KentuckyGreaser

OK, so being a beautiful Kentucky day, I decide I'm going to spruce up my blue bullet and give him a bit of a wash down. As I start to go over the hood, I notice A CHIP OF PAINT MISSING FROM MY HOOD!!!!

As I further inspect the hood, I notice a few more pencil tip size specks on the front. OMG! I'm freaking out! What do I do? Crap, what can I do.... I don't remember driving behind a sand truck!

I'm obviously just joking around as far as panicking, but I do want to ask the group what they have done to try and fix something like this. The one bigger chip will need something to fill it in to avoid rust, but not sure what I can do about the other specks.

Any ideas or recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!

Lone Ranger

http://www.autovisuals.com/

an08HHR

Your Chevy dealer should carry little bottles of touch up paint which contains a touch up brush. Tooth picks work good to dab paint on those little specks.

kornellred

If ever there were a discouraging aspect to newer car ownership, it would have to be the way that minor insults to the paint finish just seem to appear for no apparent reason. And it's totally random, too - one person can drive on interstate highways at high speed behind dump trucks constantly and never get so much as a stone chip, and another poor soul drives back roads in the country at slow speeds and a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction passes by and kicks up a tiny pebble that bounces off his hood and creates a tiny divot. It can be very annoying.

There are quite a few postings by HHR owners who say that they have never owned a vehicle that collected paint chips the way the HHR does. Some believe that it is the shape of the front end and others think that the paint or the clearcoat is not as good as it should be. The jury is still out on those issues.

My efforts to protect the finish on my own HHR consist of multiple coats of wax on the hood and a steadfast resolve to avoid following behind trucks - especially dump trucks. Of course, my HHR's hood has a few paint chips and it will probably get more. In time, I expect that a repaint of the entire hood will become desirable, if not necessary.

SandyBeach

I got a chip out of the front of the roof from flying rocks. I just can't avoid them!

freemaSSon

no jury out on this brother.....GM has droped the ball

we have a TSB on our TBSS that the front clear is TOO thin and the paint is prone to chips and the dealer repainted mine and it came out MUCH WORSE...

now their terrible paint job FLAKES OFF as opposed to just fine chips, some larger than others but chips nonetheless...

suburbanjunior

I bought some touch up pens from www.automotivetouchup.com. They offer a variety of options,such as bottles,pens,spray etc. Mine is imperial blue paint code 37. I even bought the clearcoat touch up, optional. They have worked out great for me and Chevy's #@$%!factory paint job.

Good Luck, John

TomsHHR

Some have done this clear mask.

http://www.clearmask.com/vehicle_page.php

KentuckyGreaser

Thanks to everyone for the support. Do we get to wear some kind of pin for being owners of chipped up cars? LOL

Seriously, it sucks that so many of us have the same problem. I think I'll look into one of those touch up pens. Of course I have Imperial Blue Metallic, which isn't a normal touch-up color you could pick up at the local auto parts store. I think I'll got by the (st)dealer and see how much they rape me for a small jar of touch up also.

Thanks again guys!

hhrcrafty

I'm sorry, but are you a paint engineer?

If so, then you must have extensive knowledge of the paint process from chemical composition to environmental hazards?

Modern vehicle paint is completely different than the systems that were used even 20 years ago. It's a water-borne, almost powder coated type of system. It's designed to last longer than the older paint as far as color-fastness and overall durability, but it's applied thinner and has a tendency to dimple rather than flake. It's also much more environmentally friendly and cheaper to produce.

FWIW, GM is not the producer of the paint system. Paint systems are a combination of elements from many different vendors and have their flaws and weaknesses in their designs. Blame the EPA, PPG, BASF, and the hundred or so other companies that are designing the paint for all modern vehicles.