Minor car repairs, including some kinds of body work, can be done at home.
Your vehicle is one of the biggest investments you make. So it is important to keep the exterior paint and body looking good. You don't need to make a trip to a body shop for basic repairs, you can make them much quicker and cheaper at home, by doing them yourself. Paint chips and small dents are minor repair jobs. The most important part of do-it-yourself auto body work is to properly clean and prepare the surface. Always start by washing the area that is being repaired.
Instructions
Repairing chipped paint
1. Sand the chipped area using a medium-grit sandpaper. Completely sand the area down to the bare metal. Choose a finer grit of sandpaper, and sand the area again. Wipe the dust from the area for inspection. Chips with rust will require a coarser sandpaper and more work to clean the pits from the metal.
2. Use an ultra-fine sandpaper designed for wet sanding to finish sanding the area. Wet the area with a sponge before sanding. Pay attention to where the edge of the paint meets the bare metal. With some work, you can make this edge smooth and undetectable from the bare metal. Do not sand more of the paint off than is necessary to clean the area and maintain smoothness. Wipe the area dry.
3. Fill in any pits or crevices that cannot be made smooth with body-filler putty. Allow the putty to dry, and wet sand it with the fine sandpaper. The putty surface should be even with the paint edge as you run your hand over it. Dry the area again.
4. Apply masking tape around the paint chip, about 3 inches away, enclosing the sanded area. Apply the spray primer to the sanded area. Let it dry thoroughly. Spray a light coat of the matching color on the area. Let that coat dry, and spray another coat on. Let it dry completely. Remove the masking tape, and wet sand the newly painted area with 1000-grit sandpaper lightly. Note that the paint line formed by the masking tape will become less noticeable as you sand.
5. Clean the area that has been repaired. Polish the area to a shine with the light polishing compound. Apply the automotive wax to finish the area.
Tags: area that, bare metal, masking tape, area again, area with, body work, sand area
