Repairing stone chips on opti gloss coat surface

[jimbob]

Greetings all. I have a opti gloss coated car which unfortunately suffered a couple of small stone chips. I've filled the chips with some touch up paint and put a coat of clear over it. However I'm now left with raised visible areas where the touch up was applied.

After some research my plan was to sand down these areas with some 2000 grit then maybe 3000, followed by compound then polish.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be aware of or anything I need to do differently given the car is coated?

Ps, I'm aware I'll prob lose the coating in the areas that's being sanded/compounded/polished. I've got some 4" pads which should hopefully keep this to a minimum.

Thanks! Looking forward to being a member of this community.

[builthatch]

Greetings all. I have a opti gloss coated car which unfortunately suffered a couple of small stone chips. I've filled the chips with some touch up paint and put a coat of clear over it. However I'm now left with raised visible areas where the touch up was applied.

After some research my plan was to sand down these areas with some 2000 grit then maybe 3000, followed by compound then polish.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be aware of or anything I need to do differently given the car is coated?

Ps, I'm aware I'll prob lose the coating in the areas that's being sanded/compounded/polished. I've got some 4" pads which should hopefully keep this to a minimum.

Thanks! Looking forward to being a member of this community.

you'll definitely crush the coating as soon as you touch it with any grit paper...or compound. even possibly polish, depending on the product/pad and how long you work it.

be EXTREMELY careful when sanding. is this a factory finish? try to find a technique that makes the most sense to you to spare the surrounding paint whilst actually knocking down the touched up clear spot. it's very easy if you don't do it right to start to sand down the spot but end up blasting right through the surrounding clear in a heartbeat, depending on the car. this is why nowadays i'll just polish the area to smooth what i can, clean the area, esp inside the chip, fill with base carefully then top with clear so it's basically right at the same level as the surrounding paint. this is all technique, tool and product sensitive, and many times requires trial and error, but it's what i do because i am not a fan of sanding like this, esp. on factory paint and ESP on factory paint that is notoriously thin. it can get really hairy really fast.

i personally haven't experienced JUST re-coating a spot, and i don't know specifically how Gloss-Coat is with re-coating just a spot...but what i've always done when i've had to chase after something and blown through the coating, i finish polish the rest of the panel and then re-coat the entire panel, new spot included (obv).

BTW i had to do a chip repair (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/53797-what-did-you-do-today-detailing-related-565.html#post1194390) and re-coat on my car's hood and i made this vid to show what it looks like when you remove a small area of coating - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0z1AdX1doU&list=UUwaK2aiEquLiOvkzHAfgC5g

[jimbob]

Thanks for that video mate. I can definitely see a discernible kind of patch that you're alluding to. Was that patch there just from the moisture of the opti clean or was that the paint finish it self? ie. I'm worried the area where the coating is removed by sanding and polishing will stand out and look aesthetically displeasing compared to the surrounding paint. Was it noticble when you were doing your polishing?

[jimbob]

Also, I just recalled a video from larry at ammo nyc when he sanded down stone chips by hole punching a small bit of sand paper and gluing that on the fat end of an eraser pencil and using that . That way you are only sanding down a very very small area.

Might be helpful for others in my situation.

I might give that technique a try and hopefully by minimising the amount of paint being sanded I can get away with just a quick pass of light polish and preserve as much coating and clear coat as possible.

[BlackRam]

Bullit-
I am not quite following on how do you know if the coating is removed? Can you explain further? I have cquk '14 on my truck but will need to remove it in the spring as its getting pretty beat up from highway drivng daily

[jimbob]

I believe you'd be able to tell as moisture and water will behave differently on the car once it's removed compared to when the coating is there since the hydrophobic layer is gone. (no more quick sheeting and tight beating)

My question for bullit, or anyone else who may know is: if I were to spot polish a patch on the hood of just where I repaired the chip, would this area "pop" or "stand out" from the surrounding paint where the coating is still untouched and intact?

[builthatch]

I believe you'd be able to tell as moisture and water will behave differently on the car once it's removed compared to when the coating is there since the hydrophobic layer is gone. (no more quick sheeting and tight beating)

exactly. basically i wiped that whole area with opti-clean but the patch where the coating had been polished off (bare clear coat) showed the moisture from the opti-clean in a much different way than the surrounding area.


My question for bullit, or anyone else who may know is: if I were to spot polish a patch on the hood of just where I repaired the chip, would this area "pop" or "stand out" from the surrounding paint where the coating is still untouched and intact?

it was NOT noticeable without some sort of moisture present to show the difference vs. the surrounding Opti-Coated area however...it might have been in other lighting conditions outdoors or something. or maybe not, esp. with silver/gray...but maybe with other colors or other coatings. i hear about how CQ tends to darken the finish somewhat on certain colors so maybe a bare spot there would look different. Gloss-Coat is definitely a different animal that Opti-Coat in feel and application so it very well might be able to offer a different look than bare, polished clear coat. i still can't believe how slick Gloss-Coat is. it's WACKY slick.

[jimbob]

Sigh. Might have to polish the whole hood and re coat :((

[builthatch]

Sigh. Might have to polish the whole hood and re coat :((

it's Gloss-Coat and OPT says it can be layered. i'd just either 1. finish polish the whole hood (just enough to give the cured existing GC some bite for the new coat) and re-coat it all or 2. finish polish a bit past the area where you removed the coating and re-coat that general area and see what happens. or 3. just re-coat the area where you removed the coating and overlap the surrounding area a bit with the coating. if it looks ok and seems to behave the same as the rest of the coated hood over time, then you figured out a shortcut for the next guy in your shoes ; )

[jimbob]

it's Gloss-Coat and OPT says it can be layered. i'd just either 1. finish polish the whole hood (just enough to give the cured existing GC some bite for the new coat) and re-coat it all or 2. finish polish a bit past the area where you removed the coating and re-coat that general area and see what happens. or 3. just re-coat the area where you removed the coating and overlap the surrounding area a bit with the coating. if it looks ok and seems to behave the same as the rest of the coated hood over time, then you figured out a shortcut for the next guy in your shoes ; )

Oh? Gloss -Coat is layerable? Do you have any links for this builthatch? I've been trying to find info on this to no avail. It'd be such a waste to buy a 10cc syringe of the stuff just for a patch on the hood or even for the whole hood. I'd have thought if the coating was so slick the second coat would not be able to "grab on" to the first coat? Perhaps a light polish to give it some bite as you said would be essential?

And yes, i will report back with results when i get around to doing this project for the next unfortunate person in my shoes! :P

[jimbob]

Hi!! Just wanted to update everyone on my progress.

Wetsanded with 2500 and 3000 grit sandpaper then polished with orange LC light cutting pad then white polishing pad, both with optimum polish ii. The process did seem to remove some of the opti gloss coat as the area I worked on did not feel as slick as the surrounding areas. I did not test the areas with moisture as I was working under time constraints. But I'm sure we'll see the results next time I rains.

Its interesting and good to know though that visually and aesthetically there weren't any adverse outcomes despite some opti gloss coat being removed. And this is on a black car.

On a separate note on the job I did, I felt I could have went further with sanding down the stone chip repair but being my first time doing this I was so nervous about going through the clear and colour. Overall it looks improved and I might go back in the future and refine it. There was some micromarring, presuming from the cutting pad which is visible from certain angles under the right light which did the polishing pad didn't remove which a) I'd probably put down to my technique b) were leftover sanding marks and I should have used a compound first.

All in all a good learning experience and hopefully helps the next poor bugger that faces my predicament!!!

[jimbob]

Hi again!! Just want to give everyone yet another update. Went over the area in question with some optimum compound and a LC 4" orange pad and followed up with optimum polish ii on a white pad....

The hazing mentioned in the previous post is GONE!! Furthermore the compound seemed to have knocked off some of the excess clear coat from my touch up. So it blends in so much better now. Very happy with the results!!!

[Nomadsto]

Greetings all. I have a opti gloss coated car which unfortunately suffered a couple of small stone chips. I've filled the chips with some touch up paint and put a coat of clear over it. However I'm now left with raised visible areas where the touch up was applied.

After some research my plan was to sand down these areas with some 2000 grit then maybe 3000, followed by compound then polish.

I'm wondering if there is anything I should be aware of or anything I need to do differently given the car is coated?

Ps, I'm aware I'll prob lose the coating in the areas that's being sanded/compounded/polished. I've got some 4" pads which should hopefully keep this to a minimum.

Thanks! Looking forward to being a member of this community.

The hood of my car is in the shop being re-repainted (1st repair blistering) at this very second after I did what your planning to do. (Sanded right through the factory clear!) Now I dab a little paint into a chip, walk away and get the hell on with my life.

[jimbob]

Ha!! Wish I could do the same, would make my life a lot easier. Too OCD

[Nomadsto]

Ha!! Wish I could do the same, would make my life a lot easier. Too OCD

Glad it worked out for you:xyxthumbs: