Rust chips and Dr Color Chip, light driftwood satin glow Paint Code PFA

[rerod]

You need to sand _after_ you've applied the touch up paint to the cleaned surface. (obviously after you've cleaned it, and removed all rust)

Iv always thought "cleaning" rust away required sanding. Is Iron X and 3000 grit enough to "clean" and neutralize the rust before primer and paint?

Man do I wish my truck was white!

Wow, that's a lot of chips. Kind of like pepper sprayed. Some body must have been driving behind a gravel truck.

Dave

Yeah, and I paid a rust free price only to learn it needs a paint job!

[rlmccarty2000]

Too bad Dr Colorchip didn’t respond. I’ve used their system on three cars and have always been happy with the results. My chips were not rusted though. There used to be a chemical pen that would change rust to a paintable surface. I haven’t looked for one in a long time. The Dr Colorchip is made for multiple chips like you have. They have a squeegee method that would be ideal. I don’t have the patience to do that many chips individually and make it look right. Try calling Dr Colorchip.

[itsgn]

Iv always thought "cleaning" rust away required sanding.

That's not required, but might be an effective and cheap way to remove it on a larger surface which is easily accessible and can be or even possibly should be flattened anyway. However, that's absolutely not the case with rock chips, which are tiny spots and are craters in the surrounding paint, which you should try to leave as much untouched as possible. Otherwise you will just make the chip larger, which in turn will need more paint to get filled, more sanding to get perfectly flattened and blended, and if there will be any difference between the original and the touch up paint (which always will be in the case of metallic paints, even if the color match is perfect, which again, won't be if your paint is older than a few years) will make the corrected area easier to spot.

So, with rock chips the best solution is to use something that dissolves rust, but doesn't touch neither paint, nor the in-tact metal below the rust. Iron oxide removers like Iron X do exactly that. You might want to use a qtip to agitate the remover in the chip craters though, otherwise you'll need a lot of repeat applications until it can remove all the rust on its own.

Is Iron X and 3000 grit enough to "clean" and neutralize the rust before primer and paint?

Iron X does not "neutralize" the rust, but dissolves it and carries it away. Or more precisely: let's a wipe or a rinse with water carry it away. Sandpaper is not needed for rust removal from rock chips, and is actually in my opinion the worst way to remove them, for the reasons explained above.

[rerod]

Too bad Dr Colorchip didn’t respond. I’ve used their system on three cars and have always been happy with the results. My chips were not rusted though. There used to be a chemical pen that would change rust to a paintable surface. I haven’t looked for one in a long time. The Dr Colorchip is made for multiple chips like you have. They have a squeegee method that would be ideal. I don’t have the patience to do that many chips individually and make it look right. Try calling Dr Colorchip.

Yeah, I should have spent more time on Dr Colorchip and didn't know about their squeegee method. Its always 20/20 after the fact tho

Sandpaper is not needed for rust removal from rock chips, and is actually in my opinion the worst way to remove them, for the reasons explained above.

Boy, I'm glad I didn't sand more than one of the bigger chips..

This thread is a great how to, on how not to rather