been there, done that... (archive)

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I'm actually surprised that you haven't had a dozen responses to this question. Most on this board are obsessive about paints nicks and chips and many have experimented with the various repair strategies.

I believe there is an article on MZ3.net regarding a professional service that comes to your home/office and touches up paint chips. You might be able to find a similar service near you.

I have collected 8 or 9 small nicks around the kidney grills and over the headlights on my 00 topaz blue 2.3. I also took a glancing strike from a flying hubcap (don't ask) while doing 65+ on the freeway which gouged a few scratches in the rocker and rear quarter panels just in front of the right rear tire.

To fix them , I purchased the official BMW touch-up paiont kit that includes a color-matched bottle and a clear-coat bottle. Also bought some langka "blob remover" (www.langka.com) for around $20. After using some fine grain (~1000 grit) wet sandpaper to gently clean off the burrs along the edges of the pits, I carefully filled the holes with the color coat using a toothpick as an applicator (this after shaking the bottle for about 10 solid minutes to maximize suspension of the metallic flakes). After about an hour of drying time, I used the langka to smooth off the "blob" of paint that protruded above the surrounding paint. then I waited another couple of hours for eveything to dry and repeated the process with the clear coat. End result: I know where the spots are, and if I'm looking intently from a few feet away, I can see a slight discoloration. I doubt that a casual observer would notice. My wife (possibly more obsessive than I am, but not as intimately familiar with the location of the dits) can't find more than a few of them and then only after careful study.

I prefer my approach to paying someone to do it because I'm the only one to blame if something doesn't work quite right. Plus, I know that I'll be meticulous boarding on anal retentive about getting it right. No such guarantee from someone else...

P.S. I'm assuming that the scratch penetrated the color coat. if not, you should skip the color step in my suggestion. Just try the clear coat and langka.

: I just noticed a small scratch on my '00 2.3/steel grey left rear quarter panel. The scratch does not appear to be one I can compound out. I also have a slight chip on the edge of my driver's side door (caused by an a**hole parking lot attendant. Question -- any suggestions on the best method to touch these babies up? What is the best tool to use to apply the touchup? Should I go to my dealer to do the job.

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