Hello All, I'm here to seek advice regarding a small paint chip on the driver's side wheel arch of my father's Metallic Green Model S. It is located at about the 9 o'clock position on the wheel arch relative to the center point of the wheel. It was incurred while pulling into the (very narrow) garage and grazing the garage's wood frame. All paint and clearcoat seems to be gone, leaving only the black plastic of the bumper itself. I have previously performed a handful of corrections and feel comfortable correcting the minor scratches but am still very much an amateur. I have never fixed a paint chip before and would like to avoid wetsanding as a step due to my inexperience. Dr. Color Chip does not have a paint match available for the Model S yet. Any advice is appreciated!
I personally have never done any touch up's but I recall Larry from Ammo NYC did a video on this topic this season on /Drive Clean. Personally If I was to do anything with touch up I would go back and watch that video just to have that for refrence. Good luck!
Buy the basic Dr. Color Chip kit with a touch up paint that you can use on another car. Have a body shop make a small jar of touch up paint for the Tesla, then use the body shop paint and the Dr. Color Chip to fill the scratch. I have one Dr. Color Chip kit, but several different touch up paints. It comes with a few touch up sticks (get these at Griots Garage), blending solution, nitrile golve and microfiber cloth. I have plenty of nitrile gloves and costco mf towels, touch up kit from Griots, so the blending solution is all you really need.
Sorry to hear your issues. Might try finding a good paint touch up tech since that is a bit more intensive than normal chips. You may need a tiny bit of bondo to set a good base for the paint.
IMO, you are always better off obtaining touch-up paint directly from the dealer. It is usually a better color match and you save on shipping costs and delivery time. That does not look deep enough to require Bondo. If you decide to use Bondo, use the Glazing & Spot Putty. It comes pre mixed, is in a small tube, inexpensive, does not shrink when it dries. If you plan on sanding....tape off the fender well edge, so you don't blow through it. If the scratches surrounding the main defect are deep enough to catch you fingernail, you will only be able to minimize them, not completely remove them.
