paint chips n tires

[bluecoupe]

I bought a 2001 coupe (6 speed, 1sc option, sport suspension). It is in great condition except for a few chips and scratches. 26K miles or NE rural suburban area driving and mutilane highway stuff. The body shop wants to paint the entire hood but I was thinking about using some touch-up and that paint repair stuff from Mother's. Has anyone tried that stuff? Also what is the best was for rub out scratches in the paint (clear coat) on these C5s? There is one deep chip down past the gel coat. Is there some way to fill the chip before I touch it up? Lastly, I will need tire very soon. Any recommondations?

Thanks,
Frank

[fatherlarry]

Hi Frank,

What color is the 2001?

As far as touch up, it depends on the color and the size of the chip. Usually metallics are very hard to touch up and easy to detect. Believe it or not, a lot of professionals get a match stick from a paper match book and dab it into the touch up paint and apply. That sometimes makes a better repair than a brush. Let it dry overnight and keep filling it in until it gets to the right height. Once the paint gets hard, put some wax around the area where the chip is and then shave off the additional height of the touch up paint with a razor blade. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you are really comfortable with it and have some experience. When using the razor blade you could end up scratching the area around it, and making it worse then it is. This technique is used by professionals, and is not always succesful. When it's not succesful the body shop will usually just repaint it. You don't have that option unless you bring it to someone. So you may want to just fill it to where you feel it looks acceptable to you. You could then lightly buff it after it is COMPLETELY dry. Usually white, black, yellow and red are you're best colors to touch up. Silver, blue, grey metallics are more difficult. If the chip is significant enough, then you may have to have the body shop deal with it. Try it yourself first, and if it doesn't work out they could always paint the hood for you, but I would try it first myself. What do you have to lose. Usually the factory touch up paint is pretty close and you can keep shaking it to stir up the metallic.

As far as taking the fine swirl marks and light scratches out, I would recommend 3M Perfect-It III Machine Glaze, part number 05937. I have used this myself on black cars and have had excellent results. It's a non-filler swirl and scratch remover. You can use it by hand on light scratch and swirl marks with excellent results. Of course, using a machine would be better, but if you have never used a buffer, I wouldn't recommend it because you can burn through the clear. The clear coat finish on these cars is very soft. You may want to get a professional detailer to buff out the scratches and swirls, and if its a body shop, they could touch up the chips for you first and then machine buff it to get out the scratches. This may be an alternative to try, before you go ahead and have them paint the whole hood. I would ask around with Corvette clubs in your area as to what body shops and detailers have good reputations and are able to match today's colors.

As far as the tires, the original Goodyear runflats work very well with this car. And since it has the tire pressure sensors that would detect if you're low on air and bring your attention to any tire problems, it may be best to stick with the original. Not too high a rating for use in snow though. There are a lot of products out there like Michelin, to name one. If you go with a non-run flat you'll get a softer ride and most likely better traction, but then you can't utilized the tire sensor options. You then would have to carry a repair kit like the Z06 has. It all depends on what kind of driving you do. There are plenty of websites out there for you to do some research.
Hope this was of some help. Any additional questions, don't hesitate to ask.

FatherLarry