Doc

My black 98 SE is suffering from paint chips all over the hood. My neighbor is a paint shop foreman and wants me to fill them all in with touch up, which I have done. He said he will bring home his buffer and work the hood out. He believes he can restore the hood very well. Any of you guys have any experience with doing this? I really want to get the hood looking good again without having the hood repainted to the tune of $400 or $500. Any feedback is welcome. Thanks.

PoePoe2797

It'll never look the same, and you will always be able to tell...allthough it will keep it from corroding. Might as well just re-paint the hood if your going to spend that much time filling in chips

Doc

Man, I was hoping you wouldn't say that. Repainting is still an option, although it's going to be some time before that can be afforded. Thanks for your input, Poe.

Cal0205

I have the same problem. Everytime I touched it up, next time i wash my car, I find new ones.

I was thinking of getting a bra for the car but it might loook ugly.

nostrixoxide

Please do me a favor????
Do not go to a shop that is gonna charge you $400 to $500 hundred to paint your hood. The average cost to paint a single panel (hood) should be between $150 to $250 at the most. Especially if your car is black! Were not talking about some 3 stage pearl job here... Do alittle market research & you'll be glad that you did?

Another thing I wanted to mention:
I know that bra's are a good way to mask little paint chip's and even minor ding's & this is a good thing especially if the damage is already done and you plan on having the damage repaired in the future. But after you have the damaged fixed ({"DO NOT"}) continue to use the bra. Only put the bra on your car if you plan on taking a long road trip or something of that nature. If you ever seen the damage that a bra will do to a paint job you will thank me. If moisture (rain, soapy water, etc) ever get's underneath the bra it will fog your clear coat beyond repair. I don't care how much you color sand & buff you will never get the fog out of the clear coat & you will find yourself having to repair the front of your car again. I think 3M makes a product that you stick directly to the surface of the paint & it's clear. This will protect the front of your vehicle from rock chip's & such's. It in my opinion is the better route to take instead of using a bra.

1996blackmax

iTrader: (2)

I actually have filled in many of the chips on my hood. If you look close you can see them, but at least they don't stick out anymore. I am very happy with my results, eventhough I have not buffed them out (I put on very light coats). I have an OEM bra that I use whenever I go on long trips to avoid anymore large chips.

Doc

Good advice! The body shop I use is a guy I trust, but he had told me one time that Nissan's super black is one of the easiest colors to match because it has no hint of other colors in it like brown, etc. I'm thinking he was trying to discourage me from making him do the work. He was giving me the blending crap about blending the hood with the front quarters, which I wasn't buying since he had already told me once about the ease of matching the color.

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

my car is black and its riddled with chips all over the bumper and hood. your best bet for the long run is to sand it all off, re-primer and repaint the entire front end. thats what im gonna do and also get a car bra. touch-up paint is for temporary use. youre better off re-doing the whole thing. its not worth it.

Doc

I'm toying with getting a hood deflector rather than a bra, which I'd have to put on and take off constantly.

nostrixoxide

I understand, my best friend is a painter & I have learned alot from him. I am totally confident that I could paint any vehicle I wanted, no matter what type of paint, color, etc. I wouldn't be to concerned about the blending the fenders to match the freshly painter hood. There is such little roll off that it would hardly be noticable, especially if the paint is mixed correctly & they blow a test card to check the color they just mixed against the rest of the car to make sure it matched. I would just sweet talk your friend into doing the work for you, I have yet to meet a painter that wouldn't mind making all the money on a job instead of like 2 or 3 flagged hours???

flashover

Colgan custom makes an awsome-easy carbon fiber car bra. A little expensive, but it looks nice and fits 100 times better than LeBra.

DpG $h0rTeE

iTrader: (3)

dont mean to hiajck the thread or anything but can someone tell me wheres a good place to find some touch up paint besides the dealership??

I need to fix a big chunk of paint that chipped/peeled on the bodykit after a bad scrape

nadir_s

i have 168k highway miles on my maxima.... you can only imagine the number of chips I have on my hood.


However.... there is a solution. If you can get your hands on an orbital, and hit it with a heavy polish and cutting pad, it will do WONDERS. TRUST ME! I wish I could get you before after pics. I ended up getting a CF hood.... maybe you should do that lol.

endus

iTrader: (1)

You can touch them up, but you'll be able to tell. It will be *better* if you're careful about it, but it won't be perfect. Repaint is the best way to go but if you fill the chips CAREFULLY and SLOWLY you might ahve some luck.

As far as the blending, he was giving you the correct advice if you want to have a decent looking paint job. If you want your car to look like **** with a giant color difference between the hood and front fenders, then don't have the blending done.

nadir_s

His car is black though, the only difference he would see is the shine in clearcoat. It would be pretty sad if they get the wrong black though..... in my accident last year, they repainted my driver side door and didn't touch anything else. I told them if they were going to blend it and they said they dind't need to. He was right, they did a pretty damn good job. I have pics of it somewhere if anyone cares to see... only real difference is the clarity of reflection off the paint.

good luck!

Brudaddy

iTrader: (2)

yeah, you ought to just have it repainted and then get some of that 3M stuff that you put on the front of the car. It is just a protective clear coating that acts like a bra, but you cannot see. I have heard pretty good stuff about that.

I would say get a bra, but the only thing with that is the bra is all you see. Yeah, you don't get the rock chips, but then you cannot see the beautiful paint either.

maximus_pr

iTrader: (3)

www.courtesyparts.com
they sell oem touch up paint i use the brush type paint on stone chips everytime i wash my car

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

it not just hides the beautiful paint but protects it too. makes it last longer yeah?

toofast240

Mine is all chipped up too. Touch up paint is never the answer for someone who cares about their car. Just start saving and get the paint job. I am doing just that.

maximus_pr

iTrader: (3)

until then i rather use touch up paint

95snakekiller

paid my painter from work 300$ to urathane base/clear black my hood looked nasty now its dinged and chipped up yet again

luga982

i think you should get the carbon fiber hood.
i had the same problem.
it will save u cheese.

ohannon7

iTrader: (5)

repaint or get a CF hood, then stop tailgating

Id get a CF hood....

Matt_NZ

I'm in the same boat. Although my bonnet (hood ) is fairly clean, the front bumper is riddled with tiny stone chips Would blending need to be done with silver paint if I were to get it re-painted?