Rock Chip..ugh!

[gregruns]

Hello,

I haven't had my 2013 RX350 for even a month and I found a rock chip on my hood yesterday. I know i'd get them eventually, but it still stings a little. I dabbed some thouch up paint on it, but I can still see it, have to look pretty hard for it, but still there. Anyone here have any rock chips on their vehicle and did you just put some touch up paint on it and move on?

[LEXIRX330]

Yea...it stinks but you will get them. If it bothers you that much you can take some touch up and then re-apply to fill it, you may want to do it a few times, let it dry, then re-apply until it is slightly built up. Then you can if you are comfortable after it has dried well take fine grit sand paper and wet and sand down extremely lightly. Afterwards you can take some scratch remover and get the scratches out I use Scratch X. Just be careful not to sand to hard and use a fine grit paper. I have done this on my Harley, on my Lexus I have a small chip that I just noticed...I may just use a touch up pen which works good too.

By the way Welcome to LOC...make sure to show us some PICS of the car...you can include the chip too. We all love to vent about that type of stuff!

[gregruns]

Thank you, I appreciate your reply.

[cduluk]

I agree with LexiRX330. Once a day keep adding a layer of touch-up until the touch-up is "raised" just higher than the surrounding undamaged paint (the touch-up will be like a little mountain). Then let it dry a week or so. After a week, buy a piece of 2000 grit sandpaper and get a little wooden block (around the size of 2"x3"x.75"). Cut the paper bigger than the block and wrap one side of the block with the sandpaper. Wet the sandpaper (water is used to prevent the paper from getting clogged up) and lightly (with as little pressure as possible) sand over the mountain of touch-up until it's level with the surrounding paint. You MUST block-sand a chip,. This is a MUST. You can't just fold the sandpaper and start sanding the chip. Using the block creates equal pressure. You only want the mountain to be sanded down level. Without the block, the surrounding un-damaged paint will get sanded down too much and possibly burn through to the color coat.

Do what this guy's doing at 55 seconds. This is block sanding (you're just doing it to the clearcoat).

After the mountain of touch-up is sanded down level with the surrounding area, buy some Mequiar's "Ultimate Compound" or 3M's "scratch Remover". Get an old sock or T-shirt, put some of the compound on it, and rub the painted finish. After a while, the "dullness" of the paint will turn shiny.

Good luck! :)

[GymW]

Be sure and let the dealer do it as they have experts. That is what they will tell you and charge you an outrageous amount to do it. I had mine do one under warranty. He took out a touchup bottle, like you get at the parts department and used the internal brush to dab on a glob of paint. That was it. Afterwords I redid it myself using some of the above techniques. The key thing here is to be patient and use several thin coats over several days, letting each coat dry completely. Don't forget the clear coat, available for purchase at most auto supply stores. Don't apply it until you have smoothed down the paint first. With my redo, and little to no experience, following such techniques, you can't tell the chip occurred unless you know where it occurred and rub you finger over the spot to feel the slight difference in the paint. Set your expectations properly. No such repair will ever be perfect, even if done by a professional. If you want a perfect repair, be prepared to pay to have the whole panel color matched and repainted professionally. Like it or not paint changes color with age. No touchup color will ever be a perfect match to current color of your car. Close is the best it can be.