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I've got a 17 year old VW camper and as you can imagine it's got a fair few stone chips and scrapes. Some are starting to rust / bubble a bit so I'd like to clean and seal them before they get worse.
The chip repair kits with a primer and top coat I assume should be sufficient? I'm not looking for perfection on an older van but want to stop it worsening and give i a tidy.
Has anyone had success with these kits - I'm getting lots of Chipex ads since goggling. And what did you do to prep? I'm thinking of getting a dremel type small sanding head to clean out the chips of any rust.
A matched touchup pen from Halfords or ebay will do. Rust needs treating with Kurust or similar first. You don't need a full kit. Bit of t-cut after to flatten it (after it's dried for a few hours). Take your time.
If it bothers you take it to a professional. The effort needed to get a good finish makes it worthwhile getting someone experienced to repair paint.Â
if a good finish isn’t that important and all you want is to prevent rusting then the touch up kits are OK for spots. Hard to blend them in.Â
Stick the little bottle/pot of paint in warm water or your pocket for a while before using it to lower it's viscosity and let it flow better.
Not if I use them, no.
They do work but it's mostly about making it easier. I've done a fair amount of painting of various methods, tbh I can get a good result with even the most basic stuff but only from practice and even then it's quite a lot of effort. Honestly most people with an ebay or halfords kit are going to end up with a relatively ugly, noticable repair, especially with the first bits they do- who does anything well first time?- but is that a problem? People get hung up on "not perfect" instead of "better than it was", but is anything else on the vehicle perfect?
I got a Chipex kit recently out of curiosity as much as anything, to tidy up a car that's overall in excellent nick, and I don't think I got a better result overall but it was quick and easy and more people would get a good looking result that way, so for sure it'd be worth it for a lot of people. It's a lot more money comparatively but still a small sum on car scales.
There's always a good argument for a pro, I was skeptical but my dad got one in to tidy his (frankly rather battered) Focus and I ended up really impressed, and had to admit it was cheap for what it was, the dude was a true pro. But of course that's not always going to be the case, some people will be incompetent and inexpensive.
And yep do treat rust first, by whichever means you prefer. It's often worse to paint over rust than it would be to just oil or wax it.
Yes if you warm the paint, replace the brush, buy some proper panel wipe,...
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Actually, no they don't