Touch up paint?

[Rave]

Bit of advice for a numpty here please...

 

I've got to the age of 37 without ever giving a monkeys about what any of my cars look like on the outside- in fact the more shabby the better, as far as I'm concerned, I figure it might make other drivers give me a wide berth, or think twice about trying it on when lanes merge etc. In the time I've had it I've managed to crack both corners of my Mondeo's bumper by carelessly reversing it into street furniture, which on both occasions has annoyed me for about an hour, after which I've completely forgotten about it.

 

However I've just managed to put a tiny little scuff on the rear wing of my father-in-law's Mk1 Megane. Luckily enough it's in pretty much exactly the same place where he got it scuffed in a standoff with a BMW X5 on a very narrow street near where we live about a month ago, so I could quite plausibly claim ignorance. But I've found a little pot of touch up paint on ebay for 7 quid and thought I'd have a go at cleaning up both lots of damage- the metal isn't dented, it's just taken some of the paint/laquer off- the worst bit is the one he was responsible for, a fingerail-sized chip down to the plastic on the rear bumper. The car is worth £350 at best, so there's no harm in trying.

 

What I was going to do was:

 

1: thoroughly clean the area and let it dry

2: apply touch up paint to the scuffs and let dry

3: gently t-cut the whole area with a clean microfibre cloth

4: apply wax or better still one of these new synthetic wax type things.

 

So is that likely to work? Is T-cut O.K. for stage 3 or should I be using something else? Like maybe clay bar? I don't really know what that is...

[AlabamaShrimp]

You dirty bastard touching up paint! It's people like you they should put in prison and lock away the key!!

 

 

 

 

Oh painting a car. Well in my outdated ways of doing stuff what you've said will be fine it just takes ages to flat it back with t-cut but it'll eventually work.

[Guest Hooli]

You dirty bustard touching up paint! It's people like you they should put in prison and lock away the key!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's ok, the mk1 was 1995-2002 so it's probably 16 & therefore legal.

[AlabamaShrimp]

You never can tell these days though. I mean you pick the can up and it's heavy, you give it a shake and it wobbles. Then off with the lid to find the buggers split, gone all lumpy or hard and you're shit out of luck!

[Mally]

Small soft brush, as little paint as possible, let it dry.

Re-coat  until level with other paint. If you get much overlap wipe it off and try again.

Never had 100% success because you always know its there, but fools many from a distance if you are patient.

Often the paint doesn't match in the first place though.

[Rave]

Small soft brush, as little paint as possible, let it dry.

Re-coat  until level with other paint. If you get much overlap wipe it off and try again.

Never had 100% success because you always know its there, but fools many from a distance if you are patient.

Often the paint doesn't match in the first place though.

 

"level with other paint"?! 

 

I'd imagined the touch up stuff to be like tipp-ex, the depth of the paint on a Megane (and for that matter every other cheap shit car I've ever had the pleasure of examining) is about 0.5mm, so there's no way a clumsy arse like me is going to be able to get it level. The T-cut would be to take it back to level.

 

I'm aware that it's not going to stand up to a concours judge's critical eye, but it's a Mk1 Megane, and the only judge I'm trying to impress is my 69 year old father in law   . If it works O.K. I might try and do something about the stone chips on my Mondeo bonnet. I think I'll leave my Eunos Roadster alone though- a couple of months after I got it I got pulled over in one of the random police stop and examine things they run in London, and got passed as legal for tax and insurance. The WPC making the radio call then said to me "hang on, I've just realised that you've only owned this car two months?", to which I nodded agreement.

 

"So why would you buy a car that looks like this?"

 

 

[PiperCub]

Just one thing about buying touch-up paint, try your local main stealer, you may be surprised in a nice way for a change. I was when I enquired at my local Mazda dealer and found they only wanted about £3 for a genuine Mazda pot of Mariner blue paint for my 1991 MX5, everywhere else was way more.

Was a perfect match as you'd like to hope it'd be too. 

[Parky]

I always found the brushes included in the kits were rubbish. If you have a WHSmiths nearby it might be worth spending a couple of quid on a better brush as you will be able to get a neater finish. And a neater job will mean less flatting back

 

In my experience the paint takes ages to harden off so dont break out the polishing kit too quickly

 

Is it a flat colour or a metallic?

[Mally]

"level with other paint"?! 

 

I'd imagined the touch up stuff to be like tipp-ex, the depth of the paint on a Megane (and for that matter every other cheap shit car I've ever had the pleasure of examining) is about 0.5mm, so there's no way a clumsy arse like me is going to be able to get it level. The T-cut would be to take it back to level.

 

I'm aware that it's not going to stand up to a concours judge's critical eye, but it's a Mk1 Megane, and the only judge I'm trying to impress is my 69 year old father in law   . If it works O.K. I might try and do something about the stone chips on my Mondeo bonnet. I think I'll leave my Eunos Roadster alone though- a couple of months after I got it I got pulled over in one of the random police stop and examine things they run in London, and got passed as legal for tax and insurance. The WPC making the radio call then said to me "hang on, I've just realised that you've only owned this car two months?", to which I nodded agreement.

 

"So why would you buy a car that looks like this?"

 

 

 

"T-cut take it back to level".... You would think so but I usually manage to rub the paint out of the damaged scratch some how.

Chips on the bonnet best left alone I feel.

 

I got stopped in London in an FB Victor. Open the boot please sir!

Opened the boot. Why have you got 2 spare wheels?

Ones for my caravan I'm on the camping site at Erith.

What! you tow a caravan with this?