Originally Posted by
xiaoman1
If I am ever trying to do a touch-up of paint that has chipped off, I never sand or feather the edges first.
I clean the chip as best as I can first and then thin the paint as much as possible...just thin enough to leave a decent amount of color in the chipped area (going out to the edges of the chip) and let it dry before applying another coat of color. The lack of feathering leave and edge that the new paint can fill to....I never try to fill in with one complete coat but use several to build up the paint so that it is just slightly above the "original" surface...then try to sand "only" the smallest amount of area where the touch-up is in order to get it level. use a 1200 wet dry to do this and follow with a fine polishing compound.
Another trick that I have found useful is to position the frame so that the chip is as parallel to the ground as possible...this is done so that I don't get that blob or pooling of paint that always occurs when the paint flows downwards...you know what I mean, and I never sand through to the primer unless I am going to use an airbrush or spray gun to paint with.
It would be nice to see how your method turned out..it looks good from 2 ft.
JM2C's
Ben
Thanks for the tips, Ben. I think you might have described your process earlier somewhere, because I tried some if those techniques. I was probably a little heavy-handed with the sanding, though. My biggest challenge was getting the paint mixed closely enough to the original - that purple/magenta is a bear to match up. With your method, you can focus specifically on the spot. I ended up covering a larger area to get a smooth (mostly) coating. I was able to finish without using any sandpaper - I used 3M Perfect It II followed by 3M Finesse It and then Zymol Spray Wax. The result is an acceptable finish from about 8 feet, but when you get the magnifying glass out, you can tell where the work was done. Still, it’s better that when I got it it. Thanks again for the tips - I’ll try that on one of my other bikes.