Touching up black paint

S

Striker

Active member
I've always been skeptical on touching up, I can never get it just right. It was advised to me a while ago to try using flat black on minor stone chips on my black cars. He said this way it will be less visible.



I thought about it, and it kind of makes sense. Flat black has no clear and always finishes well, flat.



Any thoughts?
 
Striker said:
I've always been skeptical on touching up, I can never get it just right. It was advised to me a while ago to try using flat black on minor stone chips on my black cars. He said this way it will be less visible.



I thought about it, and it kind of makes sense. Flat black has no clear and always finishes well, flat.



Any thoughts?
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I've done a LOT of work with touchup paint. While I don't have a "perfect" system, I have gotten it down to about a 1 footer (meaning you have to have your face in it to see the damage). First and foremost get Langka, just the blob eliminator fluid is all you really need. That alone will let you apply and remove touchup until you are absolutely happy with it. Second I recommend getting a PTG to keep you safe while sanding.



I've had really good luck with base coat paint and getting it perfectly level with the factory coat, however it appears more dull than the surrounding clear. To me this stands out more than a small paint blob. The trouble I keep having with clear is that once I get it thin enough to be near level, it starts to flake off. If I leave a small blob of clear I can get it super smooth with compound and its really hard to see, certainly next to impossible to photograph.



That said, I don't see at all why you couldn't get regular gloss black base coat paint and get it perfectly level. Touchup is really an art, I recommend getting a test panel and practicing the craft till you are happy with your results. I don't believe you can make perfect repairs, but you can get close enough.
 
Striker said:
Why do I have to sand stuff?
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You don't. You can level with Langka (though it won't turn out as nice as sanding), or just leave the blob. I've done it all three ways and don't bother with the sanding unless I'm doing a big correction job anyhow; I'll generally just leave the blob and maybe get around to wetsanding it next time I'm compounding (which might be years).



FWIW, I do 'em by using just enough basecoat to get the color and then quite a bit of clear. More clear than basecoat.



I would expect black to be a piece of cake to touchup compared to metallics. Even the subtle diffs between different blacks generally shouldn't show since the spots are so small.



But IMO having the touchups be flat/matte/etc. *will* show and I can't for the life of me figure out why somebody would recommend that you do it that way. I've used black primer when touching up black cars, and that was always obvious; but when I got the black paint on there (this was in the days of ss) it looked fine again.
 
Striker said:
Why do I have to sand stuff?
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As Accumulator said, you don't. But if you want a near perfect repair, you are going to need to sand and compound. If you think you are going to get repairs like the langka demos show, you are in for a surprise, it does not work as advertised, however much like TW Liquid clay, its a great product if used for something else.
 
Striker said:
OK so should I just go to GM and order a touch up stick and go to town?
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You could. I have even used a Dupli-Color 2:1 to touch up an Onyx Black Pearl Suburban I owned a few years ago, and was very satisfied with the color match.



Like the others said, it does take a lot of practice and trial and error. My theory is that if the car is a daily driver, if you can get it down to where it is not noticeable from about 3 feet away, that's a win.
 
Striker said:
OK so should I just go to GM and order a touch up stick and go to town?
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If by stick you mean paint pen, no. The 2 in 1's (traditional brush with ballpoint on the other end) are what I really like. The ball point tip works well if you don't want to invest in a very fine brush, but they clog. Black is really an easy match though, you can go to a parts store and get a GM black and be fine.
 
ntwrkguy1 said:
My theory is that if the car is a daily driver, if you can get it down to where it is not noticeable from about 3 feet away, that's a win.
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Yeah, just not seeing primer/polish residue/rust/etc. where the chip is can make a big difference. Even if it turns out crappy, I usually find I can live with it. After a while I get used to most little flaws, sorta surprise myself sometimes.
 
Well this is for my occasional summer driver, the trans am but I just recently bought an Impala that's the same color. The F body has 4 chips in total. The impala will most likely be the practice car seeing as its got tripple the stone chips.



Are there any positives to polishing the paint prior to touching up?
 
Striker said:
Well this is for my occasional summer driver, the trans am but I just recently bought an Impala that's the same color. The F body has 4 chips in total. The impala will most likely be the practice car seeing as its got tripple the stone chips.



Are there any positives to polishing the paint prior to touching up?
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Nope. In fact negatives, especially if you end up sanding to level. I'd start with something else like a toolbox or lawnmower until you get confident, no sense in ruining a nice car.
 
Striker said:
Are there any positives to polishing the paint prior to touching up?
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-AND-



yakky said:
Nope. In fact negatives, especially if you end up sanding to level.
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It's generally easier to keep the paint in the chip and then level things nicely if you don't sand first. But if there's any chance that the edges of the chip might have compromised adhesion, or if there's rust in the chip I'll sand it a little with something like a "sharp corner" of a folded sheet of paper or the corner of a Meg's abrasive block. IMO the point is to *not* smooth things out too much as that'll just make the job harder.
 
I'm even considering using a toothpick for more precision. The stone chips on the T/A are minimal and very small.
 
If you can still find them, the pencil style typewriter erasers that allow you to "sharpen" the eraser part, work very nice for cleaning up the chip area to ensure proper paint adhesion.



HTH
 
Striker said:
I'm even considering using a toothpick for more precision..
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I use small artists's brushes. Sizes like 0-00 ("zero through double-oh") usually work best for me, but I've used smaller ones too.
 
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