Playing around with Dr Colorchip on the X5

[civdiv99]

I wanted to do some work on some chips on a couple of my newer cars, but I wanted a guinea pig to practice on and see what's what in case it didn't go so well. Thus, since it's the daily driver, car my kids borrow, etc. the X5 got elected.

I am NOT even remotely coordinated in this sort of thing and had I tried conventional touch-up paint, you'd accuse my X5 of having chicken pox from all the blobs when I was done. The process here involves "smearing" paint across the chip, and even the blind among you will notice the hood looks like a 1st grade finger-painting class at the end of the second stage of the process. No worries! My analogy might be comparing this to filling a nail hole with spackle - as if the smear is supposed to fill it level. I dunno, but I am pleased with the end results. The sharp-eyed among you will note that yeah, I did miss a few chips and coulda done a little better on the buff off, but I think the pictures make the general point. Plus the cheeseburgers were ready, and you know, priorities and all.............

My take is: plan to do this when is somewhat cool out, say in the a.m., because the formulation dries quickly and you can't be muddling about while your touch up brush (kit comes with some) is getting tacky from air drying. So, plan ahead to do small sections a bit at a time before moving to another section. At least until you get the hang of it. What does NOT work is starting with a half-assed idea of what area you are going to do, and then fiddle farting around hunting for more chips (ME!).

Also the bigger chunks will need a 2nd or 3rd run-over. But the process itself is absolutely painless, so I don't consider that to be a problem. And they gave me a bunch of product. I ordered the "road rash" kit, but there's no way I'm going to really make much of a dent in the paint quantity I got with this kit.

If you look at the "before" pic, I'll tell you that the smaller chips were filled and blended so well that I really can't tell standing there looking for them in person. Get maybe 24" or more away, and the larger ones that I'd like to re-fill almost blend away, too. I'm confident with a few more applications for practice those will virtually disappear.

I'm happy with what I got for what I paid and the straightforward application of the process. Onward with the OJT onthe X5...........

(By the way, the instructions say to clean area with alcohol which is typicl to remove waxes and stuff. I just used regular paint-prep wax & grease remover.)