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Touch Up Paint Application Tips

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by zero610, Dec 12, 2011.

  1. zero610

    zero610 Junior Member

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    Does anyone have any tips/guides on how to best use touch up paint to repair a small scratch from a car door hitting my rear fender? The spot is small; however, I'm anal and want to fix it as best I can.

    I've used touch up paint before; however, I'm looking for any tips to help make this scratch as least visible as it can be.

    Thanks in advance.
     
    #1 zero610, Dec 12, 2011
  2. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    After cleaning the area, the key is several light coats. Get a bottle of touch up paint from the dealer (color coat only, don't worry about clear). Using a toothpick, apply a very light coat and let dry 10 minutes. The paint will shrink slightly. Repeat with another very light coat, and let dry 10 minutes. Continue until damaged area is level with surrounding area.
     
    #2 stream, Dec 12, 2011
  3. zero610

    zero610 Junior Member

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    Any way to better blend the touch up paint with the surrounding? Wet sanding, polish, etc?
     
    #3 zero610, Dec 12, 2011
  4. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

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    Light, wet sanding with 600 - 1000 grit sandpaper followed by Griot's Garage Polish #2 and one of their orange pads.
     
    #4 Dark_matter_doesn't, Dec 12, 2011
  5. zero610

    zero610 Junior Member

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    Will that polish work if I don't have a mechanical polisher? Anything I can do by hand?
     
    #5 zero610, Dec 12, 2011
  6. stream

    stream Senior Member

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    My advice is to carefully apply the paint as I described, being careful to keep the new paint within the damaged area, so at the end you end up filling in the damaged area without over-flowing into the surrounding area.

    Wet sanding is best left to professionals with the proper experience and equipment (like polishing).
     
    #6 stream, Dec 12, 2011
  7. Danger

    Danger Member

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    How well is the touch up paint from Toyota? I found a few knicks I want to touch up on my car. And usually paint from OEM isn't all that.
     
    #7 Danger, Dec 12, 2011
  8. cpt09135

    cpt09135 Junior Member

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    I found better results by using a two part system from drcolorchip.com

    It was a great match for the red on my 2010. You brush on the touch up paint, then smear it with a latex glove. Let it dry, and then use the liquid solution it comes with that blends it right in. For very deep scratches you may have to repeat a few times. But it really hides the work well. I've also used this on my white BMW. It does cost a bit more than just the touch up paint, but well worth it IMHO.
     
    #8 cpt09135, Dec 12, 2011
  9. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    In our area the paint comes in pen applicators, fwiw. the applicator is a narrow chisel shape, stiff fibrous material: the paint capilaries to the tip when you depress it on a surface. The paint's a little thinner than brush applicators type.
     
    #9 Mendel Leisk, Dec 13, 2011
  10. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

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    Yes, it will work by hand. It might take a bit longer.
     
    #10 Dark_matter_doesn't, Dec 13, 2011
  11. yabi

    yabi New Member

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    Zero, depending on how bad the scratch is, I have had great success using http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-T415-Premium-Compound/dp/B000NMDFNY on a variety of cars. It's all done by hand and removes some serious scratches with little effort.

    Good luck!
     
    #11 yabi, Dec 13, 2011
  12. zero610

    zero610 Junior Member

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    Anyone use Meguiars ScratchX 2.0? I've read a lot of positive things about it. Probably compares to the Turtle's Rubbing Compound mentioned above. My plan is to fill in the scratch (somewhat deep - not just clear coat) with touch up paint, sand to level with 2000-3000 wet sanding. Then apply the scratch compound by hand (Meguiars or Turtle's). Hopefully this will lead to good, mostly blended results. Any other suggestions?

    Thanks.
     
    #12 zero610, Dec 13, 2011
  13. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    I tried some on shallow scratches on my Winter Gray and it worked fine. I tried some on deeper scratches that it did not do so well on but that is probably to be expected with deeper scratches.
     
    #13 jdcollins5, Dec 13, 2011
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