Touch up paint fix

[nsafreak]

Well I've been trying to figure out a way to fix this for quite some time but for the life of me I can't figure out how. Over time my car has gotten various little nicks and scratches. I've used touch up paint to cover up these scratches which I bought from the dealership that's supposed to be an exact match for my car's paint. The problem is I can see where the touch up paint has been applied because it doesn't quite blend in. Short of a new paint job for the car is there any way to fix these so they don't stand out so much at least?

 

[CRXican]

stop using the touch up paint and learn to ignore the minor dings

not much else you can do

 

[nsafreak]

Seriously, there's no way to fix it at all? Kind of pointless to buy touch up paint then it seems if that's the case as I've seen this happen with other cars.

 

[bruceb]

All you can do is try some extremely fine polishing compound to try and blend it in. And don't forget, paint color changes with age, sun and acid rain. The paint in the touchup bottle is the color when it left the factory. One reason auto body shops have to blend panels when they paint so you don't see where the old and new meet up.

See link: http://www.paintscratch.com/brush.htm

 

[CRXican]

Yes, I would argue that touch up paint is a waste of time and money. You might as well put nail polish on the car.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Are we talking about an expensive or collectible car? If so, I'd say new paint job if you can afford it.

Otherwise, I'd look around for guides on how to fix them (some polishes, or detailing + buffing may work), or ignore them. Touch-up paint generally sucks.

I had a friend that used to use a black marker for small dings (not a Sharpie, something similar, but true black instead of that dark shiny purple color). It sounded crazy to me, but it worked pretty well at hiding chips from stones, etc.

 

[sdifox]

you are supposed to base coat with touchup then clearcoat on top. Very few people can use them properly though.

 

[Spineshank]

I would try a rubbing compound actually. Might be able to cover up the scratches without touch up paint.