1st Screw up... Need help.

[babaron]

Originally Posted by Al C.

Would a paint shop do a better repair, like 100% fix?

In theory, yes, but that would be overkill here and cause more problems than it fixes. Trust me.

[Al C.]

Originally Posted by babaron

In theory, yes, but that would be overkill here and cause more problems than it fixes. Trust me.

Gotcha. I guess I'm sceptical because I've never used touch up and I don't know what to expect.

[Angelo@Autopia]

Originally Posted by Al C.

So the other day I was washing my car and before I had started I had lifted the windshield wipers in the 'up' position to clean the windshield and hood. After done washing and rinsing I was ready to dry, I popped the hood to make sure there were no water puddles, spotts in the engine bay and forgetting the wippers were still up, I scratched the hood.

How Do I Fix??

I read on this forum that "Dr. Color Chip" is a well accepted repair and theres the "Langka" repair kit, dunno much about it, but I want a 100% repair (without repainting the hood) is there a system out there that would fix this? Its not a huge scratch, maybe 1/4" long.

Also if I decide to take it to a professional body/repair shop, will they do any better repair than the repair kit's they sell on the market? I dont want to pay someone if in the end they will use one of these $50 kits .

Sorry to hear and see this happen to your new ride. IMO the Dr Color Chip System should do the job your looking for unless your a Pro and can do it yourself by touching it up with a super fine artist brush or a paper type match stick. Also you will have this kit for future touch up's if needed.

[hawk02]

Originally Posted by Al C.

Would a paint shop do a better repair, like 100% fix?

Did the same thing to my '11 vert last summer. Ended up doing a lot more damage to hood than you did. The act scrapped 4 inches of paint off the back edge of the hood on the passenger side and caused a 1/4" paint chip at the bottom of curve where the scoop meets the flat part of the hood on the driver's side . Every day for about a month, I applied a light coat of touch-up paint to each area. Once the areas were filled in sufficiently, I had a local body shop wet sand them. The process probably repaired about 75% of the damage. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed the two areas unless I pointed them out, but I still saw the blemishes and they bugged me. So I ended up biting the bullet and had the hood repainted. The results turned out great. The damage was completely gone and you would never have known it was ever there. Really wish I would have of done the repainting right away instead of fooling around the with touch-up paint.

Your damage is small enough and looks like it's on the back edge of the hood so you'll probably be OK using touch-up paint to repair. Just be sure to apply light coats and if you're not satisfied with the results be prepared to go the repainting route to completely fix.

[jordan 572]

I don't know the name of the paint but with all that metallic I would never want to repaint unless I had to. If I were you I would get some OEM paint, lay multiple light layers of base down then go over it with a few light coats of clear. If the clear is a bit raised hit it with some wet sand paper and polish it out. This is a ZL1 were talking about.

[Todd@Autopia]

Originally Posted by Al C.

Would a paint shop do a better repair, like 100% fix?

The only way you will get near a 100 percent fix is going to be to have the whole hood resprayed at the factory or a top notch bodyshop who will not only blend the color but also the pattern of the spray, the flake, AND the texture/orange peel.

With the location of that mark nothing (short of above) is going to make it 100%, but if you use a little touch up paint, a plastic tooth pic (or similar) to apply it, and patience (at a small drop, letting it flow down the plastic tooth pic into the spot) you can do a good repair that nobody else will notice.

Also drive some more miles on it, you will get enough rock chips on the front that you will no longer notice that mark.

[Doubleblank]

A product I have found very helpful in touching up scratches are "micro dabbers". I purchased my touchup paint and the "micro dabbers" from automotivetouchup.com. The "micro dabbers" hold a very tiny amount of paint and are perfect for those really small rock chips, etc. The brushes that come with the touchup bottles are pretty useless in that they apply way to much paint.

[DangerZL1]

I usually use a fine tipped brush available at any hobby shop for repairs like this. It gives you very good control and allows paint to flow off the tip into the scratch. If you get too much paint in the scratch or make a mistake, I believe mineral spirits will wipe it right off and you can start over. After a couple of layers over a few days, you can use a fine polish and smooth over the repair. It will look significantly better after one layer of touch up paint.

[Al C.]

Thanks to all. I will use Dr. Colorchip and post pics of results..

[skuttduck]

Originally Posted by CamaroDreams07

I don't know what gray they're using on the ZL1, but for my CGM, the GM touch up paint was an abysmal match. Much better luck with the Dr. Colorchip paint. Only reason I suggested that.

Paintscratch.com was spot on for my RJT.

The only thing I can suggest with touch up paint, is stop at good enough. You'll make it worse, and most often it is only you that notices it anyhow.

[Al C.]

So I ordered the Dr. Colorchip repair system, What do you think? Can I get it to look any better? I think the color match is 100% and Im sure you can get better results with practice and techinque. After 3 applications, here we are.

[v8]

That looks great

[David79z28]

Wow, that looks great!!!

I doubt anyone will ever see it.

[Al C.]

Originally Posted by v8

That looks great

Originally Posted by David79z28

Wow, that looks great!!!

I doubt anyone will ever see it.

Thanks! It's a great product but it still bothers me because I can still see it. I think the product would make a flawless repair on a flat surface, but because mine is on the edge, it's somewhat still visible to me..