touch up questions

[RonWebber]

Hello,
I'm looking to get some touchup paint for my metallic silver Prius. I've got a couple questions though:
I've heard that metallic silver is extremely hard to match, but after doing some searches on this site it seems like people recommend the touchup from the dealer. I've had it for 3 years, should I instead buy from a service that will try to match the color or is the dealership stuff going to look fine?
If matching is an issue, do the primer and clear need to match as well or can I just get those from the dealer?
I was planning on getting an aerosol spray and I've seen people recommend shaking the can before application. Is there any hope of making the flakes in the metallic silver look right? Any tips on making it look as good as possible with touchup?

Thanks,
Ron

[firepa63]

I bought silver pine mica touch up paint from my dealer and it matched perfectly. I had a couple of scratches in my front bumper and I can't even tell where they were now.

[JimN]

I use the little bottle of paint from the dealer. Used with enough ScratchX my last touchup is almost invisible. I brushed on way too much paint resulting in a "scar" on the door. I rubbed ScratchX along the "scar" removing the excess paint. It probably would have been less work if I tried filling in the scratch with a drop of paint on a toothpick.

[zonie911]

Originally Posted by RonWebber

Hello,
I'm looking to get some touchup paint for my metallic silver Prius. I've got a couple questions though:
I've heard that metallic silver is extremely hard to match, but after doing some searches on this site it seems like people recommend the touchup from the dealer. I've had it for 3 years, should I instead buy from a service that will try to match the color or is the dealership stuff going to look fine?
If matching is an issue, do the primer and clear need to match as well or can I just get those from the dealer?
I was planning on getting an aerosol spray and I've seen people recommend shaking the can before application. Is there any hope of making the flakes in the metallic silver look right? Any tips on making it look as good as possible with touchup?

Thanks,
Ron

I would go the route that JimN did, get the paint from the dealer, just use a minute drop----like he said , maybe even using a tooth pick. You can always add more if you need to. Never use a spray can of paint on a car like that, if the color isn't exact- you're going to have a wide perimeter of paint that has dried very quickly and is there to stay.

[patsparks]

Brush touching isn't that hard. My bonnet needs respraying again, I had it resprayed when I bought the car due to chips.

[richard schumacher]

If there is any rust first sand it away to bare metal. Paint over rust will often continue to rust.

Liquid touchup paint from Toyota is the only way to go. Spray paint will never match.

Note that the hood and certain other parts are aluminum or plastic and cannot rust. Touching up in those places is purely cosmetic.

[RonWebber]

Thanks for the advice! It seems the consensus is that the liquid touchup in the pen is the way to go(but applying it with something finer like a toothpick) - I'm wondering though, does the size of the area to be touched up matter? One area in particular got scratched badly and black has been exposed, about the size of a thumb. It's not too big for the liquid touchup is it?
Also, if I grab the little bottle of touchup, do I not need the clearcoat like I thought I would?

Thanks,
Ron

[RonWebber]

Any ideas on whether or not the size of the scratch matters as to using the paint bottle? I can post pictures if necessary, but it's more or less an exposed black area the size of a thumb(a little longer).

Thanks,
Ron

[TidelandProud]

Originally Posted by richard schumacher

If there is any rust first sand it away to bare metal. Paint over rust will often continue to rust.

Liquid touchup paint from Toyota is the only way to go. Spray paint will never match.

Note that the hood and certain other parts are aluminum or plastic and cannot rust. Touching up in those places is purely cosmetic.

I've got a small chip on one of the front doors that's caused by flying construction debris. With no touching up, that chip has since discolored (orange-ish). Could that be rust? I've got the paint and would now like to touch up but fear sanding will create a bigger cosmetic disaster. The chip is about 1/8 inch in diameter. Any advice welcome. If it matters, color is tideland pearl.

[richard schumacher]

Yeah, the door is steel, and that does sound like rust. I haven't tried to fix a chip on a Prius. On another car I once used a dental pick to scrape away a small rust spot and immediately coated it with a dab of paint. It held.