Setec Astronomy said:
If you have a modern, properly cured paint job, you can just use laquer thinner to remove the touch-up paint without affecting the rest of the paint.
I'd modify that to read "If you have a modern, properly cured
*factory* paint job.." . Sometimes lacquer thinner can compromise even the best repaints, it's only on factory paint that I'd consider that approach 100% safe. My painters all have horror stories of wiping a seemingly factory finish with lacquer thinner only to have the paint come off.
Downgear- I've never waited all that long between coats, I want the next coat to melt into the previous one a little bit, so I don't *want* the paint curing all that much between coats. Note that a paintshop wouldn't wait all that long between coats if they were doing the job. I layer the basecoat every few hours, wait ~24 and then layer the clear every few hours. Then I leave it alone for a while.
Once the chip is built back up slightly above the surrounding paint, I'd leave it alone to cure for a while. Trying to level/perfect a touchup too soon can send you back to square one, for sorta the same reason that it's easier to do then.
As for claying...the clay oughta only shear off any paint that's above the surface of the surrounding paint, but it doesn't always work out that way and if the clay is somewhat aggressive it can/might remove the touchup as opposed to just leveling it.
Personally, I don't use clay for this. I either wetsand or use Langka or just leave the touchup alone and live with the "blob" effect. But then I'm the guy who often just lives with paint chips for years (or even decades)
The issue with wetsanding is, IMO, a matter of the almost inevitable sanding scratches that get in the surrounding OE paint, which will almost certainly be harder than the touchup. Polishing those scratches out, *without messing up the touchup* can be a challenge. Usually not an insurmountable challenge, but still...
If wetsanding gives somebody pause (and I certainly understand that), then I'd suggest the Langka "blob remover" stuff..which is basically a mild solvent mixed with some mildly abrasive polish. Works OK (not super IME, but OK) for leveling and works better than that (again, just IME) for *removing* touchups.
