Two questions here, any help or advice will be much appreciated.
I have a Seat Leon which I'm very happy with. A couple of months ago, someone in a 4x4 drove past me in a loose chippings stretch of road so fast that I was spattered with gravel and ended up with two chips in the paintwork on the nose of the car.
I've just gotten round to getting the stone chip repair kit out of Halfords and did the smaller one first, in case I made a botch of it. I reckon I did a good enough job, but there is a noticeable difference between the "Flash Red" in the container and the "Flash Red" that covers the rest of my car - the touch-up paint is at least two shades darker and would look more noticeable on the bigger chip. I know that colours can change over time but this car is less than a year old - I don't think it should be so different already. In any case, can Halfords, the main dealer, or anyone else do an exact colour match to my car?
The other question is this: the bigger stone chip actually has a small amount of rust in it. The paint below the chip has lifted and cracked slightly, which means the total repair area would be over half a centimetre round. I think that to attempt this with a repair kit would be too noticeable - especially if the colours don't match! I don't know whether this is something I should take up with the dealer under the anti-corrosion warranty or not. Does the anti-corrosion warranty depend on the paintwork being undamaged, or am I going to have to consider a re-spray out of my own pocket? Or if the warranty is somehow void, would a too-obvious repair kit job make a respray impossible?
Thanks for any input.
|
|
Andy - can't help with the warranty issue but if you do want to do the repair yourself Mer do a 'professional' scratch/stone chip repair kit which has been advertised on TV and seems to be very good. It might be worth checking out anyway. The colour match is clearly a problem and I suggest you contact Seat about that.
|
I tried Halfords touch up paints on a Flame Red Micra. It didn't match. I thought this was because the car had faded. I later tried Hafords paint on a new Metallic Pacific Green Ford Ka. Again the Halfords paint was much too dark. Best avoided.
I was very pleased with Ford's Pacific Green touch up paint though it cannot be rubbed down with glass paper. Suggest you try the car dealer.
A chip touch up company would charge about £35 to do it. See Honest John's directories for contacts.
It is possible to do a good job yourself. Apply the paint very sparingly with a fine artists brush, and use the finest grade glass paper to smooth the surface. Then use a polishing compound to bring up a smooth shiny finish. Turtle Wax do a good one. Lastly wax the surface to protect it. Try it on the small chip first. The big one will be quite hard. I have done a near invisible job on small chips (2 mm across).
Try searching Honest John forums for "chip touch up". There is a good thread somewhere.
|
|
|
|
"I don't know whether this is something I should take up with
the dealer under the anti-corrosion warranty or not."
Usually, anti-corrosion/paint warranties only apply to corrosion initiated by a manufacturing defect, not damage. What is more, "corrosion" usually means complete perforation, and that is something you rarely (if ever, thank goodness) see in paintwork these days. When I first started motoring (dare I say it, 45 years ago) you expected corrosion to appear of its own accord (i.e. not due to damage) after less than a year !! When the MOT test came in, cars would fail for corrosion at the first (3 years old) test. And there were companies that did nothing else but underbody and body cavity anti-corrosion treatments. I bought several new cars where the first thing I had to do was have them professionally "rustproofed" !!
|
|
|
Thanks for the reminder. Just been and touched up a chip on my Passat.
I use Hammerite Kurust first. It is a white liquid and dries black. Comes in a small white bottle.Used it for many years , no connections with the company.
I always use official touch up paints on VWs but have only tried to do small chips 2 - 3 mm at most.
I used Halfords touch up on SWMBOs red Corolla on several large areas on the bumper and the match was brilliant. Acoustic parking system in case you ask. Concrete walls not other cars.
|
Thanks for the responses everyone - I reckon my best bet for the small chip will be to sand it away down again, then get some dealer supplied paint to match. I'll get an art brush to do the trick if the one supplied is too broad. But I'll investigate scratch repair specialists as well - I live in Northern Ireland, so the firms named may not operate here. I'll let you know how I get on!
Oh, and my wife drives along a country road to work - a school bus came around a bend too fast and scraped the paint off the edge of her mirror. Halford's paint didn't match that either! Looks like I'm being given lots of opportunities to learn a new skill here ...
|
|
|
|
