aznives3

after seeing sogno's paint chip repair, and it coming close to the time to start correcting the S, thought it might be beneficial to clear up a few things.

Im going to be doing the clay tomorrow on the S, and maybe even some polishing as well. At what point in time should i fill in chips? before clay, after clay?

Also, whats the general "consensus" on which chips to repair? The hood/fenders have a bit of the regular chipping, however, the bumper has alot of pitting. Is it even worth my time, or is it even possible to repair the pitting? I know i would like to try to get to all the major chips, but i don't know if i have the patience to be doing the pitting in the bumper, but if everyone else usually just leaves it, then i probably will too. I would just rather do everything one time than come back to it later if i don't have to.

I'm planning on picking up some 3m 2000grit sandpaper tomorrow as well and testing my hand at wetsanding on my practise hood as well, so hopefully everything goes good.

I've already washed the S tonight and have it ready for clay, the engine has been washed and dressed, can't wait to get her all cleaned up!

wanabe

if you are sanding, clay will not add anything to the process (until after you have finished and the paint is well set up- but with sanding you prob wont need it then either. it is sometimes used to bring down the paint or remove it from areas you dont want it- more of a spray issue than a brush issue).
chips that are beyond the paint should be repaired- if you can still see paint in the chip you can improve it with an aggressive polish.
do you have a beater to practice on? if not, try to find the lowest chip you can find for your first attempt.

and i cant wait for pics!!

aznives3

Finished claying the car, and had the gf help fill in all the "down to metal" chips. The smaller ones she was able to put a tiny dab of paint in, and I might not even need to do anything with them because they are so tiny it wouldn't even be noticeable beyond 3 inches at the right light. The more major ones I plan to layer up and sand/polish. I threw some rocks at my test hood from the civic and did some sanding practise on there, and was able to get decent results with optimum compound, if that doesn't work on the S, megs ultimate compund hopefully will do the trick. Polishing will commence tomorrow

thetz99

You have to wait at least two weeks for the paint blob to dry before you can polish, otherwise it will just pop off.

wanabe

that from our chip repair expert... and great advice!!

(i did that once)

aznives3

wow 2 weeks that sucks....what do i do in the meantime?

Sogno

I sanded after 6 days. No problems here..

thetz99

polishing is machine blending after the sanding...you can clay the paint blob after 5 hours btw instead of sanding it down. The porter cable vibration still needs a totally set paint or else.