Quote:
Originally Posted by traintrax
Zach,
The previous owner did a horrible job of repairing a bunch of rock chips on my 2012 Marrakesh brown 135i. They just kind of blobbed the touch up paint on each spot and moved on. How would you go about fixing that
Thanks,
Neil
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Hey Neil - unfortunately this is quite common. Most people do exactly as you describe... just blob some paint on there and call it a day.
Fixing this blobby mess can be a bit of a chore, especially after the paint is completely cured.
For the sake of following the
golden rule of "always use the least aggressive method", I would start by applying a bit of mineral spirits or lacquer thinner to a towel, wrapping the wet part of the towel around your finger, and rubbing a blob to see if you can reduce the height of it with the solvent. Since the paint has likely been on there a while, I wouldn't expect this to work very well, but you never know. Worth a shot.
If the solvent has no effect, and you trust yourself to have a steady hand, the next step would be to level each blob with sand paper. The trick here is that you will want to avoid surrounding paint, and focus your efforts only on the tiny touch up blob. Once you have them knocked down, it should blend in with the rest of the panel better than before, you will likely need to feather your sanding into the surrounding areas a bit to help with the transition, but keep in mind this will never look as good as a proper repaint. When you're satisfied with your sanding, it is time to compound and polish the areas to restore gloss to the finish.
**Remember that OEM paint surrounding the touch up blobs is surprisingly thin, so it is very important to be aware of exactly where you are sanding so you do not burn through the paint when you are attempting to level the touchup paint**
Of course the final alternative is to take the vehicle to the body shop, have them strip and fill the chips, and repaint the entire panel so it looks like new.
Hope that helps!!
-Zach