Bonnet marked from stone chippings

Fizman

My black Golf is riddled with stone chippings on the bonnet. Is there any good remedy to this apart from the obvious total respray?? Any tried and tested methods out there?!

Mr Magnolia

I bought a repair kit from halfords, you match your car manufacturers colour exactly, I applied it to 1 or 2 small chips and was very happy with the outcome. My car is a tricky blue so I was a bit hesitant.
Think it cost around €14, worth a shot IMO. Try 1 or 2 chips first and let it dry in - see what you think before you go any further with it. It really depends on how badly chipped it is. Photos?

Fizman

Cheers Sparks, i've no pics as of yet but I might give Halfords a go and then do a before/after comparison. The fact that its black should help in terms of findin the right colour.

rebel.ranter

I bouoght a touch up kit from the dealer for mine a few months ago for the same purpose. Subsequently I got a kit from Halfords, I relly like the little nib they provide for the really small chips.
My car is also black, worked out fine, it'll never be perfect but will come up fine (i'm a perfectionist!).
As for spraying the bonnet, it's best to avoid if possible. According to my friendly spray painter he reckons the more layers of re-paint that go on the easier it chips, it's softer or something. Not sure how true it is.

Edit: I like the idea of the tooth pick as a brush. I might try that when the weather picks up.

milltown

rebel.ranter wrote:

I bouoght a touch up kit from the dealer for mine a few months ago for the same purpose. Subsequently I got a kit from Halfords, I relly like the little nib they provide for the really small chips.
My car is also black, worked out fine, it'll never be perfect but will come up fine (i'm a perfectionist!).
As for spraying the bonnet, it's best to avoid if possible. According to my friendly spray painter he reckons the more layers of re-paint that go on the easier it chips, it's softer or something. Not sure how true it is.

As well as that, come resale time if a potential buyer spots that the bonnet has been resprayed you may have a job convincing them that it was done for purely cosmetic reasons, rather than a frontal impact. Also bear in mind that the resprayed bonnet will still have the little indentations where the underlying paint was chipped. Unless you spend big bucks getting it stripped right back first.

TomMc

This is the best product on the market if you want to do the best possible job - not sure if they post to Ireland.

http://www.touchup123.com/default.aspx

---

Otherwise buy some touch up paint in a tin rather than the pens or sprays, apply several light coats (20-30 mins apart) with a toothpick over the course of a few hours. D'ont try and fill the chip all in one go or it will fail sooner rather than later. After the last layer of paint has dried you could blend it all in with the surrounding paint with a scratch remover or light compound. Best wait till the weather picks up - too cold and damp at the moment.