Touch-up Paint Pen

Hello Autopians!



If anyone would be so kind as to answer a couple of questions I have, I would really appreciate it. I have tried to "search" for the answer but either they are not there or I am not doing it right. (2nd choice is more likely :rolleyes: )



First off, I have purchased one of those Autovisual touch up pens from my dealer (2001 Silver Solara) and am going to attack the NUMEROUS rock chips in the paint on the front of the hood and front of the bumper this weekend. (unless I chicken out) I am wondering if I need to remove the 3 week old Gold Class liquid wax on the car on the chips first? Has anyone ever used this pen before? Any suggestions as to how to get the best results? I have read alot about how to get good results with the bottle of touch up paint but can't find much about the pen. Thanks!



Also, to settle a dispute with my husband, (okay not really a dispute, but you know what I mean) how often do we need to reclay the car between coats of Gold Class liquid wax? In other words, 3 weeks ago we cleaned and clayed and Gold Classed the car and now next weekend I want to put another layer of wax on. Do we need to clay again before the wax?? I say no, he says yes. :) He says if we do not reclay it we are just waxing the junk into the car. Whaddya think?



Thanks!



debbie
 
You shouldn't have to clay your car more than a couple times a year. Unless you live in a really industrial area by the freeway or train tracks then you should be able to get away with once a year. Run your hand over your paint. If you feel bumps then you should clay. If you feel that you need to clay every week then you need to really think about using something that will protect better than Gold Class. Gold Class is a great wax. Its a little tough to control the dust that it leaves but it really looks great. You can put as many coats as you want on. I wax every week personally. Its a fun project if you have the time to do it that often. With Gold Class you can get away with waxing every 3 or 4 months.



It also wouldn't hurt to take the wax off your hood before you do the touch up. Get some dawn and wash down the hood. That should take all the wax off. I've never used that pen before but I'd sure like to try it. I've got a couple rock chips that really tork me off. Let us know how it works out for you. :xyxthumbs
 
:wavey Welcome to the forum!



For touch up paint you should clean the surface of wax and oils so the touch up paint will adhere properly....3m makes a product for this and is sold at Wal Mart and other stores in the auto painting supply area..... Or PREPSOL which would be available from your local body shop supply store.



Claying is only required when you want to remove paint contaminates.....check your paint for contaminates by cleaning the car and inserting your hands into a plastic baggy and lightly touching the paint....feel for little bumps and stuff....then clay.



FOr most people 1-2 times a year is all that is really required.



HTH and good luck
 
Thank you for the replies, helps alot.



I will definitely take the wax off before I try the pen. I will either look for the stuff at Walmart or just use Dawn, which I have. I am going to try to put a few layers of paint in the chip, waiting a bit in between for dry time. I am just hoping I don't get any extra on the paint or I will have to get some kind of polish or something to buff it down even. And I hope it will match okay. Being silver, I figure it might not be too difficult.



I was right about the clay! Ha! (okay, I won't give him a hard time about it) So it is okay to just wash the car with the Gold Class shampoo and put another layer of Gold Class right on top of the last layer, right? I imagine you could just keep doing this every month for 6 months and then strip it off with the clay and start fresh? Does that sound right? I'm thinking at that point I would wash with Dawn also to get the wax off.



I have a feeling we will be moving on to something more durable later, such as Klasse, Blackfire, or Zaino once we have used up the Gold Class. We are new at this and wanted to start with something simple but we love the way the car looks so much now we are going nuts and want to do EVERYTHING to it.



Guess maybe you can relate. :)
 
Debbie said:


So it is okay to just wash the car with the Gold Class shampoo and put another layer of Gold Class right on top of the last layer, right?





That sounds like a plan. I love Gold Class. It was always one of the finer waxes I've used. It really made cars look good. You can layer it as many times as you want. What kind of car is it? It soundsl like you guys really love it.



I just thought about this. Here is my Mustang with a couple layers of Gold Class on it. This is pre Klasse or anything else days. This is probably just a Meguiar's 3 stage waxing and a couple coats of GC. Like I said.... Nice wax.





Mustang.jpg
 
That is a really nice car you have and it's nice to see you can get a nice result without using the more "exotic" waxes. Although we are really wanting to try either Klasse or Zaino on our car next, we are happy with the look of the Gold Class. I am just not sure it is going to last long enough for the look I want.



It is an 01 Toyota Solara, silver, and yes we do love it! I really enjoy keeping it looking nice, and I am finding out the more you do, the more you want to do. It's addicting! I will try to post a pic but not sure I will have any luck. If it works, it is a pic of it shortly after we bought it, so no wax or pampering done to it yet.



here we go, keeping fingers crossed....
 
Well, okay I just finished trying to use the pen on about 4 rock chips and I have to say I am not terribly impressed. It is nicer looking at a dark silver spot instead of just a black spot (before paint) but it is still a spot!



I guess I would like to know if this is the kind of result you get when you use the bottle of touch up paint? It is like the spot where I painted is slightly darker than the original silver paint and a couple of them kinda "blobbed" onto the surrounding paint. Very slightly, but still, they blobbed. :) Also it seems like in order to get the chip level with the surrounding paint it almost forces you to blob over. Otherwise, you see the indentation where you have put the pen, but you have not filled the hole.



I was considering getting like a drop of paint on the end of the pen and just kinda setting it in the chip to fill the chip but I knew for SURE then I would blob.



Do you think I could just fill the chip and then sand/polish it down and put wax on it and it would look okay? I am willing to put ridiculous amounts of time and practice into this if it is possible to get a good result. If it is impossible to get a good result, I will not bother trying to perfect it.



Thanks so much for any help!



Also, is it normal to have approx 10+ chips on my bumper and 5+ chips on my hood after 12k miles. Seems like alot.
 
I suggest you read the e-book and the section on chips...there are some great directions there on how to do it......Wet sanding and all.
 
will do... thx for the advice. I d/l the first part of the guide awhile ago and really need to get the rest! I am SURE I will more than get my $$'s worth.
 
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