I have a black '79. At some point, I tapped something in the front of my garage, and chipped (no spiderwebbing) a small piece of paint off the tip of the front bumper (yeah, I know it was a stupid thing to do). There is also a very small chip on the right rear fender that I wanted to fix also.

I went to a local body shop, and they gave me a quote of $435 to fix the front bumper... if I take it off and take to them.

So I went to another place, and he recommended that I try to fix myself first. He told me to get some touch up paint, and fill it in a little bit. Wait a day or so, then fill it in some more, and repeat this process until it's even or a little higher than the rest. Then he said sand it smooth with some 2000 grit sandpaper (I assuming wet sand it).

I am doing this now, and it looks much better than I though it would. I am at the point where it's just about filled in, and would like to start the sandpaper portion.

My question is, has anybody tried this, and does it look good when complete? I read a thread about wet sanding the entire car, how well does this turn out?

 

Before you go to town on the entire car stick to the bumper wet sand with 1500 - 2000 sand paper then a high speed polish with a good compound like Meguiars. With the resuts you get will determine if you are ready for the whole car. Word of caustion stay away from the edges with the polisher. do it by hand but be careful edges are the worse when polishing.

 

Thanks for the advice, I have some 1500 I will try tomorrow.

No, I wasn't going to go town on the car, I was going to do the bumper first. I had heard of sanding the car, and if I had great results with this fix, I was considering doing some more.

The paint is good on the entire car, except for the 2 small chips. I am more of a 'mechanical' person, than a paint person. I have never had a car nice enough where I ever had to worry about a chip, and was just making sure that I was proceeding on the correct path to fix this.

I wish I had taken a before picture, and follow up with an after picture because I like what I see so far...

 

I have done this and I have done the same chip that you have. Yes it will work and when your done with the wet sanding you will have to hand rub it then hand buff. I was taught this by a detailer years ago and I have since used the method on all of my cars.

You will need to be very delicate in the sanding; you do not want to bust through the clear coat around the area.

 

Thanks guys for help.

 

I fixed a small spot on my previous 1984 coupe. I used a paper punch to cut out small circles of 1500 wet paper and used the eraser end of a pencil as a mini sanding pad to move the sandpaper around in a small area to avoid marring the surrounding clear coat.
Then I used machine rubbing compound by hand and finished with polishing compound as previously mentioned and it turned out great. Nobody would have been able to notice the repair if I didn't point it out.
Good luck with the repair.
Terry

 

That sounds like a good idea, I'm going to try that. I was also thinking about taping off the surounding area.

Thanks,

 

What kind of rubbing compound and polishing compound--any brand or prticular type. How wet do you get 1500 or 2000 wet sandpaper. Haven't done this before and don't want to turn a small spot into a large one.

 

If you are able to get the touch-up area flat (with the area around it) using the 2000 grit wet/dry paper, you can either rub it out with some polishing compound (finer than rubbing compound) available at any local auto parts store. If you have an electric polisher which runs at low/medium speed, you can buy some 3M polish at an auto paint supply store. Be careful not to let the polisher rub too much in one area...it will cause heat and crack the paint. I really think the hand polishing with polishing compound would do a decent job with the repairs you are doing.

 

Any brand of rubbing compound such as Dupont if bought from a reputable chain such as NAPA. There is coarse (hand) and fine (machine) rubbing compound. I used the fine by hand.
Turtle wax makes a good polishing compound. I'm sure any polish sold by a good parts store is ok.
Keep the area really wet. Use a sponge or rag soaked with enough water to wash the fines away when sanding so the small particles get constantly removed from the working surface.
If you are still not sure about this, visit a busy body shop. There will always be someone wet sanding something.
Terry

 

Post a picture of your completed repair!