Fixing the Touch-up Paint

D

Dalight

New member
Last week, my 2000 SAAB 9-5 (frost grey) was struck on the highway by a rock which appeared to come from a dumptruck.



The rock left a nice mark about 1/4 inch long on my hood, down to the primer.



Since I'd otherwise have to repaint the entire hood, I decided to try my best at touching the area up.



I followed the great article from better car care on how to fill (with the official SAAB touchup paint), wet sand, and polish using the fine cut and then the swirl mark remover polishes from 3-M. Everything worked well, I have a flat, smooth, scratch free area, which looks beautiful save one fact...it's significantly darker than the rest of the hood.



Does anyone have any recommendations short of having the entire hood repainted (~ $500)?







spot1.jpg
 
If that is an "after" picture, then I think you either got the wrong touch-up color or sanded away what you applied. I only say that because it looks nothing at all like the surrounding area.



What I do notice is that you have mettalic flecks in the paint. It is my understanding, from reading others' posts on this board, that to properly touch up metallic paint, you must use several thin layers. This is apparently because the flecks will sink in the paint before it dries, and the spot will then look flat compared to the paint around it.



It looks, to me, like you should first verify that you are using the correct touchup paint, and then lay down several thin layers, a few days apart, until the paint fills to the correct level. You may even want to try some Langka (or the Mothers version of it) to save yourself the wetsanding and re-polishing stuff.



Good luck.
 
It's the right color as per my color code for SAAB. They checked it multiple times.



When I first looked at it, I thought I must have sanded it down too much. I'm not sure how I could've done it since that surface is equal to the original paint surface and the scratch was much further down.



I've painted back over it, and am planning on just seeing what the polishes can do and maybe forget wetsanding this time.
 
I agree totally with ZJ JIM 96 on the multiple layers of touch-up paint that needs to be applied. In me experience from watching others, you need to build up the layers to its higher than the surrounding paint.....then proceed to wetsand it until level, following up with polish and wax. Personally, I've never had the luxury of taking on such a feat (lol), but this method should do it. Good Luck!
 
The metallic flakes migrated to the top of the touch up. Then, you wetsanded them away.



Thin coats would prevent this from happening.



If you're looking for our touch-up product, your best bet is an e-tailer. I'll PM you some choices - one is in NC.
 
Thanks for the help, guys. I think I'll try to get a coat of wax on the hood tomorrow so I can at least drive around. Then I'll try to find the chip repair at an Autozone or Wal-Mart since they're both listed as Mothers reatailers.



If I can't find it at either, I'll order a kit online and wait it out. :(
 
As an update for people who are following, Forrest sent me a list of places who carry the Mothers chip repair. The owner of one of the e-tailers is about 5 miles from my house. They allow local customers to pick up products, so I'm on my way over to get a paint chip repair kit to give it a shot.
 
Mini-update:



I travelled to Kernersville, NC this morning to visit the home of the people who run Detailers' Dream. They sold me one of the Mothers kits.



When I got back, I used it to smooth over the repaint I did last night. I believe I pressed too hard since I ended back close to the above picture. :)



So, I did 2 thin layers of touch-up. An hour and a half later, I used the kit and got the spot pretty close to flush. Unfortunately, the color isn't a perfect match. The original pain is a bit lighter. Also, the touch-up doesn't have any reflectivity yet. If you look at it from the sides, it's barely noticiable, but if you look at my hood head on, it's like a zit on someone's forehead...big, round, and always staring at you.



I've run SMR over it and I'll use WG twins tomorrow after giving it a fair time to cure. I'll take another pciture then.
 
Update: I just finished washing / polishing / waxing with a WG combo.



It doesn't look bad. At certain angles, it isn't even visible. In fact, you can't even see it in the hood picture. I know it's there though. :)



hood.jpg








scratch.JPG




And yes, my car does change colors. Depending on the light, it's anywhere from grey to navy blue.
 
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