Paint chip repair kit
#1
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '17, '19
Paint chip repair kit
Hey Guys,
I want to fix some paint ships on my cars and I found two kits on autogeek.com: Dr. ColorChip and Langka.
Colorchip seems to be quick and easy while langka seems to take hours to complete. Langka seems more professional but is the cheaper of the two; which really doesn't make sense to me. See links below, they both have a 5 min or less video showing how they work.
Does anyone have experience with these? Or suggestions on which kit to purchase? I don't mind spending the extra money to get the right kit to get the best results.
Thanks
Dr. Colorchip
http://www.autogeek.net/dr-colorchip...ip-repair.html
Langka
http://www.autogeek.net/langka-paint...epair-kit.html
I want to fix some paint ships on my cars and I found two kits on autogeek.com: Dr. ColorChip and Langka.
Colorchip seems to be quick and easy while langka seems to take hours to complete. Langka seems more professional but is the cheaper of the two; which really doesn't make sense to me. See links below, they both have a 5 min or less video showing how they work.
Does anyone have experience with these? Or suggestions on which kit to purchase? I don't mind spending the extra money to get the right kit to get the best results.
Thanks
Dr. Colorchip
http://www.autogeek.net/dr-colorchip...ip-repair.html
Langka
http://www.autogeek.net/langka-paint...epair-kit.html
#2
Team Owner
Well, I don't like the idea of 'smearing' the paint all over the area around the damage. So, I'm not too hot on the first one. And, I don't believe in putting a big "blob" of paint in a chip just to fill it. (Which it won't do, anyway.) So, "0 for 2!!
Give me some paint prep cleaner, some good touch-up paint, some toothpicks, a sharp razor blade and some 'time' and those chips will disappear.
Bottom line: You can't buy a kit to fix your dings. You need to take time to fill shallow nicks with paint...one layer at a time, until the nick is just a bit 'over'filled. Make it flat with the surface with a razor blade or sandpaper smoothing. Then, polish and buff.
For deep nicks, they need to be cleaned, filled with spot putty, smoothed, painted (2 or 3 thin layers), then sanded smooth and flush. Polish and buff.
Always put paint on in thin layers and let them dry before adding another.
Time consuming? Yes. Better than "fix-it kits"? Yes.
Give me some paint prep cleaner, some good touch-up paint, some toothpicks, a sharp razor blade and some 'time' and those chips will disappear.
Bottom line: You can't buy a kit to fix your dings. You need to take time to fill shallow nicks with paint...one layer at a time, until the nick is just a bit 'over'filled. Make it flat with the surface with a razor blade or sandpaper smoothing. Then, polish and buff.
For deep nicks, they need to be cleaned, filled with spot putty, smoothed, painted (2 or 3 thin layers), then sanded smooth and flush. Polish and buff.
Always put paint on in thin layers and let them dry before adding another.
Time consuming? Yes. Better than "fix-it kits"? Yes.
#4
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Oct 2004
Location: South-central Missouri
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I have had very good luck with the Langka kit. Nothing like fixing a black car after being caught in a hail storm to figure out how to get "perfect" results (read: could NOT see where the repairs were!).
In short, I found ambient temperature and humidity affects the drying time of the little blob of paint; too little time and the paint blob would dish when polishing with the kit. But, drying time too long, and the blob would not polish easily, requiring more elbow grease to get it looking perfect again.
Above 60 degrees F, I found the ideal drying time was between 20 and 45 minutes (your mileage may vary).
In addition to paint chips, I was able to repair some edges where some PO knot-head buffed the car out w/o taping the panel edges, and burned through the color to the primer in several spots. The Langka to the rescue!
Chip size vs. Langka: In my exerience, there is a maximum size the chip can be and still have perfect results. I haven't figured out how to get it right if the chip is much bigger than the diameter of a wood pencil eraser. Maybe there is a way, but the one (dime size) chip I tried to fix was probably beyond the ability of the kit, and needed the help of the pros.
Hope this helps!
P.
In short, I found ambient temperature and humidity affects the drying time of the little blob of paint; too little time and the paint blob would dish when polishing with the kit. But, drying time too long, and the blob would not polish easily, requiring more elbow grease to get it looking perfect again.
Above 60 degrees F, I found the ideal drying time was between 20 and 45 minutes (your mileage may vary).
In addition to paint chips, I was able to repair some edges where some PO knot-head buffed the car out w/o taping the panel edges, and burned through the color to the primer in several spots. The Langka to the rescue!
Chip size vs. Langka: In my exerience, there is a maximum size the chip can be and still have perfect results. I haven't figured out how to get it right if the chip is much bigger than the diameter of a wood pencil eraser. Maybe there is a way, but the one (dime size) chip I tried to fix was probably beyond the ability of the kit, and needed the help of the pros.
Hope this helps!
P.
#7
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Getting a color match on five year old paint and forty year old paint are two different things.
I would live with what I had until repaint time.
I would live with what I had until repaint time.
#8
Melting Slicks
I learned this FWIW. Put the smallest dab on your chip, then immediately put the screw cap back on the bottle, turn around and walk away. Before this, I tried to get too "fancy" and ended up making a bigger mess than what I started with.
#9
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '17, '19
My car was repainted a year or so ago, I its really not that old. Plus I was mostly looking for my daily driver from 2006, painted in the last few years as my brother borrowed it and had an accident, causing a repaint.