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Paint chips scratches. Chipex any good?
cliftyhanger - 15/1/21 at 12:43 PM

Thinking of selling our Ford. Almost 3 years old, but it has got a number of small chips/scratches.

I doubt getting even a smart repair company in would be cost-effective, there must be 10 or so on various panels. Nothing major, but the car is black and the primer is white...

Would something like the chipex repair system be worth a punt? I am guessing it is an acrylic paint, and then the blending solution is a mild solvent. Half wondering if fade-out thinners would do a similar job.

Any pointers gratefully received!

(I have discovered the best thing for small scuffs on interior panels is good old black boot polish, better than the 3 different "special" polishes I had lurking in the garage)

[Edited on 15/1/21 by cliftyhanger]

perksy - 15/1/21 at 10:31 PM

Used Chipex and it was pretty good to be fair
They did have 2 goes at mixing the colour though, but the customer service was very good

Slimy38 - 16/1/21 at 02:05 PM

It might be worth looking at a filler polish. I was able to clean up some quite ugly scratches on my old car, including some down to primer. It used to stay 'filled' for about a month before starting to come back out again.

I've used Poorboys and Autoglym as fillers, they worked fine.

cliftyhanger - 17/1/21 at 06:30 AM

Thanks for teh replies.
I have tried some of that turtle was coloured polish stuff, but no go.

Slimy, is it a case of using autoglym super resin and it picks up enough colour? I am intrigued. I had a search, found filling polishes but it implies for swirl marks etc rather than proper scratches.

I have also ordered a chipex kit. I am genuinely interested in what the paint and solvent/blender actually are. I shall report back my findings.

What I am really shocked about is how thin the colour coat is on the car. There are a couple of chips I can't feel with a fingernail, yet showing primer. Worried they may be an issue as te kits seem to rely on filling chips/scratches. We shall see.

Slimy38 - 17/1/21 at 11:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by cliftyhanger
Thanks for teh replies.
I have tried some of that turtle was coloured polish stuff, but no go.

Slimy, is it a case of using autoglym super resin and it picks up enough colour? I am intrigued. I had a search, found filling polishes but it implies for swirl marks etc rather than proper scratches.

I have also ordered a chipex kit. I am genuinely interested in what the paint and solvent/blender actually are. I shall report back my findings.

What I am really shocked about is how thin the colour coat is on the car. There are a couple of chips I can't feel with a fingernail, yet showing primer. Worried they may be an issue as te kits seem to rely on filling chips/scratches. We shall see.


I don't know how the filler polishes work, apart from them filling in the gap and somehow picking up the colour. They're a step up from turtlewax though, they're worth trying out. SRP isn't particularly expensive for the small bottle. I use a machine polisher and just keep layering it up until it's good from a couple of feet away.

And yes, certain cars seem to have ridiculously thin paint. My wife's Mazda is truly shocking, if you sneeze too heavily you can get down to primer. My Superb seems decent though, which is good because that's what will get far more mileage.

cliftyhanger - 17/1/21 at 12:47 PM

Ah, I see. I have a large bottle of autoglym, it is the polish I usually use on cars if I ever polish them.
I will wait for the chipex, then use the SRP once it has cured. Hopefully car will look a million dollars. Or at least 10K worth.