Correcting a nasty paint chip. Help?

A little help. Who has had positive experience correcting paint chips? My girlfriend's new Specialized Allez managed to land itself a nice, highly visible chip (about 3/8" diameter, on the top tube, and clear "to the bone," so to speak). No idea how it happened.

Anyways, this is a thick, high-gloss paint job, and like I said, the chip penetrates clean to the aluminum. I don't have any reservations about dabbing a matching high-gloss nail polish or model paint on the spot; since there's such a depth to the chip, however, I was wondering if anyone had a great technique for doing this cleanly.

It's her first serious bike and she was kind of pampering it, so she's a little devastated. Any tips?

No great technique for applying it cleanly, but as far as the paint is concerned, try an auto parts store for a durable paint match...

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"The only thing in this world that gives orders, is balls"
~ Ski-U-Ma! ~
"Know your limits... Then FK'N Crush'em!!!"

Build the paint up in layers. Wet sand to feather the repair, use 1600 grit. Follow up with rubbing compound, use fine cut. Wax.

Take your time and the repair will be invisable...good luck.

An auto parts store will have all the materials you need.

To do a really good job is a whole lotta work.

First you must match the paint color; no match, no paint. Then you have to prep the area, sanding away good paint to leave a feathered margin. (The chipped edge is too difficult to just 'fill-in' and would never look right.)

Next, you need to set up a space to spray paint it (dropcloths in the gararge stapled to a the ceiling, to create a dust-free space). Following this, you need to prime the area after masking off the rest of the frame/bike, and then paint the area with probably two coats of the matching color (gloss or semi-gloss will do), again using spray. You may need to use rubbing compound to feather in the paint, and possibly paint some more. Next, comes the clear coats (gloss), requiring 2 to 4 coats with more rubbing compound to again feather all in and make it blend with the surrounding area.

If at any step to feel rushed and put on too much paint or clear coat, you'll get drips and maybe have to sand it down and start over...

Once all this is done and cured, you then using more rubbing compound and finish with an auto wax that is compatible with the clear coat.

Unless the bike is really expensive, I wouldn't bother. And if it's that expensive, I'd pay someone else to do it.

Thanks guys; I appreciate all of these replies. I'm not sure at this point how well-equipped I am to pull of the sort of job that xsmoker and rljones describe, but I'm interested in doing some research and investigating further. I'm not experienced with auto-paint work, but I'm an artist; could help a little, maybe. Maybe.

Anyways, at the very least, I'll definitely lay down a little color just to mask the chip some (it's a dark colored bike, now with a big spot of bright aluminum peering through).

If anyone knows of a good tutorial or has a link to offer regarding more carefully finished work, I'd love to learn a little more, if for no other reason than to help me decide how to proceed.

Thanks again, folks.

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i relish complicating the obvious and trivializing the stupendous

I repaired a scratch on my bike as follows (basically what xsmoker and rljones posted):

1> Sand the area down with fine sandpaper, taking away the "rough edge" of the scratch.
2> Before applying the paint, clean the sanded area well.
3> I used hobby paint, the kind used to paint model aircrafts etc (Humbrol range). I don't have any airbrush experience or equipment, so I applied it thinly, using a brush. Tip: stir the paint VERY well.
4> I applied numerous coats, sanding it down slightly with water paper after each coat.
5> After the scratch was "built-up" with paint, I applied a coat of clear lacquer to seal it off.

It's not a pro job, but the scratch is almost invisible. If you don't know it's there, you won't notice it.

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Pain is inevitable...suffering is optional

I had a similar problem once upon a time! I was removing the stem and the hammer I was using to free it accidentally slipped and guess what, lovely dent in the top tube! Yeah daft but........ Anyway, I was able to get an exact match from the manufacturer! You´d be amazed but some actually produce small quantities for touch up jobs! You could always out a sticker over it!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again guys, I appreciate the advice all around. If I ever get around to taking care of this, I'll let you know who I proceeded and how it turned out.

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i relish complicating the obvious and trivializing the stupendous

For a quick and easy job, paint from a model and hobby store (the kind used to paint plastic models of fighter planes etc.) works well.

I scratched the top tube of my bike, and was able to get close matches to the paint (where I couldn't get an exact match right out of the tin, I mixed a similar colour with either white or black to get the exact hue.)

If it wasn't for the glossy finish looking a little tardy in the bits of the scratch, you wouldn't know the difference. But bits of not-so-glossy area is heaps better than a big ugly scratch!

It was a impressive job for the small amount of time it took, especially as the paint scheme on my bike is pretty complicated (Saeco team colours, with all these wavy lines and what have you..)

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Peter
Cannondale Synapse Carbon Scalpel Cyclocross Ultra

Put a smiley face decal on it. A bike that is used and ridden is going to get finish hickies. No point in being overly anal about it.