Hi fellow MINIacts and happy Friday!!!

Quick question. Is it me, or has anyone else noticed the paint on your MINI chips with minimal effort? I've noticed 2 chips on my hood and yesterday I just "very lightly" grazed the wall in our garage while opening the driver side door to get in and it chipped. Not much, but certainly enough to bother me because I know it's there. :(

Well, I ordered this product and was also wondering if anyone has ever used it. If so, any tips will be most humbly appreciated.

Regards,
David

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Yes! Son Of A BI*^#! I was wondering the same. My Audi TT was much lower and never chipped like this Mini! Thought BMW would have done a better job on the Paint!
My Hood is all chipped up

 

Mine had a few chips along the edge of the door where I'm guessing the PO opened the door into something. Those I touched up with the same touch up paint you've got there (but in Eclipse Grey). I've got a couple of small chips on the edge of the hatch that look the same, though I'm not sure how they got there.

Here's a .

 

YIKES!! That looks really taxing. I'll wait until I get the paint and "attempt" this in a VERY inconspicuous area. I really feel as though I have handle this car with extreme care. I wonder if I can take it to a body shop, have them fix those chips, but more importantly apply a nice clear coat to the entire car. Any suggestions?

PS: I've already had it professionally detailed, but maybe more protection is needed. It's sad because I can't remember my other cars being so easily susceptible to chipping. :(

Regards,
David

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paint dings on MINIs and the "soft paint" discussion has been a hot topic since 3 weeks after the first MINI was sold in the US! One of the top 5 hot discussion topics which includes "15,000 old change interval, are they nuts", and "TOO MUCH BRAKE DUST" and "run flats suck" and "the windshield is soft because mine broke"

but I digress ....

first, you can not just apply a clear coat over the existing paint . . . I've painted cars, trained in a formal school and taught it .... Don't even THINK about it . . .

your car already HAS clear coat. All cars today are painted using a two part system ... a base coat of color and a top coat of clear (some have more parts .... my new FOCUS ST is 3 part ... color + pearl + clear) (the last car I know of that did NOT use base/clear was the first generation Miata in the non-metallic colors. In the late 90's a red Miata was STILL not clear coated - wanna know HOW I know - got one)

Is MINI clear soft? As one who buys clear from different makers / auto paint suppliers, I've never seen products rated for 'hardness' . . . does that mean it could be? or it is a non question ... IMO for hardness, clear is clear ...

The MINI has front end parts (and windshield) that are very vertical ... that increases the chance of dings

OP has ordered the factory touch-up paint kit. It contains a bottle of color (base) and a bottle of clear {that two part thing I was mentioning} This is just plain old touch up paint and is a good as any other although I usually get mine elsewhere (for less)
http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

{btw .. I WANT MINI PAINT! .... you have no idea who MINI is buying their paint from. In some years the paint for one color has 4 different matching formulas because that's how many times the builder changed suppliers and the shades CAN differ. You can not be sure the t/up paint in the bottle came from the same supplier as what's on your car. You CAN hope for a good color match and in 15 years of use, the link I posted has not disappointed me ....}

But the real KEY is not the paint, but the application .... and this requires skill and maybe some help. Search the detailing threads for touch up and you'll find long discussions

Here's a couple of quick points you may want to look into further

NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER try to fix a chip with the brush in the bottle. You WILL apply too much paint and end up with a BLOB. Some use super fine paint brushes (thin the paint), others use toothpicks and yet others use paper matches

There are products to help control the blobs.
http://www.drcolorchip.com/
http://www.langka.com/

I'm a Langka user myself ... but don't be fooled by either .... results improve with practice. Don't expect perfection the first time out.

There ARE plastic films you can apply to the front end to help protect things ... thick Saran Wrap! You can pay HUNDREDS to have it done at the dealer ... a bit less if you go to a vendor directly and you can buy the material yourself (see EASTWOOD.com) I've never been a fan of this however because IMO you ALWAYS see the seams/ends and the plastic gets dings that show too . . .

 

At the risk of causing thread drift (hopefully the original topic is covered)...

On the topic of hardness of clear: is a "high solids" clear going to be harder than a "standard" one? Have a car I'm prepping for paint (an early Miata, actually) and I've noticed some paint suppliers offer lines of clear with higher "solids" content.

 

Hi Capt.

Thanks for this VERY informative post and valuable link. Unfortunately, I had already ordered the paint from MINI but will keep this link handy as their prices are most reasonable. My only dilemma is the process. It seems quite complicated and I'd be lying if I said I'm afraid to do it. I can try the small door chip since it's in an inconspicuous area, but the bonnet chips ... I really don't know about them. :(

Regards,
David

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I got behind a truck the other day. The paint on my mini is so thin it did this. Took out my hood and roof of my car. Not to mention i got nailed by hail a week before. They they are fixxing the whole car. Total new paintjob. After it is done im going to use the new 3m spray on clear coating for my mini front end.

 

ever paint a bed room with $10/gallon paint and then next time use the $30/gallon paint?

$10 does not cover very well and you usually end up buying more paint and putting down multiple coats ...

more expensive paint has more solids and therefore covers faster/better/fills more gaps ....

a little experiment to try sometime is take 1/2 inch of left over paint, put it in a cup ... mark the level of the liquid and then let it dry .... the level goes down ... because the liquid 'carriers' go bye bye leaving the solids. That's what paint is: solids in a carrier that goes away. Are more solids harder? Well, they ARE thicker. Using a higher solids product might mean you can get good coverage in two coats whereas a lesser solid product might need 3. A painter is selling you two things .. paint, and his time to apply the paint. Fewer coats should mean less time but maybe higher material costs. Or high solids could result in 'deeper gloss' out of the same number of coats. So you have to look at the entire job. (and find out if your painter is more comfortable with one product over another ... a thicker product can require different equipment and technique)

btw clear solids cost less than colored solids ... this is where the base/clear idea came from. Rather than having pigment in the entire coating layer like house paint, base lays down a thin layer of color that doesn't even look very nice but saves some $ ... then you top with clear which provides gloss but costs less because there is no pigment . . .

 

and not to 'pile on' since you already see that this can be a wee bit more complicated than you first think. To fill a chip, and let's assume there is no dent - just the paint damage - you not only need to get the color in the right place but you need to match the existing surface level ... you want the result to be smooth.

This is what Langka helps with .. watch the videos .. start in an inconspic' spot and with L, if used properly you can START OVER . . . .

 

OMG!! I would have a cardiac!! I'm so sorry. :(

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Thanks Capt. I'll keep everyone posted when my touch-up paint kit arrives from MINI (fingers crossed).

Regards,
David

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Chips on your hood is your cars way of telling you that you are following too closely!! Many mini owners tend to tailgate....and the vertical painted surfaces and windshields on a mini will damage VERY EASILY....So back off!! The films applied to your hood, bumper, and headlights help tons if you can ignore the tiny seam.......

 

Absolutely true .. both the distance AND the seams in the plastic . .

but one addition: some places I've lived I've gone thru multiple windshields ... and other places I can go years with never a problem. My last problem area was Norfolk/Portsmouth VA . . My commuted took me to the interstate and the area was RICH in truck traffic being a big container port. LOTS of rocks kicked up by trucks!

Where I live now, Space Coast Florida, trucks are minimal and I don't commute (much less on the interstate) and even with a MINI I saw zero rock hits . . . When I DO see a big truck on the interstate now, I keep a good interval because I still remember watching a rock get kicked by a truck tire and BOUNCE 1, BOUNCE 2, BANG into the glass and HELLO CRACK. Longer interval usually means the rock looses the bounce ... and if another car decides to jump in my gap. GOOD, they can eat the rock!

{front glass and paint damage is usually covered under the comprehensive part of your auto insurance. Usually glass hits and paint damage from road debris is considered not your fault and is covered with no increase to rates. AND you might be surprised how little ZERO deductible costs as compared to a big deductible . . . not on collision, but on comp'. Every insurance vendor is different and your driving history does have an impact but I dropped my deduct' from $500 to zero for a few dollars a month of 4 cars with a teen boy as primary driver on a Miata! Costs nothing to ask . . first windshield I needed after the change saved several hundred dollars }

My last road damage was from a STORK dive-bombing my car tho . . . bird stood 4 feet tall and after the feathers cleared (hit was at 75 MPH) my pass' side mirror was gone .. just some dangling wires and a dent in the door.

 

Sad part I was not close to the rear. I do know better.

 

close enuf thu, huh?

hey, not dis'n ya, just trying to share some lessons learned. If you get behind a jerk truck leaking gravel you can be in a bad spot . . .


sometimes I stomp it just to get in front of these guys .. don't know if a trooper would buy my "why were you going 90" argument but is my excuse to see if the turbo is still working . . .

and none of this helps with suicidal storks . . . (I work at a zoo, yes it WAS a stork)