Cheap 'Chipstik'-like Scratch/Chip Fix: Any Color Vehicle Bodywork/Other Uses!

Whatever happened to the Chipstik? Sold under the Turtle Wax car polish brand, it always struck me as a great idea for anyone who likes to drive a car that looks respectable but who isn't a total perfectionist when it comes to the exterior paint finish.

The Chipstik was (I assume it's been discontinued by the manufacturer as it's no longer mentioned on the Turtle Wax website, hence the past tense) something like a very hard lipstick, the idea being that small stone chips and scratches in vehicle bodywork could be effectively concealed by rubbing a Chipstik of the appropriate color across them. You then polished and buffed the resulting infill so that it blended into the surrounding paint color. The manufacturer generally recommended finishing the job with a coat of their colored polish and often sold bottles of the latter with a Chipstik of the same color attached. And it worked. Then suddenly the Chipstik seemed to vanish, other than a few examples of what I assumed to be old stock. Many online questions followed. Are these still made? Does anyone know if you can still get these? Where from? Are there any similar products?

The answer seemed and still seems to be no on all counts. While anyone wanting to preserve a vehicle's paintwork in showroom condition would probably look to expertly applied primer/filler and touch-up paint, the rest of us would still like to have the Chipstik option.

Somewhere along the line, I had a lightbulb moment. I compared the Chipstik to a lipstick earlier, but in reality it was much more like something else altogether: the kind of oil pastel sticks used by artists. I tried this substitute when I needed to hide the pretty nasty scratch shown in the before-and-after shots above and was very pleased with the results; that really is the same door panel on the same vehicle, but the 'after' shot is the filled and polished result in brighter sunlight. The scratch in question was pretty much at or beyond the limit of a Chipstik's intended usage, so if you used this method on a smaller blemish you could reasonably expect even better results.

The main item you'll need will be a box of oil pastels, obviously. You need to ensure that this is the type you buy, not dry pastels (which are more like chalk) or water soluble pastels (which are bound with polyethylene glycol). Essentially, if it doesn't specifically say 'oil pastels' on the box, they won't work. Unlike the alternatives, oil pastels are both deeply pigmented and water resistant. They are easy to identify as they look somewhat like the wax crayons sold for children. Their relationship to traditional oil paints is a bit vague and seems to have more to do with the pigments they contain than anything else.

Oil pastels can be purchased from art shops or from many online suppliers. The good news is that for our purposes we can generally use the cheapest and smallest set available; the set shown here is an obscure brand and cost US$6.50/UK£5.00 on eBay. Check that the box contains a color that at least approximates the color of your vehicle. If you plan on using the matching technique outlined below, you'll also need black and/or white. There are plenty of other brands to choose from, including Pentel and Faber-Castell and some brands are sold as individual sticks.

A plastic card such as an old membership card is a useful tool for leveling the surface of the infill. If you're being as thorough as possible (which I'd recommend) you'll also want some polish of the appropriate color to finish the job properly, plus a polishing cloth or two.

If you want to mix colors to get a better match you'll need to add the items detailed in step 2 below.

The basic-colors-only Turtle Wax thinking regarding bodywork color is pretty sensible. The idea is that there's no need to match colors with 100% accuracy, as any slight discrepancy will be offset by variations in natural light. That said, you may want to create a more accurate match (this happened to me, as my car was a deeper blue than the darkest blue pastel in the box); this process is explained below.

...you may well find that one of your pastels is a close enough match as it is (remember, it needn't be exactly the same shade). If so, just apply your chosen pastel exactly you would a real Chipstik, then (recommended) finish with the appropriate colored polish. If you're new to this procedure, this YouTube video shows how easy it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgoGgCn7xsE

If the above is the case, then your job's already done and you can skip straight to the end of this Instructable for a few additional thoughts!

On the other hand, you may find, as I did, that it's worth making one of the provided colors slightly lighter or darker. Unsurprisingly, the way to do this is by mixing a small amount of black or white pastel into the main color.

Take the pastel that will be your main color, remove any paper or plastic wrap and chop it into small pieces as shown. Next, do the same with a piece cut from either a black or white pastel as required (you'll probably only need a small amount of the latter, as a minimal quantity will have a pronounced effect). Put the chunks from the colored pastel into a small foil container (I used a small foil pie dish), then place the container on a heat source and heat it until its contents melt, which will take less than a minute. Stirring it with a suitable implement will speed the process and reduce the chance of the molten goop overheating. I used a piece snapped from a bamboo barbecue skewer for this, but many other things will serve, such a wooden coffee stirrer or a short length of stiff wire. Avoid using plastic implements in case they burn or melt on the bottom of the container.

Once the color pastel chunks have melted into an evenly-textured liquid, add chunks of black or white as required, one at a time, stirring each one in thoroughly until it also melts and combines with the main color. When you arrive at the desired shade, remove the container from the heat and allow it to cool and set into a solid state in a safe location (this won't take more than a minute or two).

[A few notes on safety! Use the safest heat source you have access to. I used the smallest ring on a ceramic kitchen hob with an extractor fan, which was ideal. I can't vouch for the flammability or toxicity of oil pastels in general, so if you use a naked flame heat source such as gas burner or spirit lamp, take all due care and in all events wear protective gloves, provide proper ventilation etc. The good news is that the heating/melting process is very quick, so whatever method you use you won't need to use it for more than a minute or two. Oh, and some foil baking dishes have pin-prick holes in the base to allow ventilation. Obviously, don't use one of those! Check first!]

When the pastel goop has solidified, peel the foil container off it, as shown. What you now have is a piece of fake-Chipstik material in the shape of a large coin, with some molding flash around the edges. The flash will be very thin and fragile, so simply pull it off and you'll be left with a fairly clean disk; just apply the edge of it to the scratch. The action required is more like using traditional tailor's chalk than a crayon but is equally easy. Sandwiching the disk between two small pieces of card will discourage it from snapping, but don't worry if it does - just use the pieces as they are. Once you've got the scratch filled, level it off and polish it. Job done!

Don't worry if your paintwork has an exotic finish, such as metallic or pearlescent as the difference won't be noticeable (see the note above about variations in natural light). Also, if you're working with a bodywork color that purports to be silver, gold, bronze or whatever, the observable truth is that any color describable as silver is actually a shade of grey, while golds, bronzes etc. are basically some sort of beige or brown!

It's worth adding that as oil pastels are slightly softer than real Chipstiks they can also be used to hide chips and scratch marks on all sorts of other things, from household paintwork to electric guitar bodies; I recall seeing Chipstik-like products in various wood shades for hiding scratches on furniture, so that could also be worth trying.

If you find yourself with a selection of leftover pastels, happen not to be an artist and don't know anyone who is, the nearest small child will have fun with them (provided said child has learned not to draw on walls!). On the other hand, they are ideal for marking up lumber, brickwork and surfacing materials such as asphalt (a yellow pastel in particular is very similar to a traditional surveyor's marker).