When you take your car in for auto body work, the mechanic will have a lot of work to do. Each minute that the mechanic spends prepping your car to make the repairs is money that you will owe when the repairs are finished. So, is there anything that you can do to make the mechanic's job a little easier and lower the cost of the repairs for you? This blog is all about preparing vehicles for auto body repairs. Here, you will learn what prep-work you can do at home so that the repairs are completed more quickly and the cost is less.
Rock chips are inevitable, whether you are driving a Mercedes or a Toyota. Rock chips on your auto paint are more than just annoying. They can cause serious problems over time if you don't fix them. An untreated rock chip could result in rust formation that becomes very difficult to fix. This why it is so important to immediately fix rock chips as soon as you see them, even if they appear to be very minor. This article explains the best way to quickly repair small rock chips to prevent them from growing and becoming bigger problems.
Look for Rust in the Chip
The first step is to determine if your rock chips can be easily repaired with touch up paint. Take a close look at the chipped spot. You might even want to get a magnifying glass out to see if there is any rust growing deep inside the chip. If you notice rust, you might not be able to fix the problem with just paint. Instead, you will need to first sand away the rust using autobody sandpaper. This usually means you need to sand the chip, which makes the spot a little bigger. This is why you want to try to find and fix rock chips before rust can form. If you are lucky, you can patch the chip with just autobody touch up paint. You won't even need to use any sandpaper.
Fixing Your Chip With Touch Up Paint
Touch up paint is super effective because it is already mixed with sealant and clear coat. So, all you need is the touch up paint to patch small chips. For the best results, get your paint directly from a dealership. You will have better luck finding the exact paint for the model and year of your car. Also, the colors tend to match better then when you buy a third party product.
Make sure the chipped area is clean before you apply the paint. The paint can comes with small brush that is usually built right into the lid, just like a bottle of nail polish. Just brush a small amount onto the chip. This is actually more a dab than a brush. You want to work delicately and slightly overlap onto the good paint. However, don't spread it out too far because you don't want the painted spot to be more noticeable than the chip was before you worked on it.
Contact a shop like Ron's Auto Refinishers for professional help in fixing paint chips.
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