fixing rock chips

[fbaurley]

Anyone every have any luck fixing rock chips in a way that doesent look like the finger nail polish stuff you buy. I recently washed my truck after 1800 miles and have several nicks on the back quarter panel area. My tuck is patriot blue, and it seems as if the painty must be kinda soft. At this rate the back half of the truck would be sand blasted by rocks at 100K miles. Now im really kicking myself for not having installed my mud flaps earlier.

 

[rbattelle]

I think the "fingernail polish" is all there is. There are products to prevent rock chips, but not much out there to fix 'em once they happen.

 

[Pawpaw]

Some people have reported good luck with the products sold here:



http://www.paintscratch.com/



I haven't bought from them yet, but I probably will. Just found a chip on my hood. First one @ 8,000 miles!

 

[Rosco]

I prefer to use the Mopar paint as it seems to always be a perfect match. However, for fine scratches and tiny nicks try applying the paint with a toothpick instead of the supplied brush. The toothpick method doesn't drop a blob of paint on the nick so you can better control what your doing.

 

[Wiredawg]

3-M Makes a Product

I have mega running boards an both our trucks that keep chips off the side, but I had a 4X4 that I masked off the bottom 12" of the truck and spray painted it on. It's clear, rubbery and prevents nicks.



Wiredawg

 

[fishjack1]

PaintScratch (mentioned above) offers factory paint colors (from your vehicle paint code) guaranteed to match. Their paint pens http://www.paintscratch.com/paintpen.htm work great for small scratches and chips. I have bought several of their products and they are 1st class. The 1st paint pen they sent me for my black Dodge was too thick and did not flow easily they sent me a replacement free of charge and added more thinner to the paint.



The key is to use the paint pen with the base coat then follow with a pen with clear coat. After the clear coat hardens use some mild rubbing compound to blend the area in - (wait about 1 month)then polish and wax.



3M makes a handy tool called a sanding pen -



http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/...eisure_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html



I could not find a link with a picture but it works (and looks) like a mechanical pencil - I found one a Wal-Mart and use it to clean out the scratches and chips before touching up.



Having about 180,000 miles on my black Dodge I have had to fix my share of chips etc.



Good luck...

 

[GFritsch]

Fbaurley, My 94 has a blue very similar to the new Patriot Blue. I remember my dissapointmt on finding a couple of chips the day I got it home. At 200k the hood does look like it was sand blasted. Oh well, I doubt black will hold up any better.



Keep up on the touch up so it doesn't get out of hand. There have been some threads on protective clearcoating. Looking into it now---got at least 3 months till mine comes.



Small price to pay to drive the best.