Find The Biggest Chip Nick Or Scratch
If this is the first time youve attempted car paint touch-up work, chances are youve got quite a few chips, nicks and scratches in your vehicles paint job to choose from. Start by doing a thorough examination of the entire painted surface, and identify the biggest, ugliest flaws. Youll be fixing these first. Once youve learned the process and gotten some practice, you can come back and fix the small stuff.
Use Polish On The Area
After applying the rubbing compound, youll want to polish the area with car polish. It is a process very similar to working with the compound, but this time youll take a dry rag and apply the polish to it.
Then youll rub it in circles and wipe it off before it dries. It may take a few repetitions of this process to fully polish the area, so feel free to follow the instructions a few times.
What Do You Need To Know About Touching Up Car Paint
Be safe when painting. It’s never a bad idea to wear safety glasses, a cotton mask, and nitrile gloves when painting to avoid injury and contact with harmful chemicals.
Detailing The Car Before Helps
It’s hard to know which spots actually need to touch up paint, and which parts simply need to be buffed out.
An electric buffer and some correction compound/rubbing compound do great at paint repair, but it doesn’t repair spots where rocks have completely off the paint, and that’s where the touch-up paint is needed.
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Life Hacks To Touch Up Car Paint
Well never advocate for doing the bare minimum to get the job done, but working with touch up paint is one of those times when you can get away with a little creativity:
- On black or silver cars, you can use a sharpie to cover up small imperfections until you can do the real thing. You could even use nail polish in a pinch, but dont go overboard.
- Use painters tape and your plastic sheeting liberally. You dont want to get paint on non-damaged parts of your vehicle.
- When it comes to touch up paint, the dealer is king. They can tell you the exact color you need and can order that paint for you.
How To Touch Up Car Paint
This article was co-authored by Chad Zani. Chad Zani is the Director of Franchising at Detail Garage, an automotive detailing company with locations around the U.S. and Sweden. Chad is based in the Los Angeles, California area and uses his passion for auto detailing to teach others how to do so as he grows his company nationwide. This article has been viewed 414,450 times.
A car that is used is bound to obtain a few paint chips. Debris from the road kicks up while driving to chip the sides, adverse weather can wreak havoc on the hood, and accidents can happen any time. These chips are usually too small to warrant a new paint job or professional assistance at all. However, if the affected area is smaller than a pencil eraser, you can use touch-up paint to repair the damage yourself.
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Apply A Coat Of Touch
You will have to apply primer first, and let it dry, if you have a very deep scratch. Once the primer is ready, apply a coat of touch-up paint using short, even strokes.
Most touch-up paint comes in a small canister with an included brush, so you dont need any extra brushes or materials.
Allow the touch-up paint coat to dry for at least 30 minutes to an hour. Then, repeat the process until the results are to your liking.
Get The Paint Started On A Separate Surface
The pen works by depressing the tip, which allows the paint to flow out, but dont try to just push the pen into the scratch. This will lead to a messy application. Instead, lightly tap the pen on a separate surface to get the paint moving, then use the tip of the pen like a brush.
It might be tempting to skip this step, but you might end up overflowing the paint and causing a bit of a mess.
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How To Apply Touch Up Paint To A Used Car
Posted on April 5, 2018
Getting a scratch on your car is never fun. Whether you accidentally grind against a curb, park next to a tree that scratches the side of your car, or get side-swiped in a parking lot, a large scratch can make your car look unattractive.
And if the scratch reaches through the paint into the metal, it can even increase the risk of oxidation and further damage to your car. The best way to fix minor scrapes and scratches on your car is to use touch-up paint. Heres a quick guide on what youll need to do.
What Happens To Car Paint Over Time
To answer this briefly, a lot! Plenty of negative things happen that will impact the integrity of your cars paint. Some of them you may anticipate as a car owner, and others you may never even have considered to be such powerful contaminants.
What they leave behind is an affected paint coat, a pale comparison to what it used to be when you first got the car. Its really a shame because what is the purpose of owning a car if you are not fully enjoying it?
Depending on how bad a certain area looks, you can resort to different solutions to fix it.
The affected area may have been severely impacted, in which case you can consider a full car paint restoration, which you can even do yourself. If the negative impact is less severe, then you can definitely choose car touch up paint.
When it comes to the culprits involved in car paint deterioration, there are plenty of factors causing it. In this article, we are going to focus on those specific factors behind car scratches and swirls the kind that you can correct with touch up paint.
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Use Rubbing Compound On The Area
The next step is to apply rubbing compound to the area. You have to be very careful when using rubbing compound, as it can damage your cars paint job. The most important thing is to never let it dry on your car.
Youll want to take a wet rag and dip it in a little bit of rubbing compound. Then, using the same circular motion as you did with the sandpaper, rub it onto the area. You can still have the masking tape on your car at this point.
After you rub it in for about 20-30 seconds, take a dry rag and wipe it completely off your car. The surface of your car should look more glossy, closer to the original paint job.
Correctly Matching The Paint Color
Haven’t applied the touch-up paint yet? Don’t forget to buy the touch-up paint that matches the color code located on the inside of the driver’s door.
Buy a cheap paint pen for small spots, and a small bottle of paint for use with an airbrush or automotive paint sprayer for large paint repair spots.
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Find And Order Car Paint
Finding a precise colour match for your paintwork is absolutely vital for a smooth repair. Theres more information on finding the right colour in our blog here in order to ensure the repair is no longer visible once you have removed the damage. Once you know the paint colour then you can then order a small car paint touch-up bottle, which should come with an applicator brush. You will also need some primer, to help the paint adhere to the metal.
Its worth bearing in mind that you may not be able to get a direct match for your car just from buying generic paint, especially with older models. You may also need to buy the paint direct from the manufacturer for certain shades. This means new paint may be noticeable compared to the old paint, or because of the way that colour ages. At ChipsAway, we are able to precisely mix the paint required, to ensure a perfect match, using specific colour matching tools.
Clay Bars Are Your Friend During Paint Touch Up
If you have just completed a color correction, or you are working on a large area that has needed many chips to be sealed and clear-coated, you will want to make sure that you put in the elbow grease of using a clay bar.
Clay bars are worth the time that goes into using them and you really cant deliver a finished paint touch-up to your clients without taking the time to use a clay bar on the entire car after you are done with your work.
You are done with the clay bar process when you dont feel any more grit and grime with your fingertips under or in the paint. You will be amazed at how many little imperfections are actually marring the paint that you are working on when you run your fingers over the cars surfaces.
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How To Smooth Out Touch Up Car Paint
Are you smoothing out your touch-up paint, and need some professional touch-up tips?
Our auto body guys have put in the work to give you all the right solutions.
In this ProPaintCorner.com guide, you’ll learn:
- What you need to know about touching up car paint
- Supplies you’ll need to DIY touch-up paint on your car
- The step-by-step process of touching up car paint
We know that hiring a pro for touch up is expensive, so use our online guides and tools to successfully DIY your next touch-up job and smooth it out to perfection.
So, before you do smooth out the touch-up paint on your car, I recommend you read this quick guide.
What’s In This Guide?
Dont Try This Late At Night
Unless youre accustomed to working the graveyard shift and are wide awake, night-time isnt necessarily the best time to do even a quick paint job. Even when the weather is warm and clear with little wind, you may make simple mistakes if youre tired.
You should be wide awake, fully alert, and able to think clearly. So if you spent the afternoon watching a game on TV and drinking beer with your buds, a little touch up before dinner might not be the best idea.
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Common Car Paint Problems
Dont Assume Too Much From The Pen
While a paint pen is a great way to clear up small scratches on your exterior, they arent a cure-all for any damages your car might have had. If the scratch is too big, the paint pen wont really help you youll have to actually repaint the area.
Only use the paint pen for scratches that are around the width of the pen itself, any bigger, and youll need to consider opting for a more intensive approach. These pens may also get you better results when used in tandem with a Scratch Repair product that only requires application, which can more easily cover the smaller nooks and crannies.
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Apply The Paint Into A Base Coat
Its finally time to use the color paint youve ordered. Apply as many thin coats as needed until you feel the damaged area begins to match the rest of the car. Just make sure this newly restored area is not any thicker than the rest of the car.
Lastly, leave to dry for at least 20 minutes and even overnight if you must.
Touch Up Car Paint Yourself With These Methods
If the chips are generally small, with the proper supplies and technique, you can touch up your cars paint. The process is rather time-consuming, but the end result is worthwhile. Not only will touching up your car paint make it look better, but it will also protect your car from future corrosion.
Well walk you through how to touch up car paint here. Youll learn about the best products, and, most importantly, the necessary methods in order to prevent further damage.
Below, you will find the steps on how to touch up car paint. We separated the process into two categories. First, there is a list on how to prepare the area for touching up the car. Then, there is a list of the actual process of touching up the paint.
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When Is The Best Time Of Day To Do Car Touch Up Paint
Touch up paints are sold as aerosols and in jars. The packaging tells you something about the products formulation. Some touch up paints are solventborne, and others are waterborne, they have different characteristics based on the paint system. The majority of new factory finishes are now waterborne this is a superior paint system in every way: it is environmentally better, has a low VOC, is odorless, and safer to handle.
An aerosol touch up paint is thinner, more watery than a touch-up paint from a jar. The thickness and viscosity of the paint affect how long it takes to dry.
As a rule of thumb, you should assume it takes about a day for any touch up paint to cure fully. But most paints dry in a few hours, and some in as little as 30 minutes. Check the instructions for the touch up paint you are going to use.
Knowing how long it takes the paint to dry is only one of several factors to consider when deciding whats the best time of day to repair your vehicles finish. Here are a few other things you need to know.
Determine The Depth Of The Paint Job Damages
Car paint has layers. It is not just one coat of color sprayed onto the car. Anytime that you are looking at a paint issue, you will need to determine how deep the damage goes into the paint. Every paint job begins with a primer layer, then is follow up with a base coat and a mid-coat which is where the color is added. The whole thing is then covered up with a clear-coat layer.
Many of the paint chips or scratches that you will see are at least as deep as the mid-coat. Remember that the process is not the same if you only need to reapply a clear coat to the damage. You will need to know which kind of fix is needed before you start on your correction.
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Does Car Touch Up Paint Work
In short? It absolutely does! And you wont believe how you can do something so seemingly complex in such an easy manner.
Have no second thoughts about it, since touch up paint repairs, if done right, fix even the most deep and difficult of scratches. Doing it right includes the preparation stage, just as much as it does the actual paint job session itself.
Regardless of what caused the scratch on your car, with attention, dedication, and the right product at hand, you can fill even the most annoying scratches. It only makes sense that micro-scratches will quickly be a thing of the past as well after using your car touch up paint.
Whats more, if you want to save money and not throw it all in the hands of professional car detailers, you can easily apply the touch up paint by yourself, with care and thoroughness.
Continue reading and find all the tips you need regarding the application of the touch up paint, so you can benefit from the best results you can.
Best Car Paint For Bmwsbmw Alpine White Touch
BMW has its own branded touch-up paint readily available on the market. This particular color code is Alpine Whitea popular car shade for many BMW drivers. The product comes with a color-matched paint and a clear coat, ideal for touching up minor paintwork damage.
The brushes are quite thick, so it is important to try and apply several thin layers to avoid an uneven finish and then top it off with a clear coat. For a more precise application, its worth purchasing finer brushes to use with the product.
The paint can adhere to both the interior and the exterior of the vehicle. A high-quality, hard lacquer that dries quickly, wrote one reviewer. The color is a good match to the original, and the resulting touchup is nearly invisible.
Specifications
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Wash The Vehicle Before Paint Touch Up
You really cant tell anything about the damage to the paint if the vehicle is not clean. Beyond that, you will only damage the paint further by driving road grit into the paint as you try and repair the damaged paint. Grit and surface grime will also impede applied paint from adhering properly.
Always wash the car thoroughly and then wipe the affected area clean with a microfiber towel and some rubbing alcohol. This is the basic prep that you will need to do in any situation where the paint needs to be corrected.
