The Miata has a few chips, so I just asked Tom if I should buy this or spend less on touch-up paint. Sounds like Dr. ColorChip magic sauce is rather magic....
Photography by Tom Suddard
Can you make your paint look good as new for just $59.95? That’s the promise of Dr. ColorChip, makers of a clever system for chip repair that claims to outperform traditional touch-up paint and leave a nearly undetectable, permanent repair in just a few minutes.
Sounds too good to be true, right? We wanted to try it for ourselves, so we ordered its Squirt ’N Squeegee kit color matched to our Honda Element.
And for those of you expecting repairs on a cooler car: Sorry, but out little parts runner accumulates the most mileage, and therefore the most rock chips. Its front end looked like the moon after 200,000 miles of abuse.
Ordering the kit was easy: Just put in your year, make and model, and Dr. ColorChip’s website displays a selection of paint colors as well as the factory paint codes.
We instantly spotted our Honda’s shade of red, and confirmed that the paint name and code (Rallye Red, R513) matched the sticker in our door jamb. We figured this color would be a particularly tough test, as aging red paint is tough for even the best body shops to match as it slowly fades over time.
A few days later, we had our kit and were ready to go to work. We expected normal touch-up paint: dab the brush in paint, paint your chips, done.
But what we encountered instead was a pretty clever system that removes skill from the equation: No steady hand or painting talent is required.
Instead, any method to get paint onto the chip, including the included brushes, squeegee, or even your finger, is fair game.
After there’s paint on the chip, wait a few minutes, then polish the excess away with the proprietary blending solution.
What’s in it? Who knows, but this magic liquid has the viscosity of milk and seems to instantly blend the touch-up paint into the surrounding area to leave a level, matched, perfect repair. It’s not completely undetectable, but after perfecting our technique we were able to make chips invisible from about one foot away from the hood of our Element. The color match was somehow perfect, too.
Is it perfect? No, but it’s closer than any other touch-up we’ve ever done, and the price can’t be beat. We’re blown away by how well Dr. ColorChip works, and this won’t be the last time we use it on a project
The Miata has a few chips, so I just asked Tom if I should buy this or spend less on touch-up paint. Sounds like Dr. ColorChip magic sauce is rather magic....
I've tried this stuff without success. Maybe it takes practice or something.
Well... yes... but it's like handing someone a scalpel and saying that they're now capable of surgery... or at least that was my experience. I think it takes some serious practice, about the paint I mean.
Works decent, just make sure you don't have a 3 stage paint or it won't match. I tend to use it for chips with a toothpick or just dotting the brush
That color combo on an Element is INTENSE.
In reply to GCrites80s :
Oh yeah, I looked long and hard for one that had the signature plastic fenders and was painted something interesting. It seems like 99% of them are silver, and I figured it made more sense to lean into the weird. 
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