Remember that gravel truck traveling at 70 mph that suddenly switched lanes in front of you and bounced a few marble-size rocks off your hood? Now you’ve got several tiny chips in your paint finish that could grow to quarter-size rust spots in a few years. Take care of the problem right away for less than $10, and you’ll save yourself big money later on, not to mention the embarrassment of driving a premature clunker.

Fix it before it's too late
The top photo shows a typical rock chip that you can fix with this procedure. In fact, even if the chip is about one-fourth the size of a dime, you can still repair it.

The bottom photo shows a chip that should have been repaired long ago. The metal inside the chip has rusted and started to lift the paint at the edges. This fix is less do-it-yourself–friendly and requires sanding, priming and painting.

The fix we show here is for fresh chips that haven’t started to rust yet. If you see a rust spot, or have a dent along with your chip, you’ll need to do a more challenging fix than we show here. Keep in mind that this repair will be visible under close scrutiny, but if you buy the right touch-up color, it’ll be unnoticeable from a few feet away.

Buy auto primer and the right paint
At an auto parts store, you’ll find a display of auto touch-up paints. Look up your car’s year, make and model in the booklet at the display. You’ll find a list of factory colors that cars like yours were painted that year. If you have a white vehicle and there is only one white listed for it, just buy that one. If you don’t know the color number for your car, you’ll have to find it on your vehicle identification plate. This can be challenging. The plate may be located under the hood on the cowl, near the radiator shield or on the jamb of the driver’s door. Some owner’s manuals will tell you where to look, or a quick call to your dealer will help. Once you find the number, buy a small bottle of touch-up paint. If you can’t find the correct color at the display, check with the dealer. Dealers often carry colors for the cars they sell. Also, buy a small can of auto primer.

Now just follow our photo sequence to fix that chip, and remember, don’t do this repair in the direct sun or if the temperature is below 50 degrees F.

TIP: If you can only find spray paint with the right color number, you can use it by spraying a bit of paint into the cap and applying it with a fine artist’s brush.

From The Family Handyman - February 2003

Originally in How to Repair Chipped Car Paint