schalliol

I've seen WAY too many cars that look terrible after having touch-up paint done. My car is almost never parked next to other cars, but some jerk must have hit the door hard because there are 3 scratches that aren't terribly deep and one that seems to go very deep (but it's not a dent).

I want my 3,300 mile car to look as close to new as possible and I'm REALLY scared of the touch-up paint. Can I take it somewhere for someone to take care of it? I assume it wouldn't be tough if someone was used to doing this. Thoughts especially in the bay area (South Bay Ideally)?

CDR

I'm in Silicon Valley as well, and I've visited a couple of paintless dent repair places for some cosmetic work on the bumper and nose of a 99 Prelude. Most do paint touchup as well. The place I liked best was DentPro on Winchester Blvd. in Campbell. However, a relative who's in the body touch up business was lukewarm about them. Worth an estimate, though.

Another lead might be to find out who your dealer uses for touch up. Cars on lots get dings and scratches all the time, and there are quite a few small companies who repair these for dealers on site. They may use touch up paint and then resand and polish the surface, or a small airbrush depending on the nature of the patch. The dealer connection would at least get you a reference check and known experience with Honda/Acura paint.

I notice in your sig you have Milano Red; there's another thread on a-tsx discussing whether this is a clear coat paint or not. I believe it's actually a combination of a base coat and a tinted clear coat, which might complicate the repair a bit. Still, it won't be more difficult than Pearls, which are three stage (paint, tint, clear).

schalliol

Thanks very much for the thoughts. I'll look into them and ask the dealer about it too!

Proo

Please update if you find anything out, particularly any tips that apply in general (not just in your area) and to red paint, just for my future reference.

Thanks