Repair stone chips
Written by: Vinnie van Rooij
When you have stone chips, you probably want to fix it. However, it is not like you can just spray paint your car again. Certain stone chips are more easy to repair then others. With a lot of practice, it can give a very good end result.
Where do stone chips come from
Stone chips are very common on cars. Just be driving on the road you can fairly easily get stone chips. If the car in front of you drives over a small stone, it can ‘throw’ the stone backwards. The stone is going the opposite direction of you, the impact of the stone with the car is “speed car + speed stone”. This increased speed causes the stone to easily inflict serious surface damage. The rough and hard stone will literally chip away a piece of the paint. Leaving a small hole in your paint.
The risk when not treated
When a stone chips isn’t repaired, it can result in small patches of rust that can get underneath the paintwork. Besides the fact that the surface isn’t 1 smooth whole anymore. The chip can start to trap dirt, because of the shape of the hole, it is difficult to clean it properly. The dirt can over time start to damage to surrounding paintwork.
A guide into stone chip repair
The guide below isn’t the only and/or perfect way of repairing stone chips. But it will give you a good point to start with. The most perfect technique depends on the size of the damage, the place and depth of the damage and what you are trying to repair (colored paint or clear coat).
- Wash the area thoroughly
- Clay the area properly
- You can use a cotton stick to try to clean out the hole as good as possible
- If you have experience with wetsanding, you can wetsand the surrounding area
- Very carefully wax the surrounding area, but take great care that NO wax gets into the hole (the wax will prevent any paint from sticking to the surrounding area)
- Use a very small brush (a nail art brush is very suitable for this) to drop a very small drop of paint into the hole
- Try it with as little paint as possible, otherwise it might not dry evenly
- Leave the paint to dry
- Don’t forget to add a drop of clear coat if needed
- Wetsand and or polish the area after the paint is dry
- Polish the entire area to get a nice and even result
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