[NOS2Go4Me]

I actually did a few chips yesterday, as well as a small but noticeable section of my trunklid where the trunk had been impacting / rubbing the rear bumper cover.

What I've learned so far:

- The touchup "stick" of Sangria Red is obviously bang on, and I believe has some clearcoat mixed in with the metallic paint. It goes on easily, but you need to make your "attacks" on the afflicted area short and in quick succession. It dries out quick on the brush.

- Smaller chips would be best handled with a toothpick, an idea I'll be trying today.

- Any areas where the paint has gone down to the bare metal should be sanded right down first and then either touched up with the stick or given a quick and small amount of basecoat and then touched up. I actually asked the bodyshop manager what I should do with mine and he said I'd suffer no ill effects if I took my time and sanded down all surface discolouration and then painted it with the touchup stick. That's what I did and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. It's nowhere near a show finish or even capable of fooling anyone at close range, but it will keep the damn rust monsters off the car.

- Deep gouges are a bitch. I had one such gouge in the front bumper cover that I attempted to fill in. It didn't quite work as planned, but it didn't turn out altogether bad.

- Stone chips in the hood should be inspected for rust on bare metal and then lightly tip-sanded with a medium-grit sandpaper at least. I used a 320-grit as it was the finest grit I had at home, and it worked well for both the trunk and the one extremely tiny chip I actually needed to sand a bit. In retrospect I don't think going much finer as it would be harder for the paint to adhere to the metal.