FAQ

Wash and thoroughly dry the car. If you have visible remnants of wax in the chips, remove it with a little rubbing alcohol or mineral spirits on a soft cloth. Don't scrub! Otherwise, a clean dry surface is all you need. The area to be repaired must be completely dry.

Yes, as far as we've tested. Eight years is the longest repair we've monitored (a chip repair), and it looks the same as it did the day it was applied. Most touch-up paints shrink up over time after they've dried and cured. Our paint does not shrink. It should remain the same as it appears after application for years to come.

Wash and dry the vehicle. Do any "hard" detailing first, like wet-sanding, compounding and buffing. Then use our paint. Follow up with standard waxing a week later. Refrain from using a circular buffing wheel and wool pad for at least 30 days. We suggest using a random-orbit buffer with a foam pad and quality compound at all times for the best, swirl-free results (rather than the circular buffer and wool pad.)

Yes. All paint is mixed to OEM specifications using the colour-code you provide with your order, ensuring your paint is as fresh as it can be. Plus, with thousands of colour codes on the market, we couldn't possibly inventory them all.

The paint should last at least a year from the ship date in the bottle, provided you don't use most of it right away. A bottle that is half-full will obviously dry out faster. Store in a dark, dry, cool place. For optimal shelf life, shake the bottle every now and then. The SealAct blending solution has an indefinite shelf life.

We suggest temps above freezing for best results

No. What you see is the final product. Photos do not show every minute detail of course. Upon close inspection in person, some repaired chips will be visible when looking for them, but standing a few feet from the vehicle they shouldn't be noticeable.

The paint included in your Dr. Colorchip repair kit is not regular touch-up paint and is made to work with the SealAct solution, but may be used alone. Feel free to order just the paint if you plan on applying it and leaving it as is. The SealAct blending solution is a proprietary product developed to work with our paint only. It will not work with regular touch-up paint. Best results are achieved using our touch-up paint and SealAct blending solutions as directed in the repair kit instructions.

Our paint system is primarily designed to address chips, but it will work well on certain types of scratches and poorly on others. There are several variables that determine repair quality:

• Deep Scratches - Deep, narrow scratches (1/16" or less) down to the metal will usually hold paint. As our paint is instantly malleable (in this case, tacky, yet removable), there is some flexibility in finessing the paint into place. The various brushes in the kit also allow for more precise painting of scratches that can't effectively be repaired by our standard process.
• Wide Scratches - Wide scratches (1/16" or greater), gashes or other large defects will likely need to have the paint applied and left as is. Filling and spraying these types of damage is the only way to get a 'like new' repair.
• Light Surface Scratches - Generally these can be buffed out. If you can feel them with your fingernail, they might come out completely with some wet-sanding and buffing. Otherwise, our precision brush can be used to lightly apply the paint over the scratch and left as is.
• Key Scratches - We don't recommend buying our kit solely for fixing key scratches unless the vehicle colour is dark, and the scratch is short and deep. A long key scratch on a light silver or gold car will show almost no difference, even if the paint completely fills the scratch. However, if you are not inclined to pay for a body shop repair, the special brushes in the kit will help you make the best repair possible.
• Vehicle Colour - The colour of the vehicle also determines the quality of the scratch repair. Darker colours always look better than light ones. A scratch on a black or dark red metallic vehicle will always look better afterward than on a light silver or gold one.

Our kit works best for small chips and general "road-rash." Used as directed, most repairs will dramatically improve your vehicles overall appearance, especially at distances of 3" or more.

Chips much larger than a pencil eraser will begin to lose the 'dramatic' effect we advertise. You can still paint chips larger than this with quality results, but you may need to allow more drying time, use special care when removing the excess paint, or use our fine-tipped brush and simply apply the paint and leave it as is. The size, shape, depth and colour all factor into the outcome of each repair when you get into damage much larger than this.

Some are, some aren't. Most small chips are not visible unless you're trying to find them. "Road-rashed" vehicles contain thousands of small chips and most are not visible at all afterward, leaving the overall look of the vehicle dramatically improved. If you're trying to fix one single chip, you're probably going to still see it because you're looking for it.

Many chips are filled after one application, though others will require a second application to achieve a satisfactory fill. It is difficult to get a 100 percent body-shop re-spray appearance on most chips using touch-up paint. However, because our system allows the excess paint around the chip to be completely removed, you will realise that a total fill is usually not required to render a satisfying repair. Using the 3-ft rule, most chip repairs look very good.

Scuff marks can generally be removed rather than painted. Most scuffs are the result of an object rubbing against the car, usually the bumper, leaving a portion of that object on the car. If it appears the paint from the vehicle is not actually missing from this type of damage, it's likely the scuff can be removed completely. Try using a little acetone or finger nail polish remover and a little liquid car wax mixed together on a soft cloth and lightly rub over the scuff.

Yes. Our paint works well on fixing chips on painted bumpers and moulding. If you have large gouges or missing plastic, all you can do is apply the paint and leave it as is.

If you have surface rust in the area you want to paint, you should remove it first if possible.

The paint will adhere to exposed metal, plastic, fiber-glass and primed surfaces. The only trouble spot we've seen is when chips reveal a grey primer colour that appears plastic-like in texture. To the best of our knowledge, this is a coating applied to the vehicle prior to painting to prevent rust. When this colour is exposed, the chip has gone through the paint but not down to the metal. Our paint has had trouble at times adhering to this surface when using our standard application and removal process. Rubbing the chip with alcohol may help adhesion. It may also be necessary to let the paint dry longer on these spots before removing the excess. Or as a last resort, it may be necessary to apply the paint with the fine-tipped brush and leave it as is.

Yes. We can match over 95 percent of all colours on the market. We use OEM formulations supplied by the top paint manufacturers to match the colour code. All paint is mixed to the exact formulation at the time of order.

Chips on most car colours are dramatically reduced or visually eliminated. Repairs on light silver and gold metallic colours generally look much better after initial application, though sometimes they are still more visible because the edge of the chip is slightly darker and will catch your eye if large enough. Sometimes with these colours and on larger chips, it's better to use the small-tipped brush and apply a small amount of paint and leave it as is. One other point on light metallic finishes: Some of our light-coloured metallics are made with domestically produced metallic flake, which is polished only on one side. When the paint is applied in a small blob, the flake will turn over and appear darker in colour. This darker effect is apparent in the bottle and cap lid after shaking. Once smeared, the flake will re-align itself and appear bright again.

Yes. The majority of the colours we make are metallics

Tri-coat paints, also known as three stage paints or pearl coats, are automotive paint colors applied to a cars finish by applying three different coats. These three coats are called the basecoat, the mid-coat pearl (or pearl coat), and the clearcoat. Tri-coat paints add additional depth to the car’s finish and depending on the angle from which the car is viewed present different color hues. Dr ColorChip offers the tri-coat paints in a single stage formulation to capture the color match of these beautiful colors in a single color application. We have worked extensively on the many hundreds of different tri-coat pearls offered by the car manufacturers and have found the best way to address touching up stone chips on these cars is to create a color shade match in a single formulation that blends with the dynamic multiple color hues seen in the tri-coat pearl whites. We have created hundreds of different tri-coat formulas and have tested each of these and modified them as we develop the color in a single stage paint that we feel will give our customers the best results on these unique colors. The pearls in these paints will cause the paint to appear a bit darker shade in the bottle but when leveled and blended over the chips will create an impressive repair. Many tri-coat colored car owners have in the past let the chips go unrepaired which in many cases leads to rust. The option of applying the basecoat, the mid-coat and the clearcoat for touchup purposes does not create a good looking repair. In most cases, its worse than looking at the bare chip. However, you don’t want to leave the chip exposed as rust will set in fairly quickly. Our single stage process works very well with most all tri-coat white pearl chip damage and provides an added layer of protection by creating a moisture barrier to future rust damage. The pearl flake in the manufacturer’s spray process is applied on the second layer of the application and lies on top of the basecoat. This allows the pearl flake to be seen. This pearl is approximated in our formulation and when blended will be a close match to your tri-coat colored car.

On cars prior to 1994, we do have formulations (codes) on most colours. We cannot promise a perfect colour match on vehicles prior to 1994 as we do not have a chip library to make a visual comparison. However, most colours we make dating back from around 1930 to the present are a match the first time, regardless of whether we have a chip on file to make a visual match. While we cannot guarantee a colour match without a sample, if you have the code, we can mix the paint according to the OEM formulations. We do, however, strongly recommend you try and get us a paint sample if possible.

We do our best to get your order shipped as soon as possible but some colours can take up to 5 working days to be delivered as they require special mixing.  

March 8 2022 -

PLEASE NOTE WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING DELIVERY DELAYS ON ORDERS. DELAYS CAN BE BETWEEN 5 - 12 BUSINESS DAYS AND SOMETIMES LONGER - PLEASE TAKE THIS INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN PURCHASING.