Chip Fix for Soul Crystal Red - Anything beat Dr. Colorchip?

[consultant]

Ugh, I bought a Soul Crystal Red 2021 CX5 GTS as I LOVED the color (the dark blue on my 2019 was nice too but decided I wanted something with more pizazz). Now reading posts about this paint while looking fantastic is not very "tough" so have to mentally prepare myself for lots of chips to deal with. Seems like Dr. Colorchip gets the most thumbs up for a combination of not too complicated to use and better results than using the OEM paint pen? They mention that this paint job is a 3-process paint with a "tinted clear coat" (why it looks so fantastic and carries the extra cost) so it's not going to perfectly match. Great. I can live with it not matching perfect but just checking if anyone with this color has tried multiple chip repairs and found one that they thought turned out better than Dr. Colorchip? (Excluding a panel repaint of course.

 

[David996200]

Maybe inquire about paint film protection.

 

[Zig613]

I have a 2018 MX5 with SRC. I did PPF on the front fenders, hood and bumper. I used Dr. Colorchip on a couple of stone chips in areas unrelated to the PFF coverage and it is ok. It isn't a perfect match (as noted on their website) but I haven't found anything better. It is easy to apply. The OEM paint pen is crap!

 

[consultant]

The OEM paint pen is crap!

I've heard this multiple times which is surprising as you'd expect the OEM paint pen to have the best color match. Or is it crap more from the application and how seamlessly it fills the chip but has color match just as good as Dr. Colorchip? It seems the only way to get the best match would be if you could buy the tinted clear coat Mazda uses on the final step and apply that as a second layer. Doing touchup definitely is a big improvement over the white base coat showing.

Side note regarding paint protection: I was going to do a clear bra but wasn't in the mood to add more to the cost of the car as getting the GTS was already pushing my budget. Although it protects the paint, it eventually gets dinged up also and needs to be removed and replaced. (I had it done on a sports car I owned years ago.) If I had a $70K car instead of $35K I might reconsider having paint protection installed. I typically change cars every 3-4 years. This isn't a Ferrari or collector car where chips are going to make thousands of dollars of difference in resale value. This is a mid-priced utility vehicle. I use Klasse Acrylic Sealant to keep the paint in showroom condition, combined with careful chip repair and my cars at resale/trade-in time look superb despite not using paint protection film. For long road trips (like 500+ miles) I bought a bug deflector which will prevent a lot of the chips on the front portion of the hood where they mostly occur (although looks a little dorky but I could care less on a long road trip.) I just take it off when I'm just driving around town or short little trips. Unbolts really quick.) Plus I work from home and don't put more than 6K miles a year on my car a year typically including road trips.

 

[Zig613]

^^^ Both… the applicator is very poor and the color match is also poor. I would recommend going with the Dr. Colorchip. Monitor their website they have sales on a regular basis.