I picked the MY 2 weeks ago and on the way home I got some road debris thrown on front which chipped the paint. I had some due bill items which I took the car in for and asked them to fix the chips since they claim they have an in house paint department. See photos of before and after. I think they had a child doing the paint work.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Pearl white paint chips
- Thread starter JakeJS
- Start date
Geez.. I hate to see this. But what I hate even more is people/shops claiming they can touchup deep chips like these without knowing what's really involved. I am a self-taught detailer who have been working on my own cars for years mostly because I couldn't stand the BS some of the shops sell to their customers.
Chips like these (deep and jagged) are difficult to repair. Especially for multi-stage paint colors that have pearl, metallic base in them. I would never promise more than 70-80% improvement on this type of paint. Here are the steps if I were to attempt to fix it.
Chips like these (deep and jagged) are difficult to repair. Especially for multi-stage paint colors that have pearl, metallic base in them. I would never promise more than 70-80% improvement on this type of paint. Here are the steps if I were to attempt to fix it.
- Clean the chips with alcohol/degreaser to remove contaminants
- Using a micro-dab, fill the chip with base color about half way. the paint will shrink as it dries so give it some time between fills.
- Once the chip is filled ~ 70% with base color, take another micro-dab with clear coat and fill the remainder of the chip. Again, wait between fills to let the paint dry. But, here's the most important part. you will need to fill the clear coat so that it's slightly higher than the surrounding area. But, make sure you don't over do it and create a blob.
- Make sure you let this last coat dry/harden/cure properly. leave it for at least 12 hours if not 24 hours (if you have access to a UV lamp, it speeds up the curing process).
- Once the "bump" is cured, take a 3000 grit sandpaper, a sprayer with soap water, wet the area. And very gently, begin to flatten the clear coat. wrap the sand paper around a flat piece of foam so that you don't create waves as you sand. as you get down to the level of the surrounding area, attempt to blend the sanded area. Again, don't rush and don't put too much pressure on sanding. you risk of popping the touch-up paint out of the chip if you are not patient.
- Once the bump has been blended into the surrounding area, it's time to polish the area. get a cutting pad, some cutting compound and an orbital polisher. Take your time, give it a few passes (alternating between horizontal motion then vertica)l until all the compound paste is worked into the area. At this point, you should be seeing results and shouldn't able to tell the chip from more than 3 feet away.
Is all this possible with the Tesla touch up paint kit?
https://shop.tesla.com/product/paint-repair-kit
https://shop.tesla.com/product/paint-repair-kit
No. Tesla kit is what I call a "smear kit". the paint is already mixed so there is no base color, clear coat. With this kit, you smear the paint into the chip and wipe away the excess with the pink liquid. There are YouTube videos on how to use the kit as well. You need to set your expectations clearly though with either of these methods. It's going to be 70-80% imporvement at best.
Tesla service center gave me a 2 step paint to bring home and fill chips as I want. First a base and second the pearl white. So this sound more in line to what you are describing. Obviously I understand not perfection but good enough to pass a quick look and then off to ppf to prevent further damage.
FYI took the car to an experienced auto body shop with decades of experience. The owner told me that while he could do the spots I wouldn’t be happy with the outcome. Essentially less to see with the chips than with a paint repair. Unless I did the whole hood and accept the fact color won’t match and $$$$
He's 100% right, honest and upfront with you. spot repairs never really come out well. even with an experienced painter, the area is too small to blend-in with the rest of the panel. not to mention that it's pearl white and will flop in different directions in the light.
Similar threads
- Article
