Can small chips be repaired well without repainting the entire hood?
 

I'm kicking myself now for not getting the clear bra on my black saphirre X :banghead: - just didn't like the idea of it back when I bought the car a year ago. I've got a half dozen or so small chips on the front end now and was wondering if it's possible to repair them and then install the clear bra - without repainting the entire hood & front bumber. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? TIA!

The bumper will cost you about $500 to paint, i would assume the hood is a similar cost. If it's a lease, leave it alone, if you bought it, I'ld have it repainted and then get the clear bra on it.

there's an awesome air brushing service out here in Norcal that I was very skeptical at first. I watched them do it on the hood on my M5 and now I'm a believer... it looks absolutely flawless and is not really a repaint.. might wanna look into that.

All I can say is do NOT get touch-up paint.. I got some and put it on the 330 (which has terrible paint... the front is all chipped and there's a gouge on the trunk lid) and now the paint looks worse than it did before.

Thanks for the idea - never thought of an airbrushing solution. I'll have to check around my area for something similar. Thanks!

Hey - thanks for the tip CJ. I agree - I really didn't want to go with the touch-up paint - I've seen some real ugly results with that stuff, and I certainly don't have skills to do a good job with it either.

I agree. If you can find a place that does airbrushing, they do a really nice job. Well worth the $$$

I just finished touching up the X5 with the BMW touch-up paint. I didn't use the clearcoat, just the colour. I haven't had good results in the past, but following the steps in this link, it worked out really well. I did about 15 spots, all on the hood/bumper/front fenders. All but two are great, basically invisible, and I will redo those two, now that I have some practice. I am no detailer, but I found this easy to follow. The hardest part was finding the 2000 grit sanding block, but Lordco ordered it in for me.

http://www.carcareonline.com/viewarticle.aspx?art=8

Jeff