Clear coat auto paint can be a lifesaver when it comes to preserving your car's paint finish. It is worthwhile to buy a small touch up bottle of clear coat paint. Having even a small can on hand at all times can be very convenient. You can use it to make easy repairs that can immediately fix small paint chips, covering them up and stopping them from growing any larger. Even more importantly, a clear coat will seal the finish to protect your metal and prevent oxidization and rust. However, even though it is very simple to actually cover your paint chips and clear coat, it is helpful if you know a few of these tips.
Don't Seal Over Rust Spots
First of all, it is important that you never apply clear coat over a chip or scratch that is already starting to rust. Applying this coat over rust is not necessarily going to prevent it from continuing to grow. Instead, you need to clean off all the rust as well as possible. To do this, you can use a few different materials. If you invest in a rust remover liquid, it should remove most of the rust. However, even if you have a powerful rust remover, the more stubborn parts might need to be sanded away. Sanding off your rust can be done by hand, or with a disc sander if you already have one. Usually,a disc sander is not necessary for small paint chips.
Do You Need to Use Touch Up Paint Too?
You have to consider if you are actually going to use touch paint as well. If the chip is small enough, paint is not necessary. For example, if the hole is so big that the metal is actually visible and you can tell that the paint is missing, you probably want to cover it up. However, if you just buy a clear coat, it isn't going to hide the color difference. It makes more sense to use the right touch up paint to hide the blemish before you apply any clear coat.
Some people apply the clear coat to temporarily protect their paint, and then come back and apply the paint over it. This definitely creates extra steps because you need to sand the surface flat, apply the touch up paint, buff it out, and then apply more clear coat on top of it.
All in all, it doesn't take any special tools to repair small paint chips, so it is smart to fix them yourself with clear coat to prevent future problems. For professional help, get in touch with a company like August European.
I have never been an especially handy person, but a few years ago I decided that I needed to learn more about my vehicle. I was tired of always relying on someone else to fix things, so I began reading more and more about the process. I realized that there were a lot of things that I needed to do, so I began taking a little course on at-home auto service. I still have a lot to learn, but now I can at least go through and change my air filter and check my oil. Read this blog to learn more about auto service.