You vintage car may last forever, but paint will only last a few years, especially on your vintage ride. While a paint job is the most noticeable restoration process for a picture-perfect vehicle, paint imperfections are no stranger to an old ride. A paint job is, in fact, a vintage car's greatest weakness. Check out these tips to help you deal with paint imperfections on your beautifully restored vintage car.
Fixing Small Paint Chips
While small paint chips are just but minor imperfections, they provide toeholds for rust to begin. Failure to deal with them in ample time can affect the integrity and value of your vintage car. The good news is you can usually deal with small paint chips without making a trip to the auto body shop.
The first step is to wash and dry the chipped area thoroughly. Make sure to remove any build up that may prevent the paint from adhering. Apply a primer and finish off the job with some touch-up paint. Your car's finish look may not look showroom new, but the results will look flawless from a few feet away.
Fixing Minor Scratches and Scuff Marks
Minor scratches and scuff marks are relatively shallow and mostly affect the top layer of paint. If your vintage car is clear-coated, chances are minor scratches didn't go through the clear coat into the color. You can fix minor scratches by gently buffing or polishing the affected areas using a clean cloth until the scratches are almost totally invisible.
If your car is custom painted, abrasive buffing could result in more damage. You will need to proceed with extreme caution since the paint might be fragile.
Remove Small Dents and Dings
Even with a lot of precision, you can't always protect your vintage car from stray footballs, out-of-nowhere shopping carts or any other annoyance. If your vintage beauty suffers a dent or a ding, the next thing on your mind is, unquestionably, how to get it out. You can use a plunger to remove small sized dents by pulling on the panel until it pops out. You can also remove small dents by pounding out from the back side using a hammer and dolly.
However, if you have no experience removing small dents and dings, it's important you take your valuable vintage to a smash repairs shop or a neighborhood mechanic for repair. Properly restoring small dents and dings will eliminate the need for filling and painting.
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