Home › Blog › How to repair chipped car paint
How to repair chipped paint on car hoods, doors and bumpers
To repair chipped paint on a car, wash and degrease the chip, treat any bare metal or rust, then build it back up with touch-up paint mixed to your car's factory color code in several thin layers, finish with clear coat and level the spot once it has cured. A handful of small, fresh chips is a fair weekend job for a careful owner; a hood full of freeway stone chips, chips with rust under them, or chips on a flexing plastic bumper usually look better and last longer with our scratch and chip repair done at your car.
Why a paint chip is worth fixing soon
A chip is a spot where something hit the paint hard enough to knock a flake out of it. On Southern California freeways the usual culprit is a pebble thrown up by the truck ahead of you on the 405, the 5 or the 91, so most chips gather on the leading edge of the hood, the front bumper, the side mirrors and the lower part of the windshield frame. Long daily commutes simply mean more miles in the spray of road grit.
Leaving a chip alone is tempting because it looks tiny. The trouble is what sits under it. Car paint is a stack: primer on the metal, a base coat that carries the color, and clear coat on top that takes the sun and the weather. Once a chip breaks through to bare steel, moisture from morning marine layer, sprinklers and car washes reaches the metal, and rust can start creeping sideways under the good paint around it. Even without rust, the broken edge of a chip gives the clear coat a place to start lifting, and strong sun speeds that up.
- Fresh chip, clean edges: the easiest one to fix well.
- Chip with an orange or brown ring: rust has begun and has to come out first.
- Chip with bubbling paint around it: rust has spread under the finish, which is a job for rust repair, not a touch-up bottle.
How deep is the chip? Read it before you buy anything
Look at the chip in daylight from a low angle, and use a phone flashlight if you are in a garage. What you see at the bottom tells you how much paint you need to put back.
| What you see in the chip | What is missing | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| A dull, shallow scuff in the same color | Clear coat only | Often just clear and a careful polish |
| A lighter or darker version of the color | Clear and some base coat | Base color plus clear |
| Grey, white or tan layer | Down to the primer | Base color plus clear, in more layers |
| Shiny silver metal | Everything, to bare steel or aluminum | Primer first, then base and clear |
| Black or grey plastic | Everything, on a plastic bumper | A primer made for plastic, then base and clear |
Count the chips too. Five or six scattered marks are one kind of job. Dozens of pinpoint chips across the front of the car, sometimes called road rash, are another, because filling each one by hand rarely looks even once you step back. That is where a refinish of the area makes more sense, and it is worth comparing the two in an estimate before you start dabbing.
Find your car's paint color code first
Never match touch-up paint by eye or by the color name in the brochure. Carmakers often sell several shades under names that sound alike, and a single color name can cover more than one formula across model years. What you want is the paint code, a short string of letters and numbers the factory assigned to that exact color.
On most cars the code is printed on a label inside the driver's door opening, on the door jamb or the pillar. Some makers put it under the hood, in the trunk, or in the glove box, and the owner's manual or the maker's owner website usually says where to look. The label may list several codes; the paint code is often marked with words such as paint, color or exterior.
With that code, a supplier can mix a touch-up that matches the factory formula. Even then, sun-faded paint on an older car can sit slightly off from a fresh mix, which is why a professional repair blends the new color into the surrounding finish rather than dropping it into one spot.
How to do a paint chip repair yourself, step by step
Work in the shade on a mild day. Hot panels in a summer driveway in Anaheim or Santa Ana make paint skin over before it levels, and a breeze drops dust into wet paint. Give yourself an afternoon, plus time for each coat to dry.
- Wash and degrease. Clean the area with car wash soap, dry it, then wipe the chip with a wax and grease remover or isopropyl alcohol so the paint has something to grip.
- Deal with loose edges and rust. Flick away any lifting flakes with a toothpick. If there is a speck of rust, take it out with a fiberglass rust pen or a fine abrasive until the metal is bright.
- Prime bare metal or plastic. Dab a very small amount of primer into the bottom of the chip only. Keep it inside the crater and let it dry fully.
- Build the color in thin layers. Use a fine artist's brush or a micro applicator rather than the fat brush in the cap. Put a tiny drop in the center and let it flow to the edges. Let it dry, then repeat until the color sits just below the surrounding paint.
- Add clear coat. A drop or two of clear brings the spot level with, or very slightly above, the original finish and protects the color underneath.
- Let it cure. Follow the drying time on the product. Rushing the next step is the most common way to ruin the job.
- Level and polish. Once cured, a raised blob can be carefully leveled with a fine sanding block or a leveling solution and then polished. Go gently: it is easy to cut through the factory clear around the chip.
Expect a well-done touch-up to make a chip far less noticeable from a few feet away, and to seal the metal. Up close, especially on dark or metallic colors, you may still see it.
When a touch-up is enough and when to have it repaired
Do-it-yourself chip repair is honest work for small, isolated chips on a daily driver. It stops rust and makes the marks fade into the car. A professional repair is the better call in these cases:
- Many chips on the hood and bumper. Hand-dabbing dozens of chips leaves a speckled look. A proper repair sands the area, applies color-matched base and clear, and blends it so the panel reads as one finish.
- Chips on metallic or pearl paint. The flakes in these colors lie differently when brushed than when sprayed, so a brush touch-up can look darker or grainier than the panel around it.
- A chip on a dent. If the hit also pushed the metal in, a small dent with only a chip at its center can sometimes come out first with paintless dent removal, and then the chip gets filled. When the paint around it is cracked or flaking, paintless work is off the table and the dent needs a filler-and-paint repair; the estimate settles which.
- Chips on a plastic bumper cover. Bumpers flex, so paint there needs the right primer and flex additive or it cracks again. Scuffed or chipped corners are part of our bumper repair work.
- Clear coat peeling around the chips. When the top layer has started to lift, filling the chip will not stop it. That is a clear coat repair instead.
If you are not sure which group your car falls into, a couple of clear photos usually answer it.
Car paint chip repair cost: what sets the price
No two chip repairs are priced the same, because the work behind them is so different. A single chip on a door edge and a front end peppered after years on the 710 are not the same job. These are the things that move the number:
- How many chips, and how spread out. A few isolated chips can be filled one by one; a large field of chips usually means refinishing and blending a section.
- How deep they go. Chips into primer or bare metal need more layers than chips that only nicked the clear.
- Rust. Any corrosion has to be removed and the metal sealed before paint goes on.
- The color. Solid colors are the simplest to match. Metallic, pearl and tri-coat finishes take more care to blend.
- Where they are. Hood edges, bumper corners, mirror caps and door edges each need different masking and access.
- Metal or plastic. A plastic bumper needs its own primer and flexible paint.
The way to get a real number is to show us the car. Send a photo from a few steps back and one close up through the estimate page, or email them to help@socalmobiledentrepair.com. You can also call us and describe the chips, or have us look in person.
How we repair paint chips at your car
SoCal Mobile Dent Repair is a family owned and operated mobile business run by Antonio Dennis, and the repair happens where your car already is: the driveway in Torrance, the office lot in Irvine, the parking structure near your job in Pasadena. We clean and inspect each chip, remove any rust, prime what needs it, and apply paint matched to your car's factory color code, then clear and finish it so the area sits flush.
Every paint repair we do carries a one-year warranty on paint. Most jobs are done the same day. If the chips turn out to be part of a bigger story, such as a dent, peeling clear coat or a rusted edge, we tell you and the estimate covers it.
Ready to get the chips sorted? Start with an estimate from photos, a phone call or a visit, anywhere in Los Angeles County or Orange County.
Questions people ask
Does touch-up paint stop rust in a stone chip?
It helps, as long as the chip is clean and has no rust when you seal it. Paint over existing rust traps it, and it keeps spreading under the touch-up, so remove any orange spots down to bright metal and prime them first.
Can I use a touch-up pen on a plastic bumper?
You can, but bumpers flex. Without a primer made for plastic, the touch-up tends to crack or flake off after a few bumps. Large or many chips on a bumper are better refinished.
Where is the paint code on my car?
Most cars have it on a label inside the driver's door opening. Others put it under the hood, in the trunk or in the glove box. Your owner's manual or the maker's owner site tells you where to look on your model.
Will a repaired chip be invisible?
A professional repair with color-matched paint that is blended into the panel can be very hard to spot. A brush touch-up mostly fades from a distance and may still show up close, especially on dark or metallic paint.
Related
Scratch and chip repair
Key scratches, scuffs and stone chips, color-code matched
Car scratch repair cost and the fingernail test
Clear coat, base coat or primer: how deep the scratch goes decides the fix
Rust repair
Rust spots cut back, treated and refinished
Clear coat repair
Peeling, cloudy or sun-damaged clear coat repaired
Bumper repair
Dents, scuffs, cracks and loose bumper covers, repaired or replaced
Get your dent, bumper or paint repair estimate
Estimates over the phone, from photos or in person, whichever you prefer. Most jobs are done the same day.