[Simins0611]

As I delayed getting any type of ceramic coating or PPF because it's a lease, within the first 5 days of ownership I got this lovely damage and now it's driving me nuts. Should I pay to re-paint the entire front bumper or has anyone had any luck with some sort of touch up?

 

[PS702]

Ouch, that's painful. I got rock chips the first day I got my car and even got one on the way to get the clearbra

It's part of the front bumper assembly. The bigger problem is the metallic flake will make it impossible to touch up. It won't look right.
Metalic flake is hard to blend in so they will have to respray a larger area to blend it

 

[Photon2.0eV]

If you want to invest $40.00 on touch up paint, I would recommend Color n Drive. My car is Photon Red and it matched perfect. My wife's Velar is Aruba and has metal flake in it and it also matched perfect. This is an unsolicited testimonial since I have no relationship with Color n Drive. It usually takes about 5 working days to deliver since the product originates in Istanbul, Turkey.

 

[lobster]

Photon2.0eV, do you have before and after photos of your Photon Red repair? I would like to see your results if you could share them here.

The Color n Drive website shows 2 different color codes for Photon Red. Which color code did you specify for your order?

Was wiping off the excess Color n Drive touch up paint easy using the solvent & cloth method?

Cheers, Steve

 

[Photon2.0eV]

The color on my info sticker indicates CCB, however when I ordered my first touch up bottle a year ago the color sample on my computer showed 1CM to be a better match. I ordered another bottle about 2 weeks ago (bottle one dried up) and this time the color samples on my computer look identical. So I ordered the 1CM color again since I knew it matched perfectly.
The solvent & cloth method works very well and you can start over and over again until it looks just right. I did use a finer brush than the kit provides so that I only filled the blemish with touch up paint. I believe less is more when it comes to touch up paint. I will post pictures of the final result tomorrow since it is night here and I cannot get the light right to due justice with the car in the garage. Sorry no before pictures, but next time I will.

 

[Photon2.0eV]

Here are 2 photos after my touch up repair. The first photo is from about 2 feet away. The second photo is from about 6 inches away. You can see the chip that was touched up just above and to the left of handle. The touch up can not be detected unless you get real close and look for it. Keep in mind if you want it to be absolutely perfect, I would think you will need to take it to an auto body shop.

 

[Pollo de muerte]

I use a similar product called Dr. ColorChip. The packaging even looks the same, so there may be some relation. On my wife's Silicon Silver Velar, it replicates the metallic sparkle well enough, but not the depth. All in all, I'm happy with the results.

The most challenging part of the application is getting the "smear" correct. I get the best results by putting a blob of the paint next to the chip, and then smearing it over the chip with a finger in a latex glove. You need a light touch to avoid pulling the paint out of the chipped area.

When using the solvent/blending solution, let the chemical do the work; don't rub too hard.

 

[StormRune]

Like Pollo de muerte suggests, I've used Dr. Colorchip for such things on several cars. Here's a photo of a repair using that on my 911 that had a similar metallic paint color to yours and a similarly deep gouge down to the metal on the A pillar next to the windshield. The repair isn't perfect but it is way better than it was and didn't catch the eye anymore unless you looked for it. I wish I had a photo of before but it was fairly similar to a single one of yours.

Like he says, learning to be very gentle is key. For a deep gouge many coats are required with substantial drying time between coats. Using the squeegees they provide is helpful in not cleaning out too much of the hole (removing less than the glove tends too). I eventually developed a technique where I would use the squeegee to apply some paint to the hole, then quickly come back with the remover carefully to get the excess left smeared on the good paint outside the hole on the surrounding paint, then let the paint in the hole dry... eventually building it up to nearly flush over time. Then in the last couple of coats I'd use the normally-recommended smear technique to finish it off more smoothly.

Fortunately if you make a mistake you can easily rub it back off within the first many minutes of application. In the repair in this photo I bet I ended up doing nearly 15 coats or so, doing two or three coats a day since it was so deep.

 

[bruintoo]

I have always ordered touch up paints from www.paintscratch.com. The come in bottles or pens, separate clear-coats or mixed, etc. I've been happy with the results.