Car Touch-Up

[TwiceHorn 31987]

I have a few tiny (1-2mm) chips in my paint that probably ought to be "touched up."  The paint is "crystal white tricoat" and there are some expensive, three-part touch up paints.  That seems to me like severe overkill for these tiny pits.  I'd just like them to be white-ish and maybe not rust (currently only primer exposed).  There's also a scuff on the bottom of my "air dam" that I'd like to "whiten" up.

Am I being foolish for wanting some one-part touchup?  It appears that Duplicolor makes a "diamond white" two part (paint and clear) touch up that is probably close enough for this.

[dcbc 14643]

They've got one and two-step CWTC paint pens on ebay.  Some are brand specific.  Just fill the chips and use the clear coat pen over it.  Not much to it.

[DCA_HORN 725]

Dudes car got a little dinged up?

[TwiceHorn 31987]

2 hours ago, dcbc said:

They've got one and two-step CWTC paint pens on ebay.  Some are brand specific.  Just fill the chips and use the clear coat pen over it.  Not much to it.

The only ones that purport to match are three-part and pretty spendy.

My question is, should I just go with some "diamond white" (there are several) or a plain gloss white and be done with it?  Or will I regret that?

[dcbc 14643]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

The only ones that purport to match are three-part and pretty spendy.

My question is, should I just go with some "diamond white" (there are several) or a plain gloss white and be done with it?  Or will I regret that?

Depends where it is.  On the chin spoiler or whatever, it's going to be less noticeable.  White is pretty easy to match ordinarily.  I Krylon rattle canned a little plastic piece that covers the lock on my wife's Pathfinder (replacement part was just primed).  After a little time in the sun/weather, it looked like the rest of the car. 

My car is silver and even with the perfectly matched paint and clear coat, I still can see the nicks I have fixed.

[Gil Bang 26177]

the GF scraped up the spoiler on our Mercedes.  Then, we got rear-ended in a car wash.  When I took it in for the insurance repairs, I asked them to fix the spoiler and I'd pay cash.  Cost me a grand.  FML. 

[TwiceHorn 31987]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

Depends where it is.  On the chin spoiler or whatever, it's going to be less noticeable.  White is pretty easy to match ordinarily.  I Krylon rattle canned a little plastic piece that covers the lock on my wife's Pathfinder (replacement part was just primed).  After a little time in the sun/weather, it looked like the rest of the car. 

My car is silver and even with the perfectly matched paint and clear coat, I still can see the nicks I have fixed.

The chips are tiny, one near the cowl/a-pillar (actually a couple of really small ones), and one near a headlight (that fucker even has a little dent with it).  They would just take a dot of paint.

[dcbc 14643]

18 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

The chips are tiny, one near the cowl/a-pillar (actually a couple of really small ones), and one near a headlight (that fucker even has a little dent with it).  They would just take a dot of paint.

The pens are really good for that.

[TwiceHorn 31987]

On 7/16/2021 at 6:25 PM, dcbc said:

The pens are really good for that.

Following up on this, the Duplicolor GM White Diamond "touch up pen" (seems to be same as AC Delco) matched pretty well.  The coverage is poor, though and the pen dispensed an overly large drop of paint.  I did better with the brush and two coats.

Three-part touchups would seem to be a complete waste of time and money for the itty bitty chips, or really anything that's DIY scale (meaning not a fugly large scrape or gouge that needs a body shop).

For the scrape on the underside of the airdam, there was no way the touchup paint would provide adequate coverage.  I just bought some rustoleum lacquer, gloss white for that.  That's a really stupid fucking design, to paint the underside of an airdam made of black plastic.  Fucking moronic.  My last car (same make, curiously) had a 1/4" lower black border on its airdam and it wasn't 4" off the ground.

Edited July 22, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[elfenix 34658]

is dr color chip not a thing anymore?

[RDCanecutter 26853]

https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Holes-Place-Party-Accessory/dp/B0019HZ9YA/ref=asc_df_B0019HZ9YA/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167151210364&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4709485945648078044&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9012550&hvtargid=pla-316276715275&psc=1

[Sam Lin 3591]

On 7/21/2021 at 6:19 PM, TwiceHorn said:

 the pen dispensed an overly large drop of paint.  I did better with the brush and two coats.

For small chips, don't try to use a brush or the pen tip at all. Dispense a drop of paint onto a scrap of plastic, and then use the tip of a toothpick to dip paint into the chip a little at time.

 

On 7/22/2021 at 10:37 AM, elfenix said:

is dr color chip not a thing anymore?

I do still see a lot of good reviews for Dr Colorchip.

[TwiceHorn 31987]

3 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

For small chips, don't try to use a brush or the pen tip at all. Dispense a drop of paint onto a scrap of plastic, and then use the tip of a toothpick to dip paint into the chip a little at time.

 

I do still see a lot of good reviews for Dr Colorchip.

Yeah, I knew that at one time.  My last car was silver and it made rock chips harder to see/find to even be worried about.  And I'm still in that first couple of years of ownership where I wash and wax and see stuff like that.