How to Touch Up Your Car's Paint Job
Touching up a small scratch on your car with a little bottle of touch-up paint is easy. Before you start the job, mask the surrounding area well and use even, sweeping strokes to apply the paint. (Follow the directions on the can carefully.) The techniques used to paint the body of a vehicle can vary depending on the size of the area you’re working on and the original paint and finish. Unless you have an experienced and steady hand (and the car’s original paint hasn’t faded or changed color since it was new), it’s almost impossible to conceal the fact that you repainted anything larger than a small area. Larger areas require spray-painting, which must be done in a well-ventilated area that’s free from dust and dirt. So if the area you need to paint is large, it will probably cost you less in time, money, and effort to have the job done by a professional who can match the paint and do the job right. If you want a cheap but decent job that will last a year or so, find out where local car dealers take the used cars they get as trade-ins to have them spiffed up before resale. To save money, you can remove any rust, spot-fill, and paint the small areas yourself, and then have the rest of the job done professionally. Practice on a piece of scrap metal before you tackle the car, and don’t expect the results to look terrific. Follow these steps: Look on the firewall of your vehicle — you should see a little plate with the body number and paint code number on it. Touch-up bottles of paint usually come with a brush or applicator in them. You also need a small bottle of primer unless the paint specifies that it isn’t required. Remove any rust arrestor, dust, dirt, filler residue, and wax; then let the area dry completely before you apply the primer. Primer is used to seal a metal surface against rust and to provide a surface for the paint to adhere to. Primer also fills in tiny holes and imperfections in the surface. If you’re dealing with a surface scratch or a chip that isn’t down to the bare metal, you can probably get away with simply applying the paint. But never apply paint to bare metal or plastic. If a bare spot is exposed, or if the spot is larger than a fraction of an inch, prime the area first. Apply the paint, covering the surface of the spot completely and working inward from the edges. If you’re painting a scratch or a very small area, you can cut down the brush or use a matchstick or toothpick instead. The paint should be no thicker than the surrounding surface or it will show, run, bubble, or peel off.
How to Repair Car Paint Chips. Expert advice on how to repair car paint chips follow Steps 1 through 5 and repair finish flaws follow Steps 1,4, and 5. Clean the area.
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Paint chip repair systems for vehicles. Includes before and after photos.
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So you’ve got a paint chip on your car door, hood, roof or elsewhere and you want to fix it before it quickly becomes a rusty paint chip! Paint chip repair is easy to do yourself with an automotive touch up paint pen or brush. As long as you use touch up paint that matches your car color, and allow the layers to dry between coats, you can repair those chips inexpensively at home. To begin your paint chip repair, first determine how many chips there are and how large they are.
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Find your color here. Top quality Touch Up Paint for cars. Auto Paint made per order for all Car Paint colors. Affordable scratch repair and great results.
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Sep 18, 2012 Touch-Up Paint Options for Your Car you can hire a mobile paint-repair technician to do the job for a fraction of what body shops charge.
Paint Chip Repair Kits. Now that you have found your color code and determined which touch up product to use, there are just a couple other items to add to your car.
How to Fix Rust Spots On a Car. I have a 96 golf that has a few rust spots, If you take that paint code to an auto parts dealer.
Touching up a small scratch on your car with a little bottle of touch-up paint is easy. Before you start the job, mask the surrounding area well and use even.