Posidrive Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Just spoke to a Chips Away guy in the local Sainbury car park to ask him how much it would cost to fix a couple of stone ships that have been getting on my nerves. Was surprised by 2 things they said: - We should really be call "Scrapes Away". We don't do stone chips. - We only do the silver and blue 350Zs. Too hard to get a color match (mine is Sunset). Is this true, or did I just get a guy who is "a bit inexperienced" to put it politely as possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narcotix Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I had a guy out from Chips Away today to have a look at a few stone chips I've got on the drivers side of the car ... He said from looking at it that he'd only be able to do a touch up on the scratches and although the scratch would still be there ... it would just be coloured in ... He wasn't prepared to spray the car in any away and in the end advised me to get a touch up stick from Nissan and have a go at doing it myself ... The guy also mentioned that Silver is the hardest colour to match ... Sounds like there's some conflicting information there ... It might just be down to the guy and what he's capable of .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vale Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 There is no such thing as a good paint repair that is done on your drive !!!! cowboys Its a bigger procedure then most people think to get rid of a chip or scrape and in my albiet ex-professional opinion ALL paint needs to be baked !!! COB paints are always the hardest to match and then they still need blending out over a large area. Patience and a steady hand will do as good a result as any forcourt paint "Technician" on stone chips. Vale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barx Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I cant see why people use chips away, especially if you own a nice car. The amount of times i have people come in to work (i work in a bodyshop) asking for a quote to repair or repaint an area that chips away tried and failed miserable. Usually also costing the owner more than if they had of just gone to a bodyshop in the first place. They are good for people who don't really care about their car, or are not one who likes to keep their car clean and waxed up and looking nice, or a car not worth good money or whatnot, but all they do is blow over the area, 99.9% of time you can still see or/and feel the chips/scratch under their blow in, the colour's arent always right and sometimes you get terrible orange peel. Combine all these and can you imagine the state you're left with. Of course this is perfectly acceptable for some people, but it annoys me when people who do care about their car pay the cheapest possible for a bit of repair work and wonder why its not perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vale Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Its actually untrue about ANY paint being the hardest to match ! Fact. If you have the correct code and its mixed correctly thats the paint side of things matched, however the application is where things get tricky !! When a base coat is applied the metal fleck can :- 1) Be applied at a random pressure resulting in a difference in patterns, Lines or zebra'ing etc. 2) Being applied at a random distance. See above. 3) Even being applied in a different direction to what already painted. See also above. There are many more factors which can affect metalic fleck laying differently to the rest of the car which makes "Matching" a hit and miss procedure. God i am boring Hope this helps in some way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 To come to the defence of Chips Away, I have used them a few times (our local one) and they were excellent. Much better than the Nissan approved bodyshop that did some work. They even did my stone chips for free when they had it in for a scrape I got in the work car park. And this required them to mix up both mixtures they had for my colour code to get the right one. While it is true SMART repairs will never match a proper respray, a good SMART repair is far better than a bad respray! The problem with CA is that they are a franchise and they are only as good as your local one. Ours was very good, but the chap developed problems with his hands after so much sanding and rotary work, so unfortunately stopped doing it. Real shame as they were very good at what they do. They now run an alloy refurb place and did my wheels before Scotland. Again they did an excellent job, better than the refurbs I'd had before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog518 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Always go to a pro paint/ bodywork specialist! I made the mistake of ignoring this when I had a small car park dent in my brand new pug 106. I was told the bodywork guy at peugeot could see to it (friend of a friend) and for a quick back hander I have now lived with a flat halo ring on the door for 8 years!! f###s me off every time I look at it! Moral is "pay cheap,pay twice"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posidrive Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Don't get me wrong, I realise that these types of repair are never going to be as good as a complete panel respray by a good body shop, but I was having a "what the hell" moment". The chips aren't bad enough to justfy a bodyshop at the moment although the 3 small scratches from an "oh crap" moment when I heard the bang on the way to work last week are slightly more visible but I think that I'll wait until a get a few parking dinks before I splash out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narcotix Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I think I'm going to do the same ... I can't justify having the car painted just because of a few stone chips ... I'm gonna let them build up over time until it gets to a point where I feel it NEEDS to be done ... Anyway I can think of better ways I can spend the money on the Zed in the meantime ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Don't get me wrong, I realise that these types of repair are never going to be as good as a complete panel respray by a good body shop, but I was having a "what the hell" moment". The chips aren't bad enough to justfy a bodyshop at the moment although the 3 small scratches from an "oh crap" moment when I heard the bang on the way to work last week are slightly more visible but I think that I'll wait until a get a few parking dinks before I splash out. Try and find another Chips Away or SMART repair place. I have 2 or 3 within reasonable distance of me so you should be able to find something where you are. Or even a detailer might be able to help. Just steer clear of anyone that says they dont touch certain colours or stone chips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I have'nt used a chips away yet.... used a dent master and he was very good. I think that there is an argument that both a pro body shop and a chips away could both be crap, in my opinion. I have used body shops several times before and have had mixed results. so in conclusion i would always go on recommendation from either as i have seen some really good chips away repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 i have a repair thats needed on the rear arch and had contemplated using something similar to CA, but speaking to my trust body shop they said similar to Vale, so i'll save up a bit more and get them to re-spray the whole wing. it will cost more, but i know it will be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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