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Maybe it's your poor grammar you should be questioning? :P
I tried both the brushes that came in the lids and a very fine brush (stolen) from my wife (artist type) supply, no luck with either one. Really hacked me off because I was doing my car and her Lexus at the same time and her car looks great.
I broke down today and ordered a 12oz aerosol can online from one of the touch up suppliers but thought I'd better check in here in case there's something I'm missing.
The color is "Titanium", Nissan code WV2, kind of a dark grey (ish) metallic. I've done touch up on 3 other "silver" toned cars, Chevy, BMW and Lincoln and had much better results than this.
Any advice?
Thanks in advance.
easypar
If there are any serious cracks, that's a big problem. You should also price out a new piece and compare that to all the hassle.
Two rules about auto body repair:
1. Anything larger than 2" is not DIY.
2. Anything light metallic (silver, gold, light green) is most definitely not DIY.
Anyway, about a month ago I scraped my front fender (passenger side) and acquired a minor dent with some paint chipping. My friend got the dent most pulled out and now the issue that I'm having is that the touch-up paint is starting to slough off and I'm getting minor surface rust. The area is about 2.5in by 1.5in. I'm assuming by your answer to the previous poster I should take it to a body shop.
My question is, would that be the only option? If so how much might it cost and how long would the car be out? I only ask because I just got my car back from being repaired after a minor accident and don't want to pay a ton of money now. This scrape wasn't part of the accident, but do you think I should take it to that shop and see what they might charge?
My car is a 2003 Accord Coupe silver. I don't need it to look brand new, it's 7 years old after all, but I don't want it to rust out either. Any tips or ideas.
Also I have a long scratch 18 inches, it's not very wide (pin-point maybe). Is this something I might be able to fix myself? I'm not looking for perfection since any 7 year old car is going to show some age and in MN it can be hard to avoid minor damage since ice and snow are a given.
Thank you all for humoring me. I don't like spending a ton of money.
Is it worth it ?? what is it exactly?? and did you get it ?
As for the large dent/scratch, that sounds like at least $500 bucks or more to get a nice straight fender and a good paint match. Where I live it would probably be $800.
I seriously doubt your car will "rust out" on a vertical surface. Rust perforation usually occurs only where water can get trapped and collect.
Probably just some cheap wax and Scotch Guard (tm).
No.
I'm learning new things all the time.
I've had a couple unfortunate missteps, but have fixed them promptly and the car looks almost showroom new.
I know I'm going to be looking for these scratch kits because I have some surface scratches on the roof, it almost looks like low hanging branches have created swirling.
Thank you for your help.
Now if your plan is to strip the original Element all the way down for a full-on paint job stem to stern, well, that's going to get *very* pricey for a quality paintjob and you might think that over.
In any event, I guess we're lookin' at $3,000 to $8000 depending on what you want to do, and what CAN be done.
I’m sure some of you have heard it all before, and if not, you probably know things that I’m yet to discover, probably the hard way about DIY body work repair.
Anyway, the other week a van or lorry very kindly decided to scrap the passenger side of my Polo, break the mirror casing too, despite it being folded in.
Money being in short supply, I thought I'd have a go myself, having read up on it all, from paints, sandpaper grits, blending, cutting, step by step guides etc etc. I'm now at that point of buffing, polishing, bringing out the shine etc.
However, one thing I can’t improve is the colour, sadly, if it wasn't for the slight colour difference, I'd be quite chuffed with my efforts for a first attempt so far. The wally that I am, I chose to use an aftermarket pre mixed paint, and guess what, it didn't match! Something I didn’t discover until it was a bit late, annoying really, as I did offer the colour code and was told he didn’t need it, as there was only one VW Indigo Blue
As I'm sure you'll understand, the more I look at it, the more it bothers me that the colour is slightly off, more purple than the Indigo Blue that it is meant to be. Anyway, my question to you lovely people is:
What is the easiest way to undo what I've already done and start again (with the right paint this time)?
Do I simply take some course sandpaper to the area concerned and sand it back to the primer and use that as my base and start from there?
Do I use paint thinner (as one person has suggested? as that will remove some of my efforts, but not the surrounding original VW paint as that is a different blend/ mix
Any other ideas?
Where’s the best place to buy a perfect match (made to match colour code) in a spray can, Halfords?
PS the area concerned is patches around the passenger side doors, basically a straight line scrap/ v.small dent + the mirror case, which when replaced needs paint to match car colour.
I’m sure it would help if you had some pictures, which I will upload soon, but in the meantime, any help or advice you can offer would be really helpful.
Cheers
Very quick question for you all: Do you have any suggestions for finding a paint shop in Chicago? I've searched here manually and via search, used Google, and even checked Car Talk's mechanics' files. But no luck on finding a list of reputable/reviewed paint shops.
To give some background, the area right above my back left wheel was scratched when someone turned into me in an intersection. It requires some touch-up paint, at the very least. It seems pretty simple, but I want to make sure someone gets the right paint, etc.
Any thoughts on specific shops or a website with a list of shops would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Dave
That said, computerize color matching makes the job fairly easy. Proper application of the paint is a learned skill, for sure, but when you do it every day it's just not that hard.
BTW you will almost certainly need to prep and re-spray the area to fix the car properly. Touch-up paint is nearly useless. It can't cover anything larger than a thumbnail and even then it's likely to be very obvious because it rarely matches well, even when you buy it in the right color from the dealership.
I was shocked to see how good it looked when I got it back a week later -- it was like I bought it new between the quality of the body work and the paint job. When I went to my long-time mechanic, he said he never would have suspected I had been in an accident. That's probably the best endorsement anyone can give for a body shop.
Thanks for the responses! I didn't realize anyone had posted until I saw the most recent post. Appreciate the help.
-Dave
Thanks
They also recommend that you never wax your car or take it through a commercial car wash. I hand wash all my cars but that may be a deal breaker for some.
I did a quick Google search and found several detailing websites that trash Ming. I'm of the mindset that if you want your paint protected, use a quality wax every 3-4 months or a quality paint sealant every 9-12 months.
Huge difference when I got to mine.
Told him to wash it with Dawn and it should be ok. He thought I was nuts.
the paint under the clear coat is actually relatively dull when applied at the factory---the clear coat is what gives paint its real shine.
You might have noticed that you don't get paint color on the rag when you buff a newish car?
I think he ran into problems when "blending" the paint perhaps not sanding enough to remove the zaino off the clear coat.
Those "soft cloths" and brushes collect abrasives (dirt, sand, etc) in their fibers that will without fail leave fine scratches and swirls in the top layer of paint or clear coat. It's like washing your car with a Brillo pad or steel wool. As Tallman1 mentioned, walk through a parking lot when the sun is low in the sky and the light is reflecting at an angel. You'll see the swirls and scratches, especially on dark paint. That is almost always from car washes (or in some cases, the owner has used an abrasive cleaner wax or applicator pad).
Just yesterday, I saw a nearly new black Porshe Panamera Turbo that had so many swirl marks that it looked like someone had washed it with a brick. That should be a crime.
If you use one bucket, all that grit goes back on the paint.
I did some research and here is the list of what I'm going to get for the touchup
1. microfiber cloth (to clean the surface first)
2. sandpaper with different grit
3. primer
4 basecoat with the correct color (spray can)
5. clearcoat.
6. mask tape
7. Rubbing compound
My questions are:
1. do primer and clearcoat have color? If so should I get the same color as the basecoat?
2. For the deep scratch, should I apply primer first then basecoat and clearcoat at last?
3. For the lighter ones, I don't need the primer, right?
4. what does rubbing compound do? Do I apply it after the clearcoat. Does it fix minor scratches without any paint?
5. What grit sandpaper to use for deep scratch and light scratches ?
6. Do I need any wax or polish for the final touch?
0. use claybar to clean the paint
1. primer can be different colors though most of the time it''s grey. Clearcoat is exactly that. clear.
2. start with 600 grit sand light then prime, paint, clearcoat.
3.lighter scratches I would recommend 3M rubbign compound used with a random orbital buffer.
4. depends on which brand of rubbing compound that you use, you could strip the paint to bare metal.
5. deep scratch start with 600. light scratch use 3M rubbing compound with random orbital buffer.
6. wax and polish would be good to protect the time and effort you are about to spend.
Are you sure you want to try this?
The first and second pics shows a long scratch. Not very deep, probably only clearcoat is damaged. Can feel the toughness of wax by touching
This one is kind of deep, can see the metal.
Also there is a long thin key scratch.
Thanks
My question is if there is any cheap way of making the cheap paint job less noticeable. I know that short of a proper re-paint there is no way to make it perfect.
This is a $1200 car and not worth a lot of expense. Am I on a fool's errand or do the pros have some magic?
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
You could try "color sanding" if you want to read up on it, but it's a fair amount of work.
2007
rear door has been hit.
I want to save a little money by getting the dent out.
How do I remove the inside the door panel?
so I'd suggest that before you take the panel off and maybe even make it look worse (unless you are prepared to do bodywork and paint the door), have a "dent pro" look at it, and for a lot less than a bodyshop, he might be able to make it look a lot better.