Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

[Jess159]

Hey guys,
got a silver Alfa here and bought it with a fair amount of stonechips along the bottom of the passenger door.
So i've had some touchup paint made up according to the color code on the vehicle and applied it in the chips with a toothpick.

Problem is, ive got these blobs sticking out now. Not sure what's worse, having no paint there, or a blob of touchup paint on top.
I've gone over the blobs with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Ive soaked some 1500grit sandpaper, did 4 or 5 light passes over a small area (aprox 15x15 cm, bottom corner of door) then followed up again with some Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish by hand.
Wetsanding marks appear to be gone (from what i can tell), but blobs are still there and i'm not pressing any harder with sandpaper, plus there's a lot more of the door to be done.

So i spend about $50 AU getting some of that Langka stuff off ebay because i've never come across it at any auto store.
You guys in the states pay around $20 for this stuff, so im trusting a good amount of people here have tried it at one time or another and could possibly vouch for it but Ultimate Compound has done great for removing even harder sanding marks for me before.

Aim here is to avoid sanding since we're targeting 40+ small chips, haven't had a chance to look at the area i described earlier in proper light so hopefully i didnt sand too much off.

[calbach]

You have to level them out with sandpaper in order to really get them to look better. Take a small wooden piece (about 1inch by 1/2 an inch and only a quarter inch thick. A paint mixing stick broken down usually works best) and sand it smooth. Then wrap 1500 around it and keep it flat on the blob. This will help to make flat and even with everything. Then go over with compound and polish.

[Randmill]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

I've used the Langka Blob Eliminator and find it works pretty well. BUT... you have to be really careful when working the blob, as there is a fine line between getting it close and removing too much. Then you have to start over. It takes a bit of practice and trial and error. Calbach is right on target with the sanding technique, as that is truly the best way to get rid of the blob. In my case, I used both techniques together and, with practice, had good success. Make sure the area is free from wax before starting - I used Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol. After filling the chip with the touchup paint, I let it cure for about 24 hours. I then used the Langka to reduce the size of the blob but still left it just a little bit higher than the surrounding paint. I let that cure for at least two hours (12 would probably be better) to let the Langka treated touchup paint fully harden again. I used a stick similar to what Carbach described with 2500 followed with a few passes of 3000 grit to finish it off flat and get the surrounding sanding marks reduced as much as possible. Getting the blob smaller with Langka allowed me to keep my sanding to a minimum to avoid getting too deep into the surrounding clear coat. I have the Meguiar's DA Microfiber Correction System, so I finished off with D300 Correction Compound followed by D301 Finishing Wax. Last step was to finish off the area with NXT Tech Wax. The first couple of chip repairs were not perfect. I first worked in areas that were not highly visible while I refined my technique before moving to the more visible spots on the hood. Every one you do will get better as you get the feel of it. Hope this helps... Best of luck!

[Jess159]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Ok here's a shot from a better angle.
I filled in most of these chips several weeks ago. A lot of people using langka have said to set it rest a couple days so i would say its quite settled now.

If langka happens to pull the whole blob out then i can just fill them in again. And try after a couple days, worst case with this stuff hopefully.
As long as it's not ripping off any more paint than just the blobby touchups then i'm not worried.
But for $50 and the time needed to get it to Melbourne AU from the US, i want to see at least something done from this product.
It sounds way to promising, almost too good to be true. Just like Ultimate Compound has everything going for it, it's gotten some stubborn things off my paint work and other times i couldnt use it to get out a fine scratch. Guess it comes down to the end user.

I also wetsanded a couple of them with 1500 grit this morning and went over with UC + UP by hand. They're flat, but you still know they're there. But i'd much rather not continue to wetsand to avoid the risk of doing it too much or too hard or ripping off too much paint, even though UC seems quite good at removing the wetsanding marks, plus there's too many and i havent even filled em all in yet.

[Randmill]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Yup - it's a process. Definitely not something that anyone should expect to be a quick, easy, "one day" repair. The Langka won't affect any of the factory paint, so no worries there. The Blob Eliminator is pricey stuff but you use such a small amount that the bottle will last a long time. The repair will always be somewhat visible, especially working with light colored metallic paint but it's still going to be better than looking at those nasty rock chips. You'll know they are there but the casual observer most likely won't see them unless they are looking for them. You might achieve better results and have smaller blobs to deal with if you use a high quality, very fine tip artists brush to apply the paint. I'm in agreement with you to try to keep the sanding to a minimum to avoid compromising the surrounding clear coat. One sanding trick I have tried that I found in some other threads is to use a hole punch to make small sanding discs and attach them with contact cement to an unused eraser on a number 2 pencil. This worked pretty well and helped to keep the sanding area very tight and not affect too much of the surrounding paint. It takes a lot of time, patience and practice to get results you'll be satisfied with but if you keep at it, you'll eventually refine your technique to a level that works well for you. There's a lot of great information on chip repair here in the Meg's forums (and several other forums) from guys with a lot more experience than I have, so keep researching the process. Cheers!

[Jess159]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Thanx for the reply, we'll give this Langka Blob Eliminator a shot and if it does well i'll fill in some more chips and use it again.
Hopefully it works just as well on touchup paint that has cured for as long as this one has, aprox 5-6 weeks.
I suppose if that blob eliminator is as promising as everybody says it is, it could be a one day job but i will take my time on it and probably not end up doing it all in one day anyway.

The chips are long and narrow mostly, so even the finest paintbrush i could find at the store is still too big, toothpick is the way to go and has pretty much all of them filled in with no runs or going outside of the chips themselves.
At one stage i did have a larger chip further up on the door which i mildly sanded, filled with a brush and when i had a 'professional' cut+polish gone it was undetectable.
Meguiar's should make a sanding pen for jobs like this

[Randmill]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

The Langka should work fine on your older touch ups. I had a couple of blobs that I left for almost 4 weeks and was able to smooth them out nicely, then lightly sanded them with 3000 grit to "feather" the edges to get a smooth transition into the surrounding finish. I then did the cut+polish to clean it all up and remove the fine sanding marks.

For my tiny chips and longer deep scratches (like yours), I bought a very fine tip detail brush from a local artist's supply store. It worked really well but was expensive... I think it was about $12 US but well worth the money.

Good job on getting the big chip repair to be undetectable... sounds like you're well on the way to getting all of those chips corrected. Cheers!

[Jess159]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Thanx man!
Hopefully the ultimate compound can help clean things up when i'm finished. I'm not paying someone to machine buff the car again.

[Randmill]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Hey Jess,
I'm looking forward to seeing your results after you've had a chance to try the Langka stuff. I'm working on a few more of those little "nicks" today. I hope your project returns great results!

[Jess159]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Thanx heaps! They mailed it wednesday from the U.S, so it should arrive in Melbourne around next Friday i would guess.
I'm in no hurry, the chips have been there since i got the car and i filled them with a toothpick several weeks ago.
I'll be glad if this stuff does a good job at tidying them up, will avoid any sanding as much as possible unless it'll help the Langka Blob stuff work better.

Still got plenty of Ultimate Compound on hand just to tidy things up and remove any wetsanding marks (hopefully not) if need be.
Will do my best to upload pics

[Jess159]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Ok so the langka stuff arrived yesterday morning.
I couldnt flatten out the already filled in chips, after applying the langka i was able to pick off the touchup paint with my fingernail, i would say from the several weeks they've been filled in they'd have hardened too much. Plus outside temp is around 8-10c so it might not be the best of times to do paint touch ups.

The instructions with the Langka suggests that the paint is applied with a fine brush or toothpick (check ), and should be left to settle from 2 - 24 hours before the stuff will work.
I think in my situation they had too much cure time and hardened, i would say the touchup paint should still be somewhat soft so only part of it can be removed without cracking it or pulling it off completely.
But at least i was able to get it all off and can now try again.
I'll post pics when i'm happy with results.

[davey g-force]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

I'm keen to see how you go with this...

[Randmill]

Re: Ultimate Compound + Langka - Who can vouch for it?

Hi Jess - I've been able to use the Langka on older chip fills (up to several weeks) but every situation will be different (temperature, humidity, paint manufacturer, etc.) and what works for one, may not work for all. Langka says that the product is guaranteed to work on chip repairs up to 4 days old and MAY work on older paint but no guarantee that it actually will.

Good cleaning to prepare the repair surface area to accept and hold the paint is essential - I used rubbing alcohol and that worked well for me, although Langka also makes a Pre-Paint cleaner to remove wax and contaminants. Also, I used a really fine microfiber cloth, such as used for cleaning eyeglass lenses, to apply and "work" the Langka.

I think your temperature range is ok but may be at the low end of the recommended working temperature... maybe a better working range would be something like 18-27C.

I'm sure you have already been through all of the detailed instructions and FAQs on the Langka website but just in case you haven't, go check those out, as they have a couple of different recommended techniques for different levels of damage and repair.

Good luck with your project - I'm anxious to see your results! Cheers....