Chip's Away, Good or Bad.
- Thread starter RichardG
- Start date
Chipsaway is a franchise, and like a lot of these sort of companies they are only as good as the guy doing the work. I would see if you can find someone who has had work done on their car before trusting it to a stranger. What's the damage and where on the zed is it?
sp3ctre said:
Yeah I realise it's a franchise and they can differ from one to the other but it was more just a general feeling I was after.
Anyway the main damage is on the wing between the Drivers Door and The Roundel a series of small scratches which are allowing the white undercoat to show through, over about 1" in length and about 1/3" wide, probably a shopping trolley.
Have a search on the forum. There are lots of opinions from love to hate. Some people report great results
Personally I wouldn't waste my time with bodging things unless it was in such an obscure place that it did not matter that much.
That said my daughter had her JCW Mini bumper plastic repaired and touched in at the weekend. Was the difference between £65 and £1,000 plus, so she can live with the fix.
Personally I wouldn't waste my time with bodging things unless it was in such an obscure place that it did not matter that much.
That said my daughter had her JCW Mini bumper plastic repaired and touched in at the weekend. Was the difference between £65 and £1,000 plus, so she can live with the fix.
mason storm
Active member
I used them for my car which was keyed, they did a really good job but it cost me £400 so probably £300 cheaper than a bodyshop. This particular Chips away was a little different as they only work in doors at their own site to ensure a good result.
I have got our local Chips Away guy booked next Wednesday. He is going to touch in a few chips on the nose, bonnet and wing and have a go at polishing out what appear to be long lacquer scratches on the bonnet and scuffs on rear bumper. Quote £70 plus VAT. For that money it seemed worth a punt. If it's no good then I will go for respray option with a body shop.
Whilst he is here he will also repair and spray a deep bumper scratch on our Mondeo and attend to a few chips. Quote £90 plus VAT. He reckons he will be working on cars for most of the day.
He will be working under our enclosed carport, but I understand where they can't work under cover they erect a small marquee over the vehicle. People on Z Roadster forum generally spoke avourably about them which is why I thought I would give it a go.
Will report back next week.
Whilst he is here he will also repair and spray a deep bumper scratch on our Mondeo and attend to a few chips. Quote £90 plus VAT. He reckons he will be working on cars for most of the day.
He will be working under our enclosed carport, but I understand where they can't work under cover they erect a small marquee over the vehicle. People on Z Roadster forum generally spoke avourably about them which is why I thought I would give it a go.
Will report back next week.
biffa said:
Hopefully not as we are just talking just the bonnet and frontal area and I don't think it would need huge preparation as I presume it would not be bare metal respray. I would use local BMW approved repairer but not go through BMW.
I am rather hoping Chips away can polish the scratches out. He seemed fairly confident because you cannot feel a ridge in the scratch.
Chips Away agent visited yesterday to perform repairs to our cars. It was a wet and windy day and he was appreciative of our enclosed carport which mean't he didn't have to erect his tent!
First job was a deep scratch repair on our Mondeo. Very pleased with the result. No evidence of the scratch and the colour match (metallic) is good.
Second job was to polish out lacquer scratches on the Z4. He used various compounds, sprays and polishing wheels. He went has hard as he dared without damaging the paint. Most of the scratches are gone and those that remain are significantly improved and the car is particularly shiny!
Have to say though I am a less impressed with the repair of stone chips. Given that the company is called Chips Away, Ithought that this would be their speciality. At the time he quoted, he said that he would "touch in stone chips so that it takes your eye away form them." Basically that is what has been done. The paint is still chipped but instead of white they are black. From a pace away from the car it looks fine, but it doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny but I can live with it for now..
I guess to do a fill and spray job on each individual chip to the standard of the Mondeo scratch repair would be impractical.
On the basis of yesterday's experience i would have them back for scratch repairs and having spoken to him about alloy wheel refurbishments I would have them back to do those if and when they get a bit scabby around the edges.
I think for stone chips I would consider a partial respray if the car was peppered and if there were just a few and I couldn't live with them, I would have a go myself using BMW paint repair kit and try the "blob preventer" kit that is mentioned on another thread on this site.
Looking at the shiny finish it has certainly made me think about getting a polishing macheine. (Birthday coming up soon!)
First job was a deep scratch repair on our Mondeo. Very pleased with the result. No evidence of the scratch and the colour match (metallic) is good.
Second job was to polish out lacquer scratches on the Z4. He used various compounds, sprays and polishing wheels. He went has hard as he dared without damaging the paint. Most of the scratches are gone and those that remain are significantly improved and the car is particularly shiny!
Have to say though I am a less impressed with the repair of stone chips. Given that the company is called Chips Away, Ithought that this would be their speciality. At the time he quoted, he said that he would "touch in stone chips so that it takes your eye away form them." Basically that is what has been done. The paint is still chipped but instead of white they are black. From a pace away from the car it looks fine, but it doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny but I can live with it for now..
I guess to do a fill and spray job on each individual chip to the standard of the Mondeo scratch repair would be impractical.
On the basis of yesterday's experience i would have them back for scratch repairs and having spoken to him about alloy wheel refurbishments I would have them back to do those if and when they get a bit scabby around the edges.
I think for stone chips I would consider a partial respray if the car was peppered and if there were just a few and I couldn't live with them, I would have a go myself using BMW paint repair kit and try the "blob preventer" kit that is mentioned on another thread on this site.
Looking at the shiny finish it has certainly made me think about getting a polishing macheine. (Birthday coming up soon!)
Interesting review of them and where good and less so.
I would not waste my money on them for your wheel refurbishment. You need a proper job where the depth and durability of the finish will last. What they do on wheels is great for a forecourt to get the car sold.
As you're in Warks. drop by sometime. You can run my pc over the car and see what you think, before you invest in the equipment, transformer, pads, etc. and have a go with the Lankra blob kit
I would not waste my money on them for your wheel refurbishment. You need a proper job where the depth and durability of the finish will last. What they do on wheels is great for a forecourt to get the car sold.
As you're in Warks. drop by sometime. You can run my pc over the car and see what you think, before you invest in the equipment, transformer, pads, etc. and have a go with the Lankra blob kit
pvr said:
I actually like it, but it's one of those things that's as good as the effort you put in. Cutting through all the hype you clean out the chip, and fill it with touch up paint. This is where most people stop. All this does is provides a cream that when used with a micro cloth and smooth edge dissolves away the top of the blob so getting rid of the usual surface mess. After clearcoat, polish and wax away as normal.
Bottom line though is it's just a way of repairing a small chip quickly without the need for a respray ansd has the usual limitations of touch up paint colour match and the skill of the user