I’ve just read a previous post on the forum that mentions the MK3 paintwork easily chips…
I have a MK3 that’s just under 4 years old. I noticed several small chips on it not long after I’d got it, so took it back to a Mazda garage, who told me it wasn’t a defect.
Several years later, a couple of these chips are now going rusty. I have an awful feeling of dread that I could have prevented this by covering them up with touch up paint… :S
I have an old mini that’s battled with rust… I didn’t quite expect the mx5 would do the same…
I used to have a little jar of Vaseline in my glove box, When I got stone chip’s I would rub a little of it into the chip. It keeps the water out but comes off cleanly with some panel wipe before touching in with a small brush (I also had some success using a small syringe and blunt hypodermic needle to fill chips on horizontal panels. You get more control with it, You just fill the chip without getting to much excess paint around it.
Getting rust out of stone chips can be a problem. If I had to do this without spraying the whole bonnet (And rust hadn’t started getting under the paint) I’d use an engraving gun to clean as much rust as I could from the bottom of the chip, Then I’d use “Krust” to kill off any I missed before touching in the paint. As long as the chip isn’t too big and you don’t blob too much paint into it, This can look pretty good.
Hope this helps.
Scotty B.
PS, I don’t carry a jar of Vaseline in the car any more… It caused to many questions when friends would see it !
If you notice stonechips before they rust I find the neatest solution is to go to Boots and match the colour with their range of lipsticks! It also amuses me the looks I get when doing this! But when rubbed into a stonechip, several coats to build up the level and polished it makes a much neater job than touch up paint. A lot of lipsticks are waterproof which increases the durability. Best of all if you can find a scource is theatrical greasepaint.
Turtle wax do a colour chipstick (Ok it’s a lipstick) that you can buy in a manly Halfords store (Don’t forget to camoflarge your purchase with some additional purchases like spanners and wet and dry).
