Rock Magnet

I have a jet black 2007 VS speedster. The boys at VS did a beautiful job on the paint, but I now find that my car is a rock magnet. Does anyone have a good way to repair the very small paint nicks and chips without having to repaint the front end of the car ?

Tough deal. I ordered a bra today for my VS for the Carlisle trip.

I know it's a "fix" thread and this is a "prevent" post. I hope you get some good ideas!---Jack

Griot's Garage has some tiny little fuzzy-ended brush-like thingies that are a lot better than a brush. They help you avoid globbing too much on. I had to youch up quite a few, and I can still see then if I look closely, but no one else is a picky as me. Once you've fixed them, either do as Jack and I have and get a bra (I recommend Wardlow Custom Masks), or get one of those clear film bras.

I posted this some time ago...........
Try it in one spot until you are comfortable with the process.

Easy way of repairing paint chips:

Super glue a small piece if 320 wet n dry sand paper to a Q' tip or similar item. Spin the tip in the chip area just enough to gently taper and rough the spot for the new paint to adhere to.
Carefully punch a hole in a piece of blue masking tape a bit larger than the chip and tape it to the surface. Dab a drop of the touch up paint onto the chip, letting it dry (and shrink) before adding additional dabs of paint until you have a dried repair that is above the tape surface.
Carefully with a straight razor blade flat against the tape slice off the excess paint....your paint repair will now be the thickness of the tape above the actual painted surface. Remove the tape.
Again super glue a small piece of 320 wet 'n dry sand paper to a Q tip. Lightly take most of the extra height from the spotted area.

Final step is to use a light polishing compound until the repair is hardly visable ....with a little patience, this works well. ~Alan

Lane nailed it! I've seen him youch up quite a few at Carlisle, but he didn't seem to be a picky as much then.

Try not Tailgate leave a distant between the Vehicle in front of you. I purchased a Bra from Vintage Speedster. Just make sure you take off the Bra if your Speedie gets wet.

Nice Speedster!

aloha, Kawika

This product is supposed to be good. Never tried it though.

http://www.langka.com/chip-scratch-repair-c-21.html

I've used the langka kit on my M series Z3 with very good results. Follow the directions and it is very hard to tell where you did the touch-up.

Thanks guys..I think I will try all of the suggestions and see which one works the best. I didn't want to go with the bra because I feel it detracts from the looks (one of the most beautiful front ends out there)of the car. Being in so.cal, on the freeways a bra might be the best way to go, lots of gravel trucks. Thanks for the tips and I'll keep you posted on which one worked good for me.

what about that 3M clear film that is applied where a bra would normally go.


..


pre-emptive over-the-shoulder-bolder-holder side track

..

seriously. 3M makes a clear film.

The big black bra like mine is not intended to be on the car all of the time. You certainly don't want to let water collect and be trapped under it. That's a sure way to cloud your paint. Also, it left on too long it'll trap grit under it, wearing the paint badly. I use mine only when I expect to be on the expressway for any length of time in traffic - like driving to Carlisle. Otherwise I drive it nekkid - the car, that is.

The clear bra stuff works well for some folks (chime in here, Gordon), but I had poor results on my Acura here in Charleston, home of uncovered and unregulated trucks. I had several instances where road debris was large enough, and moving fast enough to go right through it. There's no way to easily fix that and I wound up having to remove it.

The picture below shows my car at Carlisle with a clear 3-M acrylic bra. Honest, it's there.

Put it on in 2005 and it still looks like the day we put it on.

Now have about 12,000 trailer miles up and down I95 (Mass. to South Carolina) and back and forth to Carlisle four times from Massachusetts, as well as another 10,000+ miles running around as a car. Had one golf-ball size rock hit me just below the left headlight, puncturing a pinhole in the film but the paint underneath was completely unharmed - I was amazed, especially after the "Thwack!" of the rock hitting the nose. I'm now getting a small blemish under the film at that one spot (now about 1/8" dia.) from dirt seeping in, but will simply use some clear nail polish on that spot to seal it.

Expect to pay between $400 and $600 for the nose film. Less if the installer has a pre-cut template, and more if he/she does not. Your paint will be protected from further stone dings as far as I can tell from this experience, and it should last for ten years plus. Mine has not yellowed (it would be evident against a cream white car).

On a Black or very dark colored car it should disappear, but you will be able to see the edges if the light is just right against it. Small price to pay for saving your paint.

I would NOT try to do it yourself. find an experienced installer and let them do it. The entire nose is a compound curve and very hard to get the film on properly.

gn

Jack -

One of our SOC members is also a vendor sponsor of this website. Desi (Cabanaboy) has a window tint business with headquarters in Irvine, SoCal. He put a clear-film bra on his outlaw and it seems to be holding up pretty well here on the crazy SoCal hwys. I've attached a pic of his car with the (nearly invisible) clear film bra.

Click on his site on the home page of this SOC site!

WOW...Gordon's and Desi's cars look great. I'm going to give Desi a call and talk to him, thanks. After I repair the dinks, the clear film looks the way to go. If you want to remove it, what does that process involve ?

It involves being veeeeeeeeeery careful not to pull anywhere near straight up. Pull up an edge and then stretch along the surface carefully. It will let go of factory baked-on paint, but the paint jobs on our Speedies might be vulnerable to pull-up.

errrp - forget that option then :(

Paul:

The adhesive used on those clear films is something that softens with alcohol. Simply mix water and alcohol 50-50 and put it in a spray bottle. Then spray some along an edge that you wish to lift and it'll soon loosen so you can begin to lift it.

Then continue spraying the mix at the intersection of body and film as you're lifting and it'll release and you can slowly peel it off. Doesn't matter whether the paint was baked or not, it should slowly peel right off as long as you continue spraying with the mix.

No big deal...

DANG!! I learn something EVERYTIME I visit this website! Thanks for that tip!

Just had the lower splitter re-painted on my Z3. It had the 3M film on it but you could see where the clear coat was bubbling under the 3M. Body shop peeled the 3M, stripped the clear coat and paint and re-finished the bumper. Asked about re-applying the 3M, got a big NO WAY. They claim stone penetration of the film when it also nicks the clear coat allows moisture to work under the clear coat causing the bubble and peeling of the clear. I then checked with the BMW dealer and their body shop. They claim they refuse to apply the clear films to the cars with clear coat. Their body shop will actually use the langa touch up on paint chips if they did the body work on the car. My body shop has given me the same courtesy. They also showed me the proper way to use the kit and gave me a kit that I'm to bring to them as I see stone chips I don't feel comfortable dealing with. Neat!

Jeff - you still racing your Mini?

First race is at Virginia International Raceway, April 18 - 20. Right now installing new shocks, Race seat for driver, did alot of detail work to make it look sharper. We pick up the motor/trans. from Abacus Racing next week. Getting real anxious.

Let me chime in here on the quality of 3M automotive products. I've had the sides of three trucks decorated with custom graphics over the past 25 years. I used tape cause it was cheaper than paint and I'm a cheap bastard. That said, I got lot's of compliments on all the installs. They were all applied by the same 3M local rep, he is an artist as well as a craftsman. They all lasted the life of my ownership. The latest vehicle is now eleven years and counting. These were 3M "tape" products, combined in an artful design by a professional. The sun here in southern CA is brutal on most automotive materials, including paint. I experienced no fade, no discoloration and only minor re-application issues (one vehicle lasted 130,000 and my current vehicle is at 85,000 miles).

In short, 3M makes damn good stuff!

Dave: (and others)

The same is true for films from BASF.

Sorry on others....3M and BASF are the only ones I have experience with.

gn