Is rubbing alcohol on a qtip OK to use on paint before doing a few touchups?

Accumulator said:
I'd either go whole-hog and try to level the touchups via Lankga/etc. or wetsanding (and the latter can open a huge can of worms) or just live with the "blobs". And living with them often works for me, picky as I am.



The 3M SMR will be far too gentle to do any leveling, not even close. Even the most aggressive compounds are usually too gentle for this.
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Accumulator I may have used poor wording. I meant to use the 3m product to shine up the clear coat of the touch up paint not to remove blobs.



I'm hoping the Duplicolor product will let me remove some bad spots and I can try again with a smaller brush. :)
 
corvetteman--



In that first article I linked to, there's a technique of hole punching pieces of 1500 grit sandpaper and gluing them to the end of brand new pencil to use to "pinpoint" sand down the blobs. I never did have to do that myself, but it's a tip I've remembered forever. That might be worth a go.
 
corvetteman said:
Accumulator I may have used poor wording. I meant to use the 3m product to shine up the clear coat of the touch up paint not to remove blobs...
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Ah, thanks for clarifying. It *might* be potent enough for that, but I kinda doubt it. And the clear oughta be shiny enough without any such efforts. Hmm....wonder what's going on with it :think:
 
Thanks Bill. Ive done the sandpaper on pencil trick in the past and screwed it up to the cost of $350 so I'd like to try the mildest solutions first. Would claying remove touch up paint?
 
If the touch up paint is fresh, it might just work. If it's older, it depends on the quality of the touch up, it might be able to abrade it away. That might be worth trying.
 
Accumulator said:
Ah, thanks for clarifying. It *might* be potent enough for that, but I kinda doubt it. And the clear oughta be shiny enough without any such efforts. Hmm....wonder what's going on with it :think:
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I read on a few sites that the clear needs some sort of something but I dont know. I'm confusing myself at this point. I just want to remove the paint I did yesterday. Plastikote used to work perfect. Can you tell me the safest way to remove the touch up paint not to fix it
 
corvetteman said:
Would claying remove touch up paint?
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Done properly, claying with "normal" clay (as opposed to "overspray clay", which will mar up the surrounding paint something fierce), usually won't remove the touchups. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll work OK, but don't get really aggressive about it, trying to "force" the clay to do something it's not designed to do, lest you cause marring.



IMO the Langka is a very safe way to remove touchups; I've used it to take 'em off with zero issues.
 
Accumulator said:
Done properly, claying with "normal" clay (as opposed to "overspray clay", which will mar up the surrounding paint something fierce), usually won't remove the touchups. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll work OK, but don't get really aggressive about it, trying to "force" the clay to do something it's not designed to do, lest you cause marring.



IMO the Langka is a very safe way to remove touchups; I've used it to take 'em off with zero issues.
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First off I want to thank you guys again for your help. :)



If I had Lanka here I wouldnt hesitate to use it but I dont think I can buy it locally and I'm trying to get the car to look good for this weekend.



I tried clay, 3m swirl mark reducer, meguiars show car glaze and meguiars cleaner wax in that order. It is improved. Not work I would be proud of but improved.



Now my decision for today is do I try the duplicolor lacquer thinner on a few bad spots or do I just live with it and hope that the color magic black wax helps. If I was sure the duplicolor thinner was safe I would use it. I called duplicolor to find out if it was safe but the lady on the phone was beyond useless.
 
Minus having the Langka, it sounds like you did everything possible with what you had on hand and I'm glad at least you saw some positive results.



This kind of chip repair,IME is one of the toughest jobs in all of detailing. I've found it more difficult that removing tough scratches in paint. Not only does it require fine skill and a good eye, it can be very finicky.



It sounds to me if later on you want to get some other materials, your chips can only improve! :bigups
 
Thanks Bill. I'm going to head off to get some duplicolor laquar cleaner. If I can remove some of the bad spots I will. I will test it on a hidden place first for safety first. My car looks great from 3-5 feet away but within 2 feet is not good.
 
I went to buy the duplicolor lacquer thinner but after looking at the large bottle I didnt buy it. I wanted it to say that it could be used for this purpose or that it was safe for painted scar surfaces. It didnt say anything. Its such a shame Plastikote stopped selling their paint leveler. That stuff worked really well and was safe. I'm mad at myself that 1/3 of my hood looks bad but Ive decided not to jump off a bridge. I didnt make the chips so I cant blame myself 100% for that. I just made them look worse. I will try the black wax for now just hoping for a temporary improvement. It says safe for clear coat. I will look in to the langka and color chip systems. Ive seen pretty mixed reviews for both so far. I have a small crease in my hood so maybe down the line I will just get my hood resprayed and the crease taken out. I wish I could take that crease out myself. There is a really good paint place near me for $800 (whole car). That may be an option as well down the road. For now I will just try and make it as best I can without throwing a bunch of money at it.



My next step will be to decide Langka or Colorchip unless somebody knows of a better system. :)
 
corvetteman said:
My next step will be to decide Langka or Colorchip unless somebody knows of a better system. :)
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I think your best bet is to place an order. You may have to wait a little while for it to arrive, but you will have the right product. Like you said, in time you can reshoot the hood if you're still dissatisfied. Keep us posted.
 
Bill D said:
I think your best bet is to place an order. You may have to wait a little while for it to arrive, but you will have the right product. Like you said, in time you can reshoot the hood if you're still dissatisfied. Keep us posted.
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Thanks Bill. :)



Any idea which system gets the better results?
 
corvetteman said:
Thanks Bill. :)



Any idea which system gets the better results?
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I have experience with Langka. I wish it was as straightforward as using a certain polish,pad,polisher, RPM speed and number passes to get a scratch out but generally it's not. You can get really good results with it right off the bat, or you may have to really work with it. It's part of why paint chip repair can be a big pain. Just got to keep at it.
 
corvetteman said:
Any idea which system gets the better results?
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IME you never know which system, or which brand of touchup paint, or which...well, anything, is gonna work best for a particular situation until you try it. Flip a coin, place an order, and see what you think; repeat as necessary until you find what works for you.
 
With money tight I didnt want to chance $30 on Langka since I read so many questionable reviews. I bought the duplicolor lacquer thinner and some Meguiars ultimate compound. The thinner seemed to do a decent job despite the paint having a week to dry. Some spots around the touch up areas got hazy. I think that was the touchup paint running down more than the original paint spotting but I'm not sure. I was a bit worried but I followed up with the Meguiars ultimate compound and I would say things are improved. My lack of patience and expertize in the area of touchups will probably prevent any perfect job so I settle for improvements rather than perfection. I only used the lacquer on around 10 of the most obvious spots for now. After I wear my arms off doing the ultimate compound on the whole hood and fenders I'm debating whether I have to use the Meguiars show car glaze or can I go straight to the cleaner wax which is supposed to be part glaze and part wax. Any advise? Please keep in mind its all done by hand in a summer time garage. :)
 
corvetteman- Maybe the UC will finish down OK. If you want to avoid extra work I wouldn't use the Meguiar's #7 at all.



I wouldn't use the cleaner wax period, but if you have it, and you don't want to spend any more money, then well...see how that goes.



Gotta say that your "the touchup paint running down" sounds pretty, uhm....awful :nervous:
 
Accumulator said:
corvetteman- Maybe the UC will finish down OK. If you want to avoid extra work I wouldn't use the Meguiar's #7 at all.



I wouldn't use the cleaner wax period, but if you have it, and you don't want to spend any more money, then well...see how that goes.



Gotta say that your "the touchup paint running down" sounds pretty, uhm....awful :nervous:
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Accumulator I agree about the #7. It doesnt seem to work well on my black car. I'm planning on picking up some Meguiars deep crystal polish. Will that be better?



Instead of using the cleaner wax I'm planning on buying the deep crystal cleaner.



I already have the deep crystal carnuba.



So do you think Meguiars deep crystal cleaner followed by meguiars deep crystal polish, followed by meguiars deep carnuba is a decent plan?



You are right about the touch up paint. I wish I never tried to apply any touch up paint at all. One day I will get the whole car painted but not soon because money is tight. As bad as my car sounds I had a neighbor ask me if I bought it new. The car is 10 years old so it cant look too horrible if my neighbor thought it might be new.
 
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