What's a good way to touch up paint scratches?

[marchyman]

The topic on taps brought out lots of great ideas from the experts. How about some ideas from the paint pros on the proper way to touch up scratches? Whatever it is I'm doing is obviously wrong. When done my touch up often looks worse than the scratch, or I make a small scratch bigger trying to blend the touch up into the rest of the body work.

I suspect the techniques are different for plastic and metal, too. I'm interested in the metal touch up, as that's the stuff I'm most likely to repair if for no other reason than keeping rust from forming.

// marc

[JustAL]

Clear nail polish works well on some fine scratches but I find a colour matched paint and touch up brush works great to fill in then allowed to dry. Some fine 1200+ wet & dry and a polish then wax.

Originally Posted by marchyman

The topic on taps brought out lots of great ideas from the experts. How about some ideas from the paint pros on the proper way to touch up scratches? Whatever it is I'm doing is obviously wrong. When done my touch up often looks worse than the scratch, or I make a small scratch bigger trying to blend the touch up into the rest of the body work.

I suspect the techniques are different for plastic and metal, too. I'm interested in the metal touch up, as that's the stuff I'm most likely to repair if for no other reason than keeping rust from forming.

// marc

[IrishFazerBoy]

First try a good polish. This will eliminate any fine scratches.
Then try a rubbing compound to eliminate deeper scratches. Careful with this stuff, especially when using electric / air powered buffing pads.
Most of the products in any auto store work reasonably well. I like 3M products, but don't shy away from Mothers, Meguires, even old school Turtle wax products.

There's an interesting article in this months Popular Mechanics. This will give you the fundamentals. Check out the web or your local library for more info. If the scratch is really deep, you'll have to use touch up paint. It'll be close, but the older the finish, the harder it'll be to match up exactly.

[green hell]

i'm not gonna tell you how to fix them ('cause i suck at it too), but i'll give you some good places to learn.

Meguiar's How to Remove Paint Defects video article

more generally, autopia.com. use the search function. i'm not sure the link will work if paste it here. (i searched for paint scratch repair).

[swjohnsey]

Your bike still has paint on it?

[marchyman]

Originally Posted by tweeker43

i'm not gonna tell you how to fix them ('cause i suck at it too), but i'll give you some good places to learn.

Meguiar's How to Remove Paint Defects video article

more generally, autopia.com. use the search function. i'm not sure the link will work if paste it here. (i searched for paint scratch repair).

Thank you, I'll take a look at those. Right now I've got touch up paint on some dings on my R69S, mostly in places where people don't look. Those'll be good places to try any new techniques. The real problem is the to-the-metal scratch on my wifes car . It's got some touch up paint to keep rust out and the color match is fine, but my paint application technique apparently stinks!

I'll take a look at those references and see if I can learn anything.

// marc

[marchyman]

Originally Posted by swjohnsey

Your bike still has paint on it?

Refrigerator white paint



// marc

[Tollster]

Besides the paint and prep work listed above, try using a toothpick for the paint applicator, you are more apt to get it where you want it on the finer scratches.