How to repair paint chips

[David]

Tweet

Stone chips are most common around the grill and headlights of your car, but they also affect wing mirrors and sills.
Check closely to see what the damage is like. You’ll need to get the correct touch-up paint kit from your Fiat dealer, although they’ll be equally happy to do the whole job for you if you can’t face it yourself.


Step one

Clean the area you want to paint with a cloth and a little soap and water to gently remove any loose flakes of paint. Dry thoroughly with clean cloth or chamois leather.


Step two

Give the paint a good shake (especially with metallics, as the metal flakes sink to the bottom). Pour out some of the paint into a disposable container. Make sure you have a bottle of thinner to hand for thinning the paint, which will give you more control when touching up very thin scratches.


Step three

Using a good size 1 brush (some people prefer a cocktail stick or matchstick), fill in the missing paint. Most chips just scratch off the top coat so there is no need to re-prime before applying the top coat and the lacquer. Bigger chips that have penetrated further will require the application of primer before the top coat and lacquer. If you make a mistake, clean it up with thinner… and have another go!

[soexcited]

These are are some excellent maintenance tips. This will save me quite a bit of repair costs when the time comes.

[Mark12]

I'm going to have to copy this info to use for my used Fiat. Is that okay? This will help immensely.