Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

[mis3]

Did anyone try this product to repair stone chips? It looks good, at least in theory, but hard to tell.

http://www.langka.com/chip-scratch-repair-c-21.html

[erobertson]

Re: Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

I've used the Langka kit several times but have never been really satisfied with the product. It will work as advertised but I've found other products that provided a better result. The kit makes a good repair with basic colors such a pure black or red. Metallics and Pearls not so good from my experience. There are other products on the market such as Touchup 123 and Dr ColorChip that are easier to use. If you want perfection best to build up the repair with several layers of touch up paint and then wet sand flat to blend in. This obviously takes a bit more skill. The Touchup 123 and Dr ColorChip can come very close to this.

[mis3]

Re: Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

I also read that Langka has issues with metallic paint. The metal particles would float to the top and get removed by the blob eliminator.

However, my car is silver so it may not show too much. A few of my stone chips on the hood are deep that I am not sure if I should use touch-up paint (a lot) to fill in the holes. What if Langka could not remove the blob and I will be left with a blob !!! This will look worse.

[erobertson]

Re: Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

Langka will work with the deeper chips. If the chip is all the way through to metal use a thin coat of primer as the first coat. You can buy a small tube from any of the auto stores. One of the popular brands is Duplicolor. Then continue to apply thin coats of touchup and allow to dry. Then final coat should be just above the surrounding paint. It is this final coat that you will use the Langka to blend into the surroundings and level out the repair. If it doesn't look right you can always use the Langka with a bit more "passion" and remove all the paint so that you can start over. The Lanka Blob eliminator is capable of removing some touchup paints up to a week after application.

[mis3]

Re: Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

When you mentioned primer, is it a putty-like material to fill in the hole?

So, after applying this primer, I probably should wet-sand to make it smooth. To make sure that I do not damage the surrounding print/clear coat, what grid of sandpaper should I use?

Then the final step is to apply touch -up paint.

[mis3]

Re: Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

I did some research and the purpose of a primer is to prepare the metal to accept the paint and also rust proofing.

I need some material to fill in the hole (very small).

[erobertson]

Re: Fixing Stone Chips with Langka

What you're looking for is spot putty. You can pick this up from some auto supply stores and auto paint shops. A small tube goes a long way. Duplicolor sells a kit with spot putty, primer, clear touchup, sanding paper, and a small sanding block for about $20.00. There is enough material for several repairs and detailed instructions. As you described the spot putty can be used to fill the deeper chips and alleviate building up so many coats to bring the repair up flush. After the spot putty has dried you will need to sand flush with wet and dry sandpaper. This comes in grits from 1000 to 3000. Somewhere around 2000 works well for these small repairs. Place tape around the repair to protect as much surrounding paint as possible and try to contain the sanding to the smallest area possible to smooth off the putty. The paper will need to be soaked in water with just a touch of car wash soap for at least 30 minutes to prepare the sandpaper for use. Keep the surface wet with water that has a few drops of car wash soap added. Obviously Meguiar's papers are best but they can be hard to find other than in an auto paint shop. 3M papers work well and can be picked up from most of the auto supply shops. After you have the putty sanded smooth it is best to apply primer to ensure your touchup paint will adhere correctly. If you are trying to repair a small chip in the bumper or similar material you pretty much have to go the spot putty approach as you'll never get enough paint to stick in order to bring the repair up flush. At this stage apply 2 very thin coats of touchup paint and after suitable drying smooth off the paint flush with the Langka or wet sand down flush. If your very careful when sanding the spot putty there should be minimal damage to the surrounding paint and the repair will be blended in well. If not you will have to polish off with M105 to remove any sanding marks. Since you want to use the Langka verses wet sanding probably best to polish off the paint damage first and then clean very carefully prior to applying the touchup paint. Otherwise you risk removing the touchup job as M105 will easily cut through such soft paint unless it has cured for a couple of months. I've ramble on a bit but hopefully that answers most of your questions.