strugglinauthor
Member
OK, finally some good weather so I had a go with the Chipex. I started with two chips: the pilot chip was a tiny one on the door and the second was the one that has been really annoying me - an unwanted bonus courtesy of the main dealer (don't get me started) :x .
OK, the kit is expensive when you think that the bulk of it comprises cloths of various types and the amount of the key ingredients (paint, blending solution and polish) is small. That said, I used so little doing two chips that I am pretty sure this kit will see out my ownership.
Overall impression? Really good. The key thing is expectation setting. If you think it'll look like you've just had the panel re-sprayed, then you're probably in for a disappointment. However, if you think it will look like a naff blob of paint masking a hole, then I reckon you'll be pretty impressed
. Below are the before and after pics, although there is no before pic for the chip on the door simply because the flash must have come on and when I uploaded it, there wasn't a lot to see!
Chip 1 Before Treatment
Chip 1 After Treatment
Chip 2 After Treatment
I'm obviously not a seasoned expert but I thought I'd share with you a few things I picked up.
1) Instead of using the supplied brush, use a cocktail stick. It's very precise when working with small chips. I did this and it worked a treat and because of the viscosity of the paint, you can drag it around with the stick to ensure that you've covered the whole area.
2) Before you use the paint, you need to remove all grime, polish, wax etc. The kit tells you to use the blending solution and I'm sure this works fine. However, if you have a lot of chips to do then the one thing that will run out is the blending solution. Another site I checked said use white spirit instead. I checked some dedicated paint websites to ensure it wouldn't harm the paintwork but they all said 'OK'. I used a cotton bud to thoroughly clean the chip.
3) Check your chips! Some are completely flat but others, like my main chip, have a raised area around their edge. I discovered this when using the blending solution and wondering why it wasn't smooth. In the end all I did was press all around the chip my my fingernail to ensure that any raised areas were pushed back inside.
4) The kit says that for deep chips you should build the paint up in layers. My chips weren't that deep but even so, they benefited from one application, that I left to dry for 30 mins or so, followed by a 'top coat'. It was less successful when I tried to do it all in one go.
5) A key thing is how long you leave the paint to cure before using the blending solution. General advice is around 5 mins. My experience was that this is not long enough - and bear in mind that it was 23 degrees today. Having applied a smallish 'blob', I left mine for 20-25 mins. Don't worry, the blending solution still shifts it.
6) Once the paint has cured, you wrap a small piece of cloth around the supplied rubber block, wet it with blending solution, and then begin the wipe the paint to get it level with the bodywork. The instructions tell you not to push too hard. I'd go a step further and say when you wipe from side to side, do it so that the cloth is barely touching the bodywork. If you press even a little bit you'll find yourself removing all of the paint.
7) Another tip I found is that if you're rubbing your (20 minute) cured paint blob to get it level with the bodywork, don't feel compelled to do it in one go. I found that if I worked on the blob for too long then the paint would start to come away in little 'rolls'. I think this was because the surface paint had cured but because I kept going, the paint underneath was still tacky and so came away in tiny lumps. To get around this, as soon as I could see the paint was starting to 'roll', I'd give it another 5 minutes to cure and then carry on. Worked a treat. 8)
Another site I read said that some chips aren't chips at all :? . Apparently the lacquer coating can sometimes ruck-up after impact and go whiteish so that it might look like undercoat. It's probably a bit like stretching cling-film over something, where it's all but invisible, and then you catch it and can suddenly see it. The reason I'm waffling on about it is having checked my front bumper, I think I found a few examples of this. If you try to repair them with the kit, then apparently you're wasting your time as the paint won't adhere to the lacquer.
Hope this helps!
OK, the kit is expensive when you think that the bulk of it comprises cloths of various types and the amount of the key ingredients (paint, blending solution and polish) is small. That said, I used so little doing two chips that I am pretty sure this kit will see out my ownership.
Overall impression? Really good. The key thing is expectation setting. If you think it'll look like you've just had the panel re-sprayed, then you're probably in for a disappointment. However, if you think it will look like a naff blob of paint masking a hole, then I reckon you'll be pretty impressed
. Below are the before and after pics, although there is no before pic for the chip on the door simply because the flash must have come on and when I uploaded it, there wasn't a lot to see!Chip 1 Before Treatment
Chip 1 After Treatment
Chip 2 After Treatment
I'm obviously not a seasoned expert but I thought I'd share with you a few things I picked up.
1) Instead of using the supplied brush, use a cocktail stick. It's very precise when working with small chips. I did this and it worked a treat and because of the viscosity of the paint, you can drag it around with the stick to ensure that you've covered the whole area.
2) Before you use the paint, you need to remove all grime, polish, wax etc. The kit tells you to use the blending solution and I'm sure this works fine. However, if you have a lot of chips to do then the one thing that will run out is the blending solution. Another site I checked said use white spirit instead. I checked some dedicated paint websites to ensure it wouldn't harm the paintwork but they all said 'OK'. I used a cotton bud to thoroughly clean the chip.
3) Check your chips! Some are completely flat but others, like my main chip, have a raised area around their edge. I discovered this when using the blending solution and wondering why it wasn't smooth. In the end all I did was press all around the chip my my fingernail to ensure that any raised areas were pushed back inside.
4) The kit says that for deep chips you should build the paint up in layers. My chips weren't that deep but even so, they benefited from one application, that I left to dry for 30 mins or so, followed by a 'top coat'. It was less successful when I tried to do it all in one go.
5) A key thing is how long you leave the paint to cure before using the blending solution. General advice is around 5 mins. My experience was that this is not long enough - and bear in mind that it was 23 degrees today. Having applied a smallish 'blob', I left mine for 20-25 mins. Don't worry, the blending solution still shifts it.
6) Once the paint has cured, you wrap a small piece of cloth around the supplied rubber block, wet it with blending solution, and then begin the wipe the paint to get it level with the bodywork. The instructions tell you not to push too hard. I'd go a step further and say when you wipe from side to side, do it so that the cloth is barely touching the bodywork. If you press even a little bit you'll find yourself removing all of the paint.
7) Another tip I found is that if you're rubbing your (20 minute) cured paint blob to get it level with the bodywork, don't feel compelled to do it in one go. I found that if I worked on the blob for too long then the paint would start to come away in little 'rolls'. I think this was because the surface paint had cured but because I kept going, the paint underneath was still tacky and so came away in tiny lumps. To get around this, as soon as I could see the paint was starting to 'roll', I'd give it another 5 minutes to cure and then carry on. Worked a treat. 8)
Another site I read said that some chips aren't chips at all :? . Apparently the lacquer coating can sometimes ruck-up after impact and go whiteish so that it might look like undercoat. It's probably a bit like stretching cling-film over something, where it's all but invisible, and then you catch it and can suddenly see it. The reason I'm waffling on about it is having checked my front bumper, I think I found a few examples of this. If you try to repair them with the kit, then apparently you're wasting your time as the paint won't adhere to the lacquer.
Hope this helps!