Paint touch up on an edge?

D

derekb

New member
Hey guys,

My buddy is having me work on his car that has some paint transfer and a paint chip from an accident. He'd like it touched up. The location of the chip is in the crack in between the passenger door on an edge. Has anyone had to deal with a similar? Anything I should be cautious of? Or anyone can suggest a good plan of attack?

I've attached a picture but can't seem to upload it the right way up - sorry in advance for any sore necks! Thanks!

volief.jpg

 
I usually buy the TouchUp paint from the dealer for my cars. If the TouchUp area doesn't turn out well, you could go to a reputable automotive paint store and buy the door edging. They have all different sizes to choose from and it's not the low grade stuff they carry at automotive parts stores.
 
When you touch up, stay inside the part where the paint is scraped off. Thin your touch up paint just a little, about 10% lacquer thinner - slow thinner if you can get it - then start in the middle and work your way out. Apply thin, thin coats and again, stop at the edge of the scratch. It will take a few coats to bring the touch up paint up to the level of the surrounding paint. It might be helpful to think of it as welding to fill a hole rather than painting.

Robert
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Robert- Do you think bondo would be a good idea in this location? I'm thinking it might cut down on the touch up time. Also - would Varsol slow thinner be okay here?
 
Stay away from the bondo unless you are willing to make the damaged area larger. You need to feather plastic filliers to get the surface flat and you will no doubt have something that is even easier for the eye to pick up. Lots of slow coats with a matching paint will yield your best result.
 
That would depend on the consistency of the paint. I know that often times the touch up tubes of paint sit around and become quite thick due to evaporation. In that case the thinner would no doubt be almost a necessity.
 
To mix the thinner with the touch up what would the 10% ratio be? For example in one of those paper Dixie mouthwash cups like 3 drops of paint to one drop of thinner?
 
Eh, I wouldn't bother thinning it, I'd just use it as-is. Mutliple applications to fill in the chips.

FWIW, adding lacquer thinner to certain (presumably lacquer-based) touchup paints has messed them up, another reason why I wouldn't do it.

Noting that no touchups should be expected to turn out perfect, that one doesn't look very bad, oughta turn out OK.

I've found that color matching is hit-or-miss, sometimes the dealership stuff is best, other times Automotive Touchup (dot com) or PaintScratch (dot com) matched better. And there's always DrColorChips (use it like regular paint, *NOT* the way they tell you to).

Oh, and use a small artist's brush instead of a toothpick (let alone the huge/crude brush in many touchup paints). That looks like it'd take about a size 0 or 00.

It's the leveling of the touchup that gets tricky. Langka's blob eliminator can work OK but it can also remove all your touchup work. Wetsanding is best left to people who are already well-accomplished at it IMO.
 
Can't say that I concur with Accumulator on this one. I think it just depends on the consistancy of the paint. I've done this a number of times but one time stands out. I've used some Ford touch up paint that literally had the consistancey of an old bottle of Elmers glue. The best thing I could have done would have been to get a fresh tube of paint. That said, as I recall it was a holiday weekend and that's what my friend (his car) had on hand.

I thinned it down, can't really tell you the ratio. started with a few drops of paint and added a bit of thinner, might have been 3/1 or 5/2 paint to thinner, it was quite thin when mixed. Thin enough to paint with a fine modeling brush. If you get it too thin add another drop of paint. I know that if I'd have applied the paint at the consistancy it came out of the bottle, it would have been one of those situations where the paint just never dries but gets kind of clumpy and tries to wrinkle or pull out when leveling.

I ended up putting on 4 or 5 coats to build the thickness and gave it several days to dry and carefullly wet sanded it. It worked pretty well and was suprising level but was not perfect. Two years later I look at it and can tell it has shrunk back a bit but still not a jump out and grab you repair. Doing a repair like this and expecting it to be invisible is quite an expectation. Doing this and expecting it to be something your eye isn't immeadiatly drawn to is more realistic. Your problem on this picture is that it's a corner repair and will be very challanging to not pull the paint out or sand back to base. It can be done but patience is a real virtue.

derekb said:
To mix the thinner with the touch up what would the 10% ratio be? For example in one of those paper Dixie mouthwash cups like 3 drops of paint to one drop of thinner?
Click to expand...
 
Ten percent would be one drop of thinner to ten drops of paint. Thinning it isn't always necessary but ten percent isn't much and, if you mess up the touch up, you can remove it with just a little on cloth. Lacquer thinner won't take off factory paint unless you soak a cloth and leave it on the surface for a good while, or pour it straight on.

I wouldn't use bondo for filler but I have used super glue gel.

Good luck,
Robert
 
GearHead_1- Eh, this is just one of those "YMMV!" situations, where there are gonna be differing experiences. That's why IMO it's *good* for use to all present what's worked/not for us so there's more info to work with.

Speaking of which- Ah, you thinned *Ford* paint! That's great to know because I have some slightly too-thick dealership paint for my Crown Vic.

The time I tried thinning with awful results it was Audi-branded touchup paint. I too was dealing with "too thick, need it now" and man did it surprise me when my tiny bit of lacquer thinner [messed] it up!

I'm a bit surprised to see Bondo even *mentioned* in this context...don't they use "glazing putty" for stuff like that? Eh, I just build up paint instead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top