Paint chip repair AKA am I crazy to try to spray this myself?

Pribilof

Life's Better @ Elevation
Established Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,156
Location
Denver, CO
Backed into a stray shopping cart at Home Depot. Got an awesome dent in the tailgate of the Ram. I was able to completely pop out the dent but some of the paint flaked off (down to bare aluminum) during the repair. You can see some additional paint is spidering below the chip.

Am I crazy for trying to spray this using Ram's touch-up spray paint? I was thinking of taping off and applying primer to get the level closer to even with the factory paint. Then spraying and blending as best I can.

If it fails, I'm out $40 in paint. I'm not a painter but I'm comfortable wet sanding and polishing, etc.

paint chip.jpg
 

RedVenom48

Let's go Brandon!
Established Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
7,973
Location
Arizona
Backed into a stray shopping cart at Home Depot. Got an awesome dent in the tailgate of the Ram. I was able to completely pop out the dent but some of the paint flaked off (down to bare aluminum) during the repair. You can see some additional paint is spidering below the chip.

Am I crazy for trying to spray this using Ram's touch-up spray paint? I was thinking of taping off and applying primer to get the level closer to even with the factory paint. Then spraying and blending as best I can.

If it fails, I'm out $40 in paint. I'm not a painter but I'm comfortable wet sanding and polishing, etc.

View attachment 1605151
Id take a toothpick and try and get as much of the flake and unbonded paint off of there as possible.

wetsand with fine grit to make the transition from paint to bare metal smooth. Prep with wax grease remover. You got it from there.
 

svtfocus2cobra

Opprimere, Velocitas, Violentia Operandi
Established Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
26,240
Location
Washington
If it is a spray then how do you plan on doing the clearcoat? Spraying base is easy and a basic white like that is not that hard to blend but it is the clearcoat that is going to make the difference and is the hard lost part to get right. If you blend out the base but dont clearcoat the whole panel you are going to be left with an even bigger flat spot that will stand out worse.
 

Pribilof

Life's Better @ Elevation
Established Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,156
Location
Denver, CO
If it is a spray then how do you plan on doing the clearcoat? Spraying base is easy and a basic white like that is not that hard to blend but it is the clearcoat that is going to make the difference and is the hard lost part to get right. If you blend out the base but dont clearcoat the whole panel you are going to be left with an even bigger flat spot that will stand out worse.

Mopar sells clear coat spray cans to match my vehicle
 

SolarYellow

Sensei
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2005
Messages
9,585
Location
Scranton, PA
What’s the worse that can happen if you attempt it yourself?


Sent from my iPad using svtperformance.com
 

Sn95Snake

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2010
Messages
5,179
Location
California
I would say go for it, worst case you are out $40, some time, and it looks better then it does now.
 

coposrv

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2007
Messages
5,030
Location
boston
Try it. You’re not going to **** it up too much worse than it is already. More than likely going to develop a pretty handy skill.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
 

CobraBob

Authorized Vendor
Established Member
Premium Member
Single Barrel Sirs
Joined
Nov 17, 2002
Messages
105,354
Location
Cheshire, CT
Not something I'd attempt on a newer vehicle, but it's definitely worth a shot. Really nothing to lose expect your time and the cost of the spray paint.
 

svtfocus2cobra

Opprimere, Velocitas, Violentia Operandi
Established Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
26,240
Location
Washington
Mopar sells clear coat spray cans to match my vehicle

I'll be curious to see the outcome then. Working in body repair, I have never seen any quick fixes that can provide an outcome that doesn't show that touch up has been applied. There are professional products that can melt new clear I to old bur they have to be used in very specific applications. Touch up products usually dont have any of those capabilities. White hides a lot so I dont doubt that you will get something that looks better but I dont think you will be able to get it to look like something wasn't tried on it.
 

Pribilof

Life's Better @ Elevation
Established Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,156
Location
Denver, CO
I'll be curious to see the outcome then. Working in body repair, I have never seen any quick fixes that can provide an outcome that doesn't show that touch up has been applied. There are professional products that can melt new clear I to old bur they have to be used in very specific applications. Touch up products usually dont have any of those capabilities. White hides a lot so I dont doubt that you will get something that looks better but I dont think you will be able to get it to look like something wasn't tried on it.

Thanks for the tip. Been reading a lot of internet posts. Will look for a clear coat melting agent for blending.

Thought this post was really informative.
Blending Clear.. The Right Way....

Am I looking for something like this?
BS12 - URE-BLEND Clearcoat Blender | Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes
 

svtfocus2cobra

Opprimere, Velocitas, Violentia Operandi
Established Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
26,240
Location
Washington
That looks like a version of the stuff but I would warn about how difficult it will be to do it. Clearing and melting in clear is the single most difficult part of the painting process and if one little thing is wrong then it wont turn out and you will have a much bigger project on your hands fixing it. Luckily it is relegated to just the tailgate and not a bedside or something so it isn't a huge panel to fix but spot repairs are not the ideal route to take. I dont know if the aerosol products are more forgiving so maybe they have made it easier somehow but I cant stress enough how terribly bad it can turn out. If anything is contaminating the panel while you are painting you will get fisheyes and other reactions that will essentially ruin the whole thing. You'll have to sand it down and start fresh likely having to paint the whole panel.
 

Pribilof

Life's Better @ Elevation
Established Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,156
Location
Denver, CO
That looks like a version of the stuff but I would warn about how difficult it will be to do it. Clearing and melting in clear is the single most difficult part of the painting process and if one little thing is wrong then it wont turn out and you will have a much bigger project on your hands fixing it. Luckily it is relegated to just the tailgate and not a bedside or something so it isn't a huge panel to fix but spot repairs are not the ideal route to take. I dont know if the aerosol products are more forgiving so maybe they have made it easier somehow but I cant stress enough how terribly bad it can turn out. If anything is contaminating the panel while you are painting you will get fisheyes and other reactions that will essentially ruin the whole thing. You'll have to sand it down and start fresh likely having to paint the whole panel.

Having to redo the entire panel is already what my body shop quoted. $2k - to be fair, this also included "attempting" to fix the dent (ordering a new tailgate was the next step). I had a local hail dent guy fix the dent... for free.

If my $40 or $50 fix fails, won't I just be back to body shop #1 and a full panel paint job (minus the dent repair)?

ETA: If I'm in for $2k on a tailgate maybe I should just LineX the whole truck!
 

svtfocus2cobra

Opprimere, Velocitas, Violentia Operandi
Established Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
26,240
Location
Washington
Having to redo the entire panel is already what my body shop quoted. $2k - to be fair, this also included "attempting" to fix the dent (ordering a new tailgate was the next step). I had a local hail dent guy fix the dent... for free.

If my $40 or $50 fix fails, won't I just be back to body shop #1 and a full panel paint job (minus the dent repair)?

$2k? That is a $500 repair at most. A Ram tailgate new is $800 through aftermarket and $1000 new from Ram, and painting one only costs about $300-400, so 2k is way over priced unless you have some other serious damage going on but that quote exceeds OEM replacement costs. If you brought that into my shop I would have quoted you about $400 cash to fix that. But yes, if it doesn't turn out then you just have to take it to a shop.
 

Pribilof

Life's Better @ Elevation
Established Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,156
Location
Denver, CO
$2k? That is a $500 repair at most. A Ram tailgate new is $800 through aftermarket and $1000 new from Ram, and painting one only costs about $300-400, so 2k is way over priced unless you have some other serious damage going on but that quote exceeds OEM replacement costs. If you brought that into my shop I would have quoted you about $400 cash to fix that. But yes, if it doesn't turn out then you just have to take it to a shop.

Wow, thanks. And yes, this shop is crazy expensive. The repair quote included 8 hours (at $60/hr) of labor to repair that dent! Remember, the hail guys did it for FREE!
Another $150 to code scan before and after the job, $200 to "disconnect battery and re-initialize vehicle"... etc. LOL.


TAILGATE_Image_2.jpg
TAILGATE_Image_3.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 20191021103006166.pdf
    227.6 KB · Views: 57

svtfocus2cobra

Opprimere, Velocitas, Violentia Operandi
Established Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
26,240
Location
Washington
Those charges are bogus. At all of the shops I have worked for we charged nothing for the pre/post scans and disconnecting the battery is built into the labor times if the job even warrants it. They are just looking for ways to take your money. I didnt realize that was a brand new Ram so are those tailgates Aluminum now? If so then the labor time goes up to repair that dent but that should only be about 3-4hrs of labor. A lot of shops go crazy high with their estimates with Aluminum but we always treated it mostly the same because it was never all that much more difficult for us to repair it with the techs we had. It usually only warrants an extra hour or two of labor over repairing steel panels. The emblems are pricey but they can be retaped because of their size. My quote would be higher after seeing that but $2k is still way too much.
 

fast ford brian

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2010
Messages
1,084
Location
Ocala Fl
SEM product called Blendz is what your after to melt the new to old clearcoat . You have to use 2K clear in an aerosol though not the single stage . Personally I would respray the whole tailgate . You will spend more time trying to "fix" that one spot then you would the whole thing .
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top