BlownSierra]

what about making a sanding pencil and getting it in there? My biggest question is of the clear coat; if I touch up the areas do I need to re-clear over it? I have access to a thickness gauge so going through the paint is not a big concern to me, just the issue of going through the clear.

 

[a_guerrajr]

well you don't need to but, it might look off compared to the rest.

if it took of paint, then it should of knocked out the clear, since it's above the paint layer.

 

[BlownSierra]

Oh that was more vague than I intended. I'm talking about the area surrounding the chips.

 

[JoeR]

since its black, you can use a single stage to do touchups and that will be sandable. if i was a metallic color, you cant sand the single stage

 

[BlownSierra]

is there 2 stage paint on my vehicle from the factory?

 

[96texasz]

yes you have a multi stage paint on your vehicle you have a base coat, paint coat and clear coat. try searching for langka products (sp?) i have heard good things about them.

 

[BlownSierra]

would I be better off using their products as opposed to oem?

 

[96texasz]

you still have to use the factory touch up paint with the langka kit

 

[BlownSierra]

oh nice. I might just pick that up then.

 

[Mr. 960]

let us know how that kit works...I've alway's been curious myself. I just usually use a real fine brush from a hobby shop to fill the chip up. Then I lightly color sand with 2,000 grit paper to smooth out. It just take a very MINIMAL amount of sanding to smooth out the rough/high spots on your touch up. Usually, I don't even hit the surounding paint. Then I dab a small amount of clear on top. Once it's dried a few days, i rub it out with scratchX. This works good enough for me.


Mr. 960