# My review/guide of "Dr Colorchip"



## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

My Dr Colorchip (American spelling) kit arrived recently, and I gave it a try today with the good weather. I've seen mixed reviews of this product, with people either finding it works well or not at all. Nobody's said it ruins their paintwork so I was confident that I couldn't ruin my car whatever it looked like during application.

I ordered the road rash kit, in which you get a jar of paint which is colour-coded to your car, a bottle of "SealAct" to remove and blend the paint, a selection of brushes, a nitrile glove, and a microfibre cloth. The instructions for the product are well laid out and clear. 
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Applying the paint*
I chose a small area at the bottom of the bumper for my test area to get used to the product. It had a mixture of more significant chips and some tiny ones. I had washed the car and per the instructions, I prepared the surface by removing any existing wax and dirt using some rubbing alcohol (isopropyl). This does not damage the paint. Applying the Dr Colorchip paint to the chips, it was apparent that the colour was identical! The paint is then smeared using the side of your thumb using the glove. The paint doesn't much stick to the glove so you don't get covered in sticky paint.

If the paint is thin, the smearing doesn't always work, and just using the brush can do the job. When it comes to using the SealAct, you'll find that you'll have much less work to do if you can fill a chip and level it off without having too much of a smear around it. The less paint you put on, the less work you'll have to do later.

For areas with many small dots in the paint, you can apply the paint directly with a cloth. Make sure it's lint-free, for obvious reasons. This works well for covering lots of fine specks.

I left the paint for about 20 minutes before using the SealAct to blend it. 
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Using the SealAct*
The instructions indicate to use a cotton cloth with the SealAct. The SealAct is a very thin liquid, and has particles in it (I'm guessing something like Kaolin clay) which settle out very quickly so shake the bottle thoroughly before use, and at regular intervals during use.

The thinness of the liquid makes it pretty obvious that if you use a large cloth, it'll soak into it and reduce how much is on the surface to do the job. With this in mind, I cut small 3 or 4 inch pieces off an old T-shirt and used these small squares. This allowed the cloth to be nicely wet with the SealAct blending solution without wasting any. By folding the cloth around to use different parts of it as it became discoloured with removed paint, I only needed to add a small amount of the SealAct solution to top it up and blend another area.

Blending the paint couldn't be easier. Just rub the blending solution lightly back and forth over the paint. I found it easiest to work in small (less than 6") areas at a time. You don't need to rub hard, and as the instructions say - just let the solution do the work. You can see and hear as the excess paint is removed. When done, the surface becomes silent. I gave the area a wipe over with some clean cotton to get the worst of the solution off, revealing the shiny new surface, before buffing with the microfibre cloth. Expect this to become slightly coloured, but much less so if you use another cloth first to take the worst off.

Look at the area from different angles, and you can see any thin areas where any excess of the Dr ColorChip paint remains on the surface. Another gentle going over with the SealAct, and buffing sorts those out. 
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Results*
Under sunlight I did notice some VERY FINE swirl marks in the direction I was rubbing. It's best to keep the excess paint to an absolute minimum, giving yourself less work to do with the SealAct, and as you get used to the paint this is quite easy. The swirls were very minor though, only noticeable if you're really looking for it close up, and should clay out I hope. Even if not, they'd be easily masked with some sealant or other pre-wax treatment. Next time I might use an old microfibre for the blending liquid and see if that makes any difference.

I achieved great results (I'll add some pictures at some stage). Under most lights, the paint looked good as new. In direct sunlight you could see some chips probably due to the difference in direction of the pearlescent particles in the paint, but from a normal viewing distance the finish was excellent and orders of magnitude better than little white dots speckled around. The paint needs to be left unwaxed for a week to cure fully, but by the time it's been sealed and waxed I reckon it'll look as good as new!

I did about half the front bumper and used only about 5% of the SealAct solution. I put this down to not using a full sized cloth which would have soaked up loads and wasted loads accordingly. Paint-wise I've used less than 5% I reckon. I should be able to do any specks around the entire car and still have lots left for future use.

The postage costs are a bit of a rip-off, at over $40 charged, when the DHL invoice shows $20. For a total of about £75, it's a great solution to road rash if you have the patience to do it.


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## YELLOW_TT (Feb 25, 2004)

Sounds like good results mate where did you get the kit from :?:


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Yeah and looking at it again today there's such a difference when you walk up to the car. It just looks so good. It's going to need hours more work to do the remainder, but it'll be well worth it.

The kit comes from Dr Colorchip in the US:
http://www.drcolorchip.com

Price will of course vary by exchange rate as you're charged in dollars, but around £75 including shipping is a good guide.


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## DesignerDaveTT (Jan 19, 2006)

I would like to see the pictures when you get the chance, do you think it will work well on small scratches?


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

It depends on the depth of the scratch I think. There's some good info on the Dr Colorchip site about what it can cope with and how best to use it. I've got some very shallow scratches that would probably polish out, if I had a polisher, and I'm thinking about trying it on them to make them look less white.

I took some before and after photos but checking them today I've found that the "after" ones are out of focus thanks to my stupid phone. However, other people have done the same and here are some of their results, from which I've directly linked a couple of pictures so you can get a feel for the difference it can make. I based my purchase on results like these.

On a silver car:
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/automot ... -pics.html

On a plain blue:
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/car-care-380/6 ... eview.html

And a dark metallic blue, which is most similar to my Deep Sea Blue:
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/s ... hp?t=77128

Some linked shots from the above:
*Before:*









*After:*









Unlike that guy, I think there's plenty of paint. Perhaps he was more generous in his application, but I didn't see the point of overdoing the paint when you're removing most of it anyway.

The only thing I did find is that the tandem brush isn't of very high quality. The bristles are nice and it applies paint well, but the reason I say about its quality is that I did find the bristles falling out, although none got stuck on the car so it didn't really cause any inconvenience to me. I was only using the broad end so I don't know what the fine end is like. I'll find out as I complete the job.


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## DesignerDaveTT (Jan 19, 2006)

Cheers for the info mate, I think I might give it a go. I will let you know how I get on


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## DesignerDaveTT (Jan 19, 2006)

Just ordered this from the U.S, will hopefully test it out this weekend


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Nice one. I had my second round of treating mine yesterday and did the other half of the front bumper, the lower 6-9 inches of the bonnet, and some larger chips on the main bonnet surface, a couple of fine but long scratches and the rash behind the rear wheels. I've found the following:

*Tiny white flecks:*
Sometimes these take the paint, and sometimes they don't. I don't really know why, but it seems you can tell the ones that won't because even just applying the paint it'll come straight off again with even the gentlest wipe. I think maybe they're just too shallow. Over a whole area you do get massive improvement in the overall appearance though.

If you've got the time, use a brush to apply paint to each chip. Applying the paint with a cloth does work but obviously it wastes a lot of paint relative to what you're treating and it takes longer to remove with the blending solution. With the smearing technique, less pressure gives a better result - all you really want to do is thin the paint out level with the surface and quicken the drying time. If you apply a lot of pressure it'll take some paint out of the chip. Often just the weight of your finger/thumb is enough.

*Thin scratches:*
I tried this just to see what would happen. Much like the tiniest flecks, they don't necessarily take the paint well, but I've certainly improved their appearance. I had the best success by using the finest brush and painting a line along the scratch, leaving it to settle for a good 5-10 minutes, and then blending until flat and silent.

*More pronounced chips:*
If the chip is big enough that you can sit paint in it, say > 1mm, then it's best to take an approach like the scratch almost as you would wiht ordinary touch up paint. Apply just within the confines of the chip, with a bit of surplus to create a shallow blob slightly proud of the surface. Over 10 minutes plus, the paint will of course dry, and will shrink into the chip somewhat. Blending can then level the finish off.

The bigger the chip, obviously the more paint it takes to fill and so the longer it seems best to let it to dry. Otherwise the blending solution will take more paint out of the chip (you can still achieve good disguising colour-wise, just with a dip).

When the paint it level with the surface, if you have any smeared paint on the outside of the chip, if you're using a small piece of cloth soaked with the SealAct it's easy to blend from around the edges of the chip and so save on removing further paint from the chip.

It's quite painstaking work, and I was really tired by the time I finished. I knocked my paint over too so lost a lot but as I mentioned originally I'd used so little that I don't think I'll run out. In essence you want to minimize the work you need to do with the SealAct. Shake the SealAct regularly as it settles quickly.

If you do miss any blending, you can blend them ages later. I found a tiny area that I'd missed blending on last week, and was able to remove the paint with the SealAct a full week later. Not recommended though


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## DesignerDaveTT (Jan 19, 2006)

Thanks Mate,

Cant wait to try it out now, was going to have ago at some hairline scratches. I figured it would be difficult on those, as long as i get rid of the white of the scratch ill be happy


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## DesignerDaveTT (Jan 19, 2006)

Really good stuff 

Did a bit of touching up today, best paint touch up process out there! 

A bit daunting when smearing the paint but the seal act take cares of it very well.

TT is looking great now, no white dots!


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Nice one Dave [smiley=thumbsup.gif] I'm going to pick up the last bits on mine tomorrow. I particularly want to see if I can find a way to get the stubborn ones that don't seem to want to take the paint to work. It's amazing what a difference getting rid of the little star chart on the car makes.

It can be rather painstaking work, but I think the results are worth it. I'll be interested to see how the repairs stand up to a claying, which is on my todo list before a seal and wax. How did you get on volume-wise? Have you got much left? I was doing great last week until, tired, I knocked over the paint and lost about 70% of it - gutted  Given how little I'd used, I think the remainder will last anyway though.


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## DesignerDaveTT (Jan 19, 2006)

Sorry to hear you lost some, I still have a fair bit left. I went for the larger road rash kit. I am going to see if i can find some more to do tomorrow also


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Yeah I got the road rash kit too, and some extra plastic microbrushes though I needn't have bothered with those. I'm now using the tiny bristle brush to do them. I've done a bunch more this morning and the car's looking good. There's one white fleck at the top of the bonnet which for some reason just won't take the paint  There's a few of those dotted around. Tough poo, the rest looks good!


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Just an update prompted by another thread, where Dymamo pointed out an option which I hadn't found when I was browsing for a solution. A UK company now provides a system which seems to work along the same lines as Dr Colorchip, with a final pigmented polishing stage.

At £50 rather than the £75 I had to pay due to shipping costs, it could well be worth a look for anyone looking to do a DIY repair on their chips.


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## dolph (Aug 21, 2009)

Who?


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Oops! www.chipex.co.uk
There's a group buy building for it I think. Dynamo had secured a 20% discount, but the thread seems to have gone cold:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=173310


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