Well- the snow is gone, my car has taken a beating (as far as scratches are concerned). I have a few scratches on the rear door and one on the front bumper (probably from the snow shovel hitting up against it.....damn, I tried to be careful ).

Anyway, enough *****ing. I know a few of you have tried some alternatives other than the touch up paint from the dealer (touch-up pen, etc.). Have you guys had any luck with them??

I guess, my last resort would be to use the factory touch-up, but i'm not using the brush b/c it comes out way too sloppy! Are there other ways to apply it?

Thanks for your help..

 

NEVER !!!! hehe.

Do the scratches have any surface rust on the metal parts ?
I had a little scratch (about the size of a piece of rice). It is not a visible area, so I used 3M Rust Avenger. My spot had a small bit of surface rust. Rust Avenger actually lets you apply it right over the rust. Does some chemical thing and leaves a black finish. So I left it black. Only I know it's there.

Factory paint. Brushes never work to well. Try a toothpick. Dab it on the spot (after you've cleaned it) and let the paint "find" its way throughout the spot. Multiple thin coats is the way to go. Use primer first. just my .02

 

try www.langka.com

 

I bought that stuff and it wasn't that great. The problem is that it removes too much of the paint. Then again I may have just not had the patience to let the paint dry enough. I got a bunch of scratches this winter as well.. so I'll try again with the Langka in a few weeks

 

Still testing them out, but here is a good set of tools for doing paint chip repair. You need to take your time and do multiple coats to get it to look good.

www.eastwoodco.com

Use these to apply the paint to the chip. You apply a big blob and then smooth it out with the other products below.

Item No. - 34112


Use these to smooth out the chip. I love the run razor, the one the guy is holding in his fingers. It shaves off a tiny bit of the blob and you keep doing it until it's smooth.

Item No. - 34007


I haven't used the sanding blocks, pictured at the bottom yet, but will this weekend. Final sanding with 1500-2000 grit wet/dry paper.

Just search the Eastwood site for the item #s. They aren't cheap, I paid about $30 for all the products listed, but they seem to be doing a great job.

 

If they are not deep try some Zaino Scratch Removal. That did the trick for me. 2 coats of that and the surface scratches were gone.

Good Luck

Mr
03 ABP TL-S
New Jersey
Mr_@yahoo.com

 

yeah, try either Zainos scratch removal or Meguiar's Scratch X. Personally, i was too poor to get the zainos so I used the scratch x and it worked awesome. Wash the car first, then rub the scratch x in like a wax and then when it dries, buff it off, then apply a wax- i used the gold class from Meguiars- good stuff and if you repeat it for a few weeks- the hairline scratches are pretty much gone. i don't know how much you could do with deep gouches, but for the minor stuff, i definitely recommend the scratch x.

 

I have question about Honda's touch-up paint. I had a small scratch on my 2000 Accord rear bumper and I purchased a bottle of Honda touch-up paint from the dealer to repair it and I noticed that the colors don't match very good. I bought the correct color and it seems that the Honda touch-up paint is lighter than the paint on my car. Same thing goes for my 2003 TL. I also had a small scratch and I bought a bottle of Acura touch-up paint from the dealer, but this time, the touch-up paint is actually darker than my car's color. I shake the bottles vigourously before applying the touch-up paint to the car. Does anybody know why it matches so poorly? I'm not expecting the touch-up paint color to match perfectly with the paint on my car, but after I applied the touch-up paint to my car, it is very clear that the shades are different. Thanks.

 

yah scratch x does wonders for surface scratches

 

I have used this:
http://www.paintscratch.com

I got the paint-pen.

it worked out pretty well. Not perfect, but decent.

 

InspireSaber,

How did you apply the touch up ? Does it come with a built in brush in the jar ? I usually use toothpicks and apply multiple thin coats. It may take longer and a few coats with curing times in between, but with my past experiences I've noticed it's better than brushes.

What color is your 2000 Accord & 2003 TL?
Also what kind of scratches are we talking about ? down to the primer, down to metal, hairline through the clearcoat, rust ?

 

I used the brush that comes with the jar. I think even though if I had used a toothpick and applied multiple thin coats, the colors still wouldn't have matched. My 2000 Accord is the Naples Gold Metallic color and my 2003 TL is the Desert Mist Metallic color. The scratch I was talking isn't a hairline scratch. The scratch has made it through the clearcoat to the metal and is about the shape and size of a piece of rice...

 

The key is to apply more paint to create a blob. Let it dry, then remove it using the tools shown in my post above. You'll never get it perfect using a touch-up brush, pen, toothpick, etc. This is what the pros do.

 

thanx for the Eastco post NSXNEXT. Please tell me that's your "Sunday" car.
I was just recommending the toothpick only because I'm not a big fan (or had luck) with the brush technique. Never really "shaved" the blobs down though. Interesting.
Do you use 3M SMR or IHG after you're done ? and then top off with a sealant or wax ?

 

Actually my plan is to use Zaino's new swirl remover. I got a sample that I'm testing for Sal. I need to get moving on that.

 

Huh ?
Is it a new Z5 ? Or can you not disclose that since you're testing it. I just got my Zaino order in almost 2 weeks ago and just Z'd my car this past weekend. Not 100% satisified with the depth and wettness. Looking to keep applying coats.

 

It's actually a substitute for a product like 3M's SMR. It's an abrasive with filling properties that you can then layer Z2 or Z5 over.

 

NSXNEXT
What are the 3 aluminum sanding blocks for? Isn't the razor run thing enough?

Becasue the razor run is only $7 and the razor run and 3 blocks are $23, i don't want to spend $23 for something i'm not gonna use.