Touching up paint

Everyone probably has their own way of doing this, but I thought I would share mine. I've been using this method for years now. I kind of came up with it by accident one day after putting too much paint on a scratch on my wife's car, anyway, I've been using it ever since, and I thought it might be useful to someone to help them get rid of the odd annoying chip / mark in the paint. If you don't have the time, and don't want to go through the expense of having something resprayed for the sake of a few marks then this could help. From my point of view, I am currently sourcing a mk1 GT3 front bumper, so there is little point in a full respray on this one, but the touching up will freshen it up while i am waiting for a new one. I must say that you do this at your own risk of course! My brother used this method on an older car that had very thin paint, and he was a little over-enthusiastic rubbing away the lacquer leaving a dull patch! With that in mind this is how you do it: You will need, wax, a very mild cutting paste (or T-cut original as it is much kinder than normal cutting paste), touch up paint from an OPC (there is never any substitute for paint, always get it from the manufacturer), a cocktail stick (for smaller nicks) and a couple of soft cloths, degreaser (white spirit is fine). The first example is the rather annoying marks on my front bumper, from a normal distance and in daylight they don't look so bad, but under a fluorescent strip and a flash of a camera they are easily noticeable. The first thing to tackle is the two splits / scratches in the paint. To fill scratches that have gone through to the base coat, I first cleaned with soapy water, then used a small amount of white spirit to remove any wax. Dry the area thoroughly. I use the brush for scratches, just enough to provide a thick-ish but even layer over the scratches. This paint dries very quickly at normal room temperature and even a below, so I leave for approximately one minute and then apply t-cut to a soft cloth and wipe it over the area painted to dampen. Then, working the T-cut over the area removes the paint you have just put on, but if you rub over the surface evenly it will leave a layer of paint in the scratch. Repeat the process three time aprox (any more you risk thinning the lacquer): Second Third (starting to take care of some chip marks as well at this point) Fourth (with some more stone chip work as well) Job done with a lot of the other chips touched in using a similar method: I use a similar method for small chips but instead, I use a cocktail stick for small marks: The driver's front side of the bumper (this is work in progress but you can already see the difference after one application): Before After You'll notice I haven't touched in all the marks at this point, even with a first coat. The reason is that if you try to cover to much of an area, or too many chips, you will not get to them all in time before they dry leaving nasty blobs on your paintwork! I hope this is useful to someone, like I said, I have used this method for years, you have to remember to buff the excess paint off with t-cut or similar literally one minute after application otherwise you will not be able to get it off without a real struggle. You can apply the next layer straight over the top after t-cutting and it will adhere. When you're done, wash the area and wax it. As you can see, even sticking the camera right on top of the paint with the flash is showing great results, at a normal distance or just standing up in daylight, you would not be able to see the marks were ever there. For deep chips and blemishes I apply lacquer using the brush or cocktail stick to help level the area, but from experience even the paint polished into the chip area will last for years. Also, the method I use for using a cocktail stick is to wipe excess off of the brush and rod, then turn upside down, get a small amount on the tip, and literally just touch it on the mark as if you are using a pen. Thanks, Steve *edited because I can't spell...*

Excellent Steve ,thanks very much really helpful.[ ]

No problem

Richard just sent me a link to this thread as I will be touching up my bumber and a few other spots at some point. Thanks for the informative post, I think this should be a sticky so people can see it easily in future. Cheers Chris

Hi Steve, I have just seen this post and am very impressed. I have a couple of light scratches and was considering a respray. They show up more when the car is clean and because its black as well. I may have to strongly consider this option. Well done and thanks.

From my understanding this is basicly what chipex does http://www.chipex.co.uk/how-it-works-i-4.html Never tried it but heard of some good results. Apart from this way obviously saves you £30 quid.