Chip repair...in three simple weeks!

Brad B

Brad B

New member
I had this horrible chip on the rear fender lip of the Carrera. It was the size of a pencil erasor, perhaps sightly larger. Chipped right down to the primer. But it was one of those blister types where the edge leading up to the open hole was raised and looked like a miniature volcano.



I touched up the hole with factory touch up. I slowly layed it paint over the course of a week. I would thin it with laquer thinner to make it flow better and use a 000 art brush to lay it in the best I could. It matched but the texture was wrong and it wasn't flat due to the volcano-effect surrounding the filled in chip.



I tried flattening it with Langka but it destroyed the metallic effect. I then built it up again and wet sanded it flatter and tried touching it up one last time with the brush. It wasn't bad. Still, the volcano look was distressing.



I decided that I had to flatten the volcano more and while picking on it some more, part of the chip, apparently a loose paint-blister, popped off! So now I had a hole twice the size of the one I started with. This was almost dime size now!



So after a lot of cussing, ranting and pacing around the car, I decided to take laquer thinner and get all the paint out of the chip and start from scratch.



I went to the art supply store and bought myself an air brush. I have some extra paint from when the dealer painted my new euro front bumper cover this past Spring. So I thinned the paint 50/50 with laquer thinner and began to layer in paint in the chip. I cut varying size holes in a postcard using an adjustable leather hole punch. I shot the airbrush through the card at the chip and moved the card around the chip filling the area evenly. I did this for a whole day slowly building up the paint thickness. Finally I sanded it smooth with 2000 grit sandpaper. It was perfectly flat and smooth. Then I started spraying over the chip. Spray and sand. Spray and sand.



Naturally whenever I touch the metallic paint I destroy the metallic look so when I got it perfect I gave it one final "beauty" shot.



This required me to not only spray the touch up spot, which had grown to the size of a quarter, but I had to blend it into the surrounding lip. I was lucky in that I could keep the repair on the vertical lip. It gave me a natural edge to blend up to. But I still could not mask it off in a traditional sense. I tried and it left a hard edge. (I had many attempts that were "erased" with thinner or compound) What I ended up doing was cutting a template of the curved lip that I was painting and taping it to spacers I rigged so the masking was 1/2" off the surface. This way I could angle my spray and get the area I needed to spray but it would never create a "hard" edge. It feathered out nicely. The farther away the paper was, the more feathered it was. I sprayed an area the full height of the lip and about 6" long. It is very solid in the center 2" and it feathers out the rest of the way.



My next issue was protecting the metallic. I couldn't touch it or it changes the look. It didn't have the gloss of the surrounding paint. I bought two types of some airbrush paint made for touch up put it looked really yellow-ish and on my test panels (I painted half a dozen metal test panels metallic silver-blue with extra paint and tried different clear coats and techniques) it was un-impressive and very orange-peely. Finally I went to the auto paint store and bought some Dupli-Color spray clear in a can. The paint looked pretty good on my test panels but the spray pattern from the can was over 4" wide. I could never control that for my little touch up job. So I sprayed the Dupli-Color in the airbrush bottle and then airbrushed that onto the test panel.....it worked!



So that's what I did. I finally finished up by spraying the clear. I sprayed as heavy as I dare to get it as smooth as possible. Tomorrow I will compound the surface "just a little" to improve slickness. But for all practical purposes I am done!



I wish I had taken a "before" or "during" picture. But I had no idea what a big process this would be or that it would turn out so incredibly well. If it hadn't, I would never have told you! :D



I was so upset with this big mess and my wife was so pissed with my complaining that one day she just erupted: "Just sell the damn car!" Well, I guess I can keep it now. Phew!



Find the chip...I dare you!



standard.jpg
 
Amazing job. Was this your first shot at air-brushing? If so, how hard was it to pick up, and can you recommend a setup?



Here's a guess at the spot, but I sure wouldn't put money on it:

4035chip_repair-med.jpg
 
Brad, I'm not even going to try to find the chip. It looks amazing.



I'm in the process of doing some chip repairs, and am getting frustrated with my multiple attempts using a brush and/or toothpick. I've often thought an airbrush would be the way to go, and you just validated my thought with your repair! If you don't mind, could you post specs on the airbrush setup you used, and more info on the learning curve? Thanks.



Dave
 
wow... u did a good job... i wish i could do what u did on my car... wanna come over and help??



:D



i cant find the chip.. mind tellin us where it is now?
 
Thanks for the compliments!:)



The chip is (was) pretty much dead center in the vertical section of the fender lip, facing the camera.



ZJ...you're wrong! Yippie! :bounce



Dave...I did quite a bit of research on airbrushes and for this type of repair the Paasche Type H, single action brush is the best. (I used a size 3 tip-standard) It cost $49. I also purchsed an inline moisture filter and several bottles so I could have each filled with different paints, thinner, etc.



I set my air compressor at 65lbs pressure. You can buy a small hobby compressor to run the brush or even use canned compressed air.



It was very easy to learn to use since it was a single action brush. Not much different than using a spray can. Just WAY more controllable. I mastered it in an hour.



standard.jpg
 
ptownTSI said:
hey are you jim hef from jeepsunlimited?
Click to expand...



No. I have the same user name at JU, I'm just not as active over there as I once was.



I recognized your name from there, too, but didn't realize you were in Cali. It's probably worthwhile to look, like you are, for a pro to do the first job, then work on maintaining it. Our ZJs can be a bear to get done right.



Welcome to Autopia.
 
Moderators, it's clear as day this post needs to be in the Hall of Fame.



I've printed it for future reference. Thank you Brad! :bow



Brad,if possible could you take a photo of all the materials used, I see the airbrush gun but could you also show the punch,paint,etc.



That would be great! Thanks!
 
Brad- What a great job! That's really something. I have experience with the Paasche, but there's just no way I could do such a fine job :bow



Great example of patience, perseverance, and plain old *ability*. Not to mention courage and self-confidence....it's not everybody who'd try to fix the metallic paint on a Porsche for their first airbrush project.
 
Accumulator, I just saw that Paasche in the Micro Mark catalog, looks like the one Brad has costs half (Type H vs. Type VL) . :up
 
Brad,



You have extreme patience. Would love to see that repair in person someday. Again very nice work and write-up, it's a shame you didn't have the photos to go with your descriptions.
 
Bill D said:
Moderators, it's clear as day this post needs to be in the Hall of Fame.



I've printed it for future reference. Thank you Brad! :bow



Brad,if possible could you take a photo of all the materials used, I see the airbrush gun but could you also show the punch,paint,etc.



That would be great! Thanks!
Click to expand...



I tried to picture most everything I used here.



-The background is a from a roll of 14" wide masking paper. Get it at the paint supply store.

-2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

-Scrap metal pieces for testing color. Notice one is painted Porsche Polar Silver!

-Disposable eyedroppers. They are great for getting paint out of bottles. You can get these at a pharmacy.

-Disposable mixing cups. You can get them at the paint store. Use them for cleaning the airbrush.

-Lacquer Thinner. Used to clean the airbrush and thin most paints.

-Acrylic Clearcoat spray paint. This is what I sprayed into the accessory cup of the airbrush and then sprayed onto the car because it offered more control.

-Extra airbrush spray bottles. These are cheap. Get several so you can easily switch back and forth. I kept one with Polar Silver in it all the time, one with clear in it and one with thinner in it. After each use of clear or silver, I sprayed thinner through it so the airbrush remained perfectly clean.

-The last bottle is my Polar Silver paint.

standard.jpg
 
Brad,



That's terrific, thanks! Here's another project I could practice using my scrap fenders sometime.
 
Brad B. said:
I went to the art supply store and bought myself an air brush. I have some extra paint from when the dealer painted my new euro front bumper cover this past Spring. So I thinned the paint 50/50 with laquer thinner and began to layer in paint in the chip. I cut varying size holes in a postcard using an adjustable leather hole punch. I shot the airbrush through the card at the chip and moved the card around the chip filling the area evenly. I did this for a whole day slowly building up the paint thickness. Finally I sanded it smooth with 2000 grit sandpaper. It was perfectly flat and smooth. Then I started spraying over the chip. Spray and sand. Spray and sand.
Click to expand...
Brad What was the purpose of the postcard with holes? To reduce the size of the spray pattern from the air brush? How large was the hole?
 
I just came across this thread while searching for something else. All I can say is wow. I paint cars as a hobby and have never seen a touch-up job blended in like that. Very good work.



One note though. When masking for painting use "reverse masking" on the edges near the repair. It's simple.



All you do is tape one end of the paper down as you would normaly close to one end of the repair area and let the paper cover the repair.



Now lift it back so the paper has sort of a roll in it. Don't crease it, let it have the natural roll in it and tape the top edge you just rolled up down.



Now the paint when being sprayed will see the "rolled" portion of the paper and not the taped bottom end.



This is how paint shops do it in order to avoid having edge lines.



Again Very Very good work. You have a money making opportunity on your hands with those skills and attention to detail.
 
Absolutely incredible. (yes I am aware this is an older thread). I am curious how the repair is holding up over time as there are people who would say that a clear fix like this won't last. Also, is there any way of figuring out how hard a clear coat to use? Of the generic spray can stuff in particular, is it generally soft, hard, medium?



Again, amazing work, and if nothing else, it wouldn't hurt for this to float back up for other people to see that with patience you can get really good results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top