Other touch-up paints with SealAct from Dr Color Chip?

[BryanH]

I've used Dr Color Chip on a few cars and found it to give me (a rank amateur ) the best results for chip/scratch appearance after a treatment.

However, DCC hasn't been able to properly color match my mother's car's silver paint.

Is it OK to use, say, OEM touch-up paint and utilize the SealAct with it? Or are DCC's paints specialized to work with SealAct and other paints won't?

[MarkD51]

I've used Dr Color Chip on a few cars and found it to give me (a rank amateur ) the best results for chip/scratch appearance after a treatment.

However, DCC hasn't been able to properly color match my mother's car's silver paint.

Is it OK to use, say, OEM touch-up paint and utilize the SealAct with it? Or are DCC's paints specialized to work with SealAct and other paints won't?

I've sort of tried this on my own White Tahoe pictured in my Avatar with Sealact, trying to level and smooth the factory type touch ups that I had applied many years prior.

And it was a no-go. It did nothing to help level or smooth those touch up areas. I'm not sure how it would work on a factory type touch up that was only applied some days before coming behind with the Sealact Solution? I just don't know?

But what did work, and help me smooth some of this older touch up paint, was Langka Blob Remover. Yes it worked me a bit, but did get better results, and with the Langka there was no risk of going through the clear coat of the surrounding paint, which could happen if you resort to wet sanding, or other more aggressive methods.

I did not truthfully like Langka for leveling more freshly applied factory type touch up paints, I tried it on my Magenta Metalllic Kia Spectra, and it is very touchy in that with just one wipe too many, you can totally remove the touch up attemps. And prior to the one too many wipes, there's still a blob present. Was just too touchy, and evidently with Langka, one needs to wait a good period of time to let such paints further fully cure and harden. With just mere hours, or even a few days, the factory touch up paint was evidently just not hardened enough to withstand the rubbing with Langka.

[MarkD51]

I also had trouble with Dr CC matching the Summit White Paint on my 1997 Tahoe.

Apparently, it seemed that there are actually 2 different Summit Whites, where there's one that has more of a greyish look to it. Mine is the more pure white color, and the first paint they sent was a gross total mis-match.

On the phone, I spoke with the Dr CC folks, and made mention that I have Summit White in a Factory Touch Up Bottle that perfectly matches my paint.

They told me to send that Bottle to them, and I did, and also sent a white index card with their paint and the Factory paint applied to show them the differences and comparison in color.

The next bottle they sent, was free of charge, and was a much better match, which I did go ahead and use to good effect on the entire truck. Yes, they did also send back my Factory Paint too.

They're good people, and will work with you to the best of their abilities.

[BillyJack]

After using Dr. CC on a friend's car, I tried a "ghetto" version of the process on my daughter's Honda. I already had some factory touch-up paint, which is lacquer, so I dabbed it in the scratch and wiped it off with a thin cotton cloth stretched over a squeegee, dampened with lacquer thinner. It actually worked OK, just a lot more effort than the legit Dr. CC kit. Silvers and Pearl Whites are always the PIA's of touch-ups.

Bill

[BryanH]

I can see SealAct not doing anything to touch-up paint blobs after they've had plenty of time to dry and cure. What I was thinking of doing was using OEM touch up paint and going over it shortly thereafter with SealAct. Basically using the Dr ColorChip system with OEM touch-up instead. When I tried Dr Color Chip on this car I stopped after one or two chips because the color was so far off. I did shake the bottle well. This was a couple years ago, and as I recall DCC wasn't interested in helping to make it right.

Maybe I will be the guinea pig for this.

[goldenlight]

if you go with the Oem paint.. You want to use a product called Langka blob eliminator. Be warned this products has an offensive oder..

[MarkD51]

Well I imagine you have some options that could be tried.

One, you could try to re-order again from Dr C-Chip. That they do have their own website direct, and as I said, with a sample sent to them that you see matches properly, they may be able to better match your paint. I'm very certain that "just paint" can be purchased, without the need to buy an entire kit. I have once for my Kia, and it matched very nicely indeed first time out.

Two, yes, I suppose Dr C-Chip Sealact could be tried with a factory type touch up paint that has only dried and cured for a short period. Not sure how this would work, and I'm sure it could be quite a frustrating guessing game as to "when" to experiment with the Sealact Solution to level?

Three, there are other companies out there which do make something similar to Dr C-Chip, I forget who, and if I or others keep veering off to products that AG does not sell-market, we could very possibly see this thread go bye bye the way of the dodo bird.

My pick of the 3 options, would be #1. or possibly that blob remover that I or others have mentioned which was at one time sold here, but don't believe it is any longer.

[DaveT435]

I've had trouble matching colors on a vehicle also. 72 VW. I found Dr Colorchip very good at working with you to try to get it right. In my case the car was baby Blue. The fist color they set me was a turquoise shade. They had me take a couple pictures of the paint in different light so they could try to match it that way. The paint I received was too dark so I asked her to send me a bottle of pure white so I could mix it on site. I ended up with an almost perfect match. If the silver your getting is to light maybe have them send you some black to darken it. They didn't charge me for anything but the original purchase. If you do this go very slow mixing...just a little at a time. If you put too much in you can't take it back out. You might ask them for an extra bottle to put half the paint in to give you two shots. This is only if it's too light though. Did they try the picture thing with you?

[MarkD51]

I myself have never quite mastered applying factory type touch up paints. And I've owned vehicles since a good 40 years back. Some do and can work with such paints masterfully I'm quite sure, it is almost an art.

An art which might involved applying, then drying, wet-sanding, or maybe something like those Meguiars little Leveling Block Stones (I know they have a specific name, I have one but cannot recall at the moment) Then perhaps onto Compounding-Polishing, and I'm sure there are those out there, that can do such a quality job, that you'd be hard pressed to see the repair with a magnifying glass.

But the Dr C-Chip system is quite an awesome system IMO that has many advantages that factory type paints don't possess.

One is the very fast dry time, and a paint that easily stays put, I cannot say that about factory type paints that can have a tendency to run-sag on vertical panels especially. That with such paints, it might often mean very light, and numerous applications with something like a toothpick to accomplish.

That such a touch up process might take days to accomplish. Maybe one chip, not so bad, but dozens of them from road rash, or from rocks being kicked up from the tires, especially more aggressive tires that are on SUVs and Trucks, no thanks for me, I'll definitely always look first to Dr CC for such.

On my Tahoe, I went to work on all upper body panels first. I closely examined all panels with a fine tooth comb, and then placed little small pieces of masking tape to mark those areas so I could quickly find them as I walked around the truck. Then all chips, and areas which had them got a 70% IPA wipe to clean-remove waxes-etc and so the paint will firmly bond.

And around the truck I went, basically all in one shot. Applying, and smearing, and some slightly larger chips, I didn't even smear the paint across the chip, just let a good amount of paint fully fill the chip.

Approximate times, and dependent upon weather and temps, the dry times are approximately 7-10-12 minute's time, then simply again walked around the vehicle from where I started with the Sealact Solution and the provided towel. Good lighting is an aid, and I did have a Halogen on a stand set up so I could see really good.

Another major beauty with Dr C-Chip, is you basically cannot mess up. That if you remove too much, or need to apply an additional application of paint, no problem. Or accidently apply grossly outside the chip area, the Sealact Solution will fully erase your mistakes, and/or you can start all over again on any chip.

On lower rocker panels, this was more difficult, and I laid on a carpet, dabbed the chips, then came back and wiped small areas as I moved from front to back. And trust, on the Tahoe there were literal hundreds of little rock chips. I eliminated the majority of them, and those areas looked 1000% better.

I left all the repairs sit a good week before any further attempts of smoothing, etc, or any polishing processes were done, to insure the paint was fully cured.

Hope my quick rundown of Dr CC has helped.