Advice for small chips

[mvanbuhl]

I have a black 2001 with 27,000 mi. Obviously, black is great at exposing every minute imperfection in the paint and with 27,000 mi the paint is not perfect.

Recently, I had the help of Vytas (highly recommended) to work on my paint (clay-polish-touch up-wax) with great results. However, now that the car is really clean and free of swirl marks, the chip marks that are too small to touch up are very visable. The hood looks like it has dust on it, but when you try to wipe it away you realize it is paint damage.

I think the car is too new to have clear coat problems. Does anyone have suggestions for repairing? If re-spraying is my only option, what are the caveats? Does anyone have an idea of the cost to re-spray the front? Any recommendations for paint shops in Northern California?

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[DGibb]

I have the same problem with the hood and roof of my 1999 Milano Red Integra. I take very immaculate care of it but I cant fix these. I like to refer to it as "pitting", what appears to be dust all over the car in certain angles of light, but is actually damage in the clearcoat.

Ive been told that a new paintjob on those panels is the only sure fire way of getting rid of them.

 

[TigerNSX]

Auto Sharp Pen may work:

http://www.autovisuals.com/

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=23090

 

[autobody tech]

use a cleaner wax, then touch up the big chips with dealer touchup pen or brush. then use a color wax to help color in the small chips, thats about as good as it gets until the finish has damage enough to warrent the cost of refinishing.If you want perfection then spend the money on a quality repair and keep the new finish waxed with a quality carnuba wax, or your favorite product.

 

[Kinan]

I second the black color wax. Works great for me, too.

I also use a black permanent marker on the larger chips with some success. It doesn't fill them in all that much but when used with the black wax really helps make them dissapear.

 

[andyray1983]

Kinan and autobody tech - what brand/type of colored wax have you had success with?

 

[Kinan]

I've tried both the Duplicolor and the Turtle Wax in black, (the one with the black crayon).
Couldn't see using a crayon on my car and the wax didn't work very well either, streaked and didn't cover very evenly.

I've had the Duplicolor for a long time and tried to get a new bottle on Saturday but couldn't find any at Autozone or Kragen. I checked their website and didn't see it listed. Don't know If they make it anymore...

Duplicolor had real good coverage, didn't streak, shined well and was easy to apply and remove. Made all of the real small stone chips invisible on my black '92 and I could apply 4 or 5 coats of regular wax on top of it before the black started to not fill the chips again.

There are other waxes that definitely would shine better than either of these but but unless I was really looking for it I couldn't tell very easily.
I anyone finds any Duplicolor anywhere give a shout.

 

[coolnsx]

The Turtle Wax with color I used in the past washed out quickly. Does the stuff your using hold up to washing?

 

[Kinan]

yes the duplicolor held up well considering what it was. I used regular wax at least 4 times to the once I would use it.