My best friend asked me how to fix a one-inch space of missing paint on his car. Turns out he was dumb enough to put the high-pressure hose close to a ding in the paint, and ripped it even worse.
I've owned my fair share of Hondas, so I knew just what to do. Since you're reading this, too, maybe you were dumb enough to blast your paint off with a pressure washer... or belt sander.
Go to store and give them your make n' model. They have a book that matches paint for you.
Or take the paint code off the inside of your drivers door sill. It'll be a a code like MB-14. I think mine's MB82 yours could be WP95
Then you go to a auto paint supply store or somewhere that sells auto paint. They either sell you a can of pre-made or make it on the spot. Pre-made is not as good quality but here in Canada it's about $12.00 for a pre-made and $19.00 a can for custom. Then you go home with your can.
Clean the spot with rubbing alcohol or even a cup of water with a splash of paint remover in it. Tape off your area with masking tape and news print... or tinfoil works good too.
Make sure you cover at least 1 foot of body outside the spot all the way around because paint will float everywhere. Also, tape like 1-3mm around the edge of the chip.
Then you fine-grit sand the trouble spot with a 600 grit. Getting to the edges isn’t critical, but it’s a perfectionists thing. It chews up your tape though. Anywhere from 400-800 is good. Just so it's roughed up. It won’t look or feel rough… it’ll feel smooth. Most 600 800 grit is wet sand so ensure it is really dry.
Don't paint in temperatures colder than 15 degrees Celcius
Apply your paint in coats thin then medium then thick then after that they’re all thick.
Use a good bright light source so you can see what you’re doing… it helps a lot.
You'll want to wait at least 15 minutes between coats. but not longer than 30 there's a window of prime adhesion. Make sure to ask about between coat times with your paint dealer
Thin coat: this is just to the point where the paint is on there and isn't a bunch of little speckles anymore... it'll be very translucent. Then medium which isn't much thicker.
(I use the term thick loosely. and then thick which isn't really thick... it should just look glossy and wet and have good color there's not a lot of difference between thin and thick.)
Drips are bad.
If you drip and you don't want it. you're going to have to let it dry for 24 hours sand it down and try again.
Wiping the wet paint off will remove your primer!
Then when you've got it covered and it's the right color and thickness. 3 coats is a minimum. 4 maybe good or even 5.. you'll want it to be the same thickness as the piece that came off... i'm guessing 4 coats will be close.
Wait half an hour before you unmask it, then allow it to dry for at least 24 hours before you drive it.
Don't wash that spot for a week. You'll notice your new spot job has a raised lip on it, because obviously you can't perfectly tape the edge of the chip. You'll have a lil bit of overspray on the good paint... like a couple mm or so. Those edges, after 10 days or so, can be buffed and blended into the paint. You can pay someone to do that, and for the one lil spot ibet they'd do it for like 20$. I think a whole car power polish is like 150$. This polish will take the edges of the new soft paint, and lift it a lil so it smears around and blends into the old paint
You shouldn't be able to tell the difference barely at all unless your original color was faded.
If you want to polish it your self you can get a buffing wheel attachment for a drill or an angle grinder, buy 3M (the company) compound 90. or equivalent, and then go at the edges of your new paint spot until they disappear.
Make sure it's cleaned with a sponge before you start... don't want to go smearing around dust and get scratches. After you polish, wait another week before sponge-cleaning the spot for good measure... you could realistically do it after a couple days.
Then before you wand or pressure wash, give the spot a month.
A hairdryer or heat source will speed up the drying process a lil'.
So..that's about everything you need to know... or you could do what most people do and just wipe tape n' spray—but one job will look like a spot fix, and one spot you won't notice at all.
*******
Matty is a Honda enthusiast who specializes in do-it-yourself Honda repairs.
