How to Touch-up Car Paint

Have an older car with scratches and nick on its body? Opt for touch-up paint. A touch painting job is normally done when there are smaller scratches and nicks on the car and when you don’t want to repaint the entire car. Touch-up car paint hides these minor scratches to give an even look to the car’s finishing.

Touch-up painting is not a difficult-to-do task and can be easily done on your own. This can help you save money on a touch-up painting job done by professional and at the same time make the exterior of your car look better.

Materials and tools required:

• Touch-up paint
• Primer
• Paint brush/ applicator
• Sand paper
• Body filler
• Wax

Preparing the Car:

Presence of dirt or debris can hinder the touch-up paint application. It is important to ensure that the car’s exterior surface and the area where you will work upon is dust free prior to initiation of the activity. After this, check the type of blemishes that needs to be covered and determine the surface area that needs to be worked on. If the scratches are minor and are spread over a smaller surface area only, then a dab may be sufficient, but if the surface is too large, you can opt for spray painting rather than going in for touch-up painting. Also the old paint around the surface you desire to do touch-up needs to be stripped off. This can be done using a sand paper, preferably of 200 –grit and wherever the scratches are deep, it may be necessary to do filling using the body filler.

Selection of the Paint:

Selecting the proper touch up paint is equally important. This is because applying the right touch-up shade for your car will reduce any unsightly patching.

Touch-up application:

Using an applicator (which is normally available along with the touch-up kit) or wet brush try applying the touch-up paint. It is always recommended test your painting skills before you directly apply the touch-up paint to the car. For the trial purpose, you can try using a piece of paper or a small metal sheet. The only aim in the test is to try and apply a thin layer of touch-up and to also avoid its application onto an already painted surface.

Once confident on your trials, apply the touch-up directly on to the surface you desire. Start with the low chips and proceed further to cover with the deeper nicks. At times, a primer coating may also be required prior to applying touch-up paint. This will depend on the brand of paint you choose and its color.  If desired, the second coat of touch-up paint can be applied after about two hours.

Finishing:

After the paint has completed dried polish the whole vehicle. Wax may also be used for this purpose. Polishing helps to blend touch-up painted area with the rest and improves the exterior appearance.

Touch-up painting is normally done in the case of old cars where repainting is required and even for new cars to cover the minor scratches.

Photo Credits: clofresh

This post involves:

blemishes, body filler, Car Paint, car touch, dab, debris, exterior surface, finishing touch, grit, initiation, minor scratches, nicks, old paint, paint application, piece of paper, sand paper, spray painting, surface area, touch up paint, wet brush

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