Problem after touch up

C

Cope

New member
A couple weeks ago I decided to fix a rock chip on my car. I cleaned it out and used a toothpick with some touch up paint to fill it in. I slightly overfilled the chip, but left it be until yesterday. I took a piece of wet 2000 grit sandpaper and glued it to the top of a pencil eraser. I then very very lightly sanded the blob. It didn't take much to even it out with the rest of the paint. The problem I had was the chip was smaller than my piece of snadpaper so I accidentally sanded the area around the blob as well. When I finished sanding I used a small amount of 3M Perfect It II in hopes of getting rid of the sanding marks and then followed it up with a quick polish by PC with SSR 1 using a green Propel pad. After I finished I noticed the area beside the touch up paint looks slightly damaged. I can only see it at certain angles and in certain light conditions. I would best describe it as looking like a small dent in the paint. When I put my head down against the paint and look at the area I can tell that it is not a dent, it just appears that way. I tried going back over it with AIO but that didn't help. Next I tried the SSR1 with the green pad again, no luck. Finally I tried an orange LC pad with SSR1 but that didn't get it either. I am not sure what to do next. And I don't really know what kind of damage this is.



I know pictures would help, but unfortuanetly I don't have a camera right now. Can anyone help based on my description?
 
Cope- depending on how you did the sanding, you might've gouged the factory paint adjacent to the repaired area. Might not be much you can do to fix it. If you've polished out the sanding scratches (sounds like you have) and this is a different type of problem (that's what it sounds like to me) then I'd probably just accept the imperfection. Somebody might suggest you add clear to build up the repaired area, but I'd worry about opening a whole new can of worms. Doing touch-ups to a high standard is infinitely more difficult than some might lead you to believe. The spots I've touched up on my vehicles look awful to me, but I'm not gonna risk making them worse by trying to "improve" them; I know my limitations ;)
 
I think people expect too much from a touch-up.







Accumulator is right on the money

"Doing touch-ups to a high standard is infinitely more difficult than some might lead you to believe."
 
Cope said:
I can only see it at certain angles and in certain light conditions.
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Most likely, you are the only person in the world who will ever notice it. I've learned to accept these types of repairs for what they are and move on.



I agree with the other advice already given above.
 
Cope said:
A couple weeks ago I decided to fix a rock chip on my car. I cleaned it out and used a toothpick with some touch up paint to fill it in. I slightly overfilled the chip, but left it be until yesterday. I took a piece of wet 2000 grit sandpaper and glued it to the top of a pencil eraser. I then very very lightly sanded the blob. It didn't take much to even it out with the rest of the paint. The problem I had was the chip was smaller than my piece of snadpaper so I accidentally sanded the area around the blob as well. When I finished sanding I used a small amount of 3M Perfect It II in hopes of getting rid of the sanding marks and then followed it up with a quick polish by PC with SSR 1 using a green Propel pad. After I finished I noticed the area beside the touch up paint looks slightly damaged. I can only see it at certain angles and in certain light conditions. I would best describe it as looking like a small dent in the paint. When I put my head down against the paint and look at the area I can tell that it is not a dent, it just appears that way. I tried going back over it with AIO but that didn't help. Next I tried the SSR1 with the green pad again, no luck. Finally I tried an orange LC pad with SSR1 but that didn't get it either. I am not sure what to do next. And I don't really know what kind of damage this is.



I know pictures would help, but unfortuanetly I don't have a camera right now. Can anyone help based on my description?
Click to expand...



I did the same thing on my Oxford White Mustang, but I only let it dry for a couple of hours, then I sanded it with 2000 wet/dry sandpaper. My sanded area was about the size of 2 postage stamps. I used a couple of applications of optimum compound and polish by hand. It came out perfect.
 
ptim said:
I did the same thing on my Oxford White Mustang, but I only let it dry for a couple of hours, then I sanded it with 2000 wet/dry sandpaper. My sanded area was about the size of 2 postage stamps. I used a couple of applications of optimum compound and polish by hand. It came out perfect.
Click to expand...





Very impressive, that was a big area for that kind of repair! Glad it turned out so well.
 
Yes, a gouge in the clear coat is probably a good description of what it looks like from distance and at an angle. It just seems weird to me because when I put my eye right down to it I can't see it. I guess that's just because of the way the light hits it. I'm going to make time to give it another close look this weekend, but it sounds like there isn't anything I can do but live with it. That really bums me out.



Thanks for the replies.
 
Cope- Heh heh, to put it in *my* perspective, I was bummed about my terrible touchups on the S8...then the deer incident happened, giving me all *sorts* of flaws be bummed out about :eek: I do know how you feel, but the sort of flaws we have to struggle to see, even when we *know* they're there, could always be a lot worse.



Oddly enough, the two rock chips on my Jag (from an otherwise great afternoon in August of '86) are now "features" instead of flaws, at least to me. I think of them as "patina" from my long association with the car, momentos from a cool time in my life. OK, I'll admit that I can be a bit weird where the Jag is concerned :o



Q: did you use a sanding block or something similar, or just the paper and your hand? I'd take a wild guess on the latter.
 
I just used a small piece of paper (apparently not small enough) glued to the end of a pencil eraser.



I think I'm coming to terms with the whole thing. Its just a small flaw, could be worse.
 
cope-OK, I should've got that (pencil, etc.) from the initial post :o



Yeah, it sounds to me like things turned out very well overall.
 
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