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Paint and Body Maintenance & Repair

1025 messages,  Last post on Nov 12, 2009 at 10:06 AM

You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright

What is this discussion about? Auto Body, Paint, Coupe, Convertible, Hatchback, Truck, Sedan, Wagon, SUV, Van

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#22 of 1025 AirBrushTouch-Up by alternator Feb 08, 2002 (2:55 pm)
A faulty garage door caused three deep scratches on the top rear of my brand new car, each scratch about eight inches long. A body shop estimate to repair was $540 (they were going to remove rear window, remove side moldings, repaint entire top, etc.). My new car dealer suggested using a "air brush" craftsman who comes to their place once every week. He did the job for $40. Under certain lighting you can just make out where the scratches were, but you almost need to know where to look. If the repair lasts, I will be well satisfied. Look for info on this at http://www.paintbull.com/article1.htm   Does anyone else have experience with this process? Is there a downside I don't know about?
#23 of 1025 by Mr_Shiftright HOST Feb 08, 2002 (3:25 pm)
The only dowside I can think of is that this is essentially a cosmetic repair as dealers often do themselves, and being such, may not last all that long.
#24 of 1025 by alternator Feb 09, 2002 (7:53 pm)
Mr Shiftright: Can you put a time estimate on that "may not last all that long" for me? And what will cause it to have a short life? Thank you.
#25 of 1025 by Mr_Shiftright HOST Feb 10, 2002 (12:36 pm)
Blending paint has its limitations. Generally, paints these days need to "wrap" around an edge so they don't peel and also need a clear coat of some sort.   I think if your repair is going to deteriorate at all, you'll first notice dullness setting in to that particular spot. Maybe it'll be okay, who knows?
#26 of 1025 airbrush by sddlw Feb 11, 2002 (7:15 am)
But for $40 it sounds like it would be worthwhile to see how long it lasts. You can always go back to the body shop. The dealer I bought my last car from has an airbrush guy come out once a week to touch up the newly acquired used cars. They do this with a dent remover as well. If a customer needs any touch up, you just bring it in on the specific day of the week. I would think this must work pretty well or pretty soon there would be a line of dissatisfied people.
#27 of 1025 apartment and vandal issues by swschrad Feb 17, 2002 (6:28 pm)
I made sure to find an apartment with individual garages. they usually do exist. I did this for the obvious reason, I didn't want a bunch of trash beating up or ripping off my car. complete and total satisfaction in practice. thugs only have succeeded in messing up the hasp and staple that locked the garage door, which was easily replaced. they don't work well on doors that aren't metal because those doors are usually scuzwood or honeycomb paper. all things to think about when you rent.   for the related questions, I don't believe there is an option unless you are driving an ugly pig and don't care. if you carry collision insurance and the insurance company will reimburse factory parts, I'd rather park on the street than in the apartment lot as the lesser of the evils, except in snow and ice weather.   repairs of a keyed panel don't work out of a bottle of touch-up paint, I tried it. you have to fill the damaged area, level it to the paint, and repaint the panel to have a quality repair. that generally means a professional.
#28 of 1025 Repait small deep scratch by cheerful Feb 18, 2002 (12:49 pm)
I am posting this because I could not get a clear picture from the above discussion on how to work on it myself. So please give me some clear advice.   I had this car for only 200 miles and was unlucky enough to have a small rock bounced right onto the front to create a small and deep scratch point (0.2 x 0.1 inches). The paint color is midlight blue metallic (almost black) and the scratch point reveals white/silver color underneath.   I have taken the advice and tried to remove it with alcohol but it failed. I am guessing now the white/silver is metal. The question now is how to protect it from further damage such as rust.   I am kind of guy who like to learn stuff and do most of the thing myself. But I am total newbie and this is my first car. I have read about touch up paint but it is really unclear how to do this. Could anyone please help me out with detailed how-to (hopefully, there is some webpage about it)?   Thanks!
#29 of 1025 OK, then... by swschrad Feb 18, 2002 (7:33 pm)
if the "color didn't come back" under a drop of water or alcohol, you are probably right, it is down to the metal. ain't fatal yet.   just for grins, I would start with a Q-tip and pure alcohol of the isopropyl or ethyl variety, and work it gently around in the hole with a spin to be sure there is no wax there and that it is dehumidified. use both ends of the Q-tip, and when it's dry, use another one to be sure there is no wax in there.   next, get a 3M "rust remover pen" at the CSK, AutoZone, or whatever... also get a Dupli-Color primer brush-in-cap bottle, and one of clear topcoat, and one of the color code of your body paint. on the door label of the car, where the cryptic codes from Hell are all listed, is one probably near the middle-bottom that says BODY COLOR or something similar. it will have some nutty code number like 4XC. that in the Dupli-Color catalog for the right year and model of car will usually yield a stock number for the right color of paint.   if the corner parts store doesn't have yours yet, go to the dealer's parts department and get the primer, clear, and color brush-in-cap bottles there to be sure, S U R E, that the chemistry is the same and this won't pop out in a day.   if you can't find the 3M rust remover pen, shame on that store... but you can use the (formerly duco) Loctite rust binder and a toothpick instead. the 3M variant has the equivalent of a toothpick fractional-drop dispenser built into the tip (and yes, they are locally based and help pay friends, thanks.)   put enough of either anti-rust product in the chip to color the metal and let it dry real well, several minutes. if there was any rust starting, it will turn to black polymer and stick, and the surrounding product will probably remain a brown or beige color.   now put a little drop of well-shaken primer in the chip the same way. you want a nice, smooth, even grey but don't try to fill the whole chip. you will just want primer to bond the paint to the polymer anti-rust.   slowly build the chip up near level with repeated small applications of extremely-well shaken (actually, tipped end-over-end is better to avoid bubbles) color paint coat. there are probably 6 layers of paint and clear coat in a factory finish, all extremely thin except for the top clear coat. which should tip you to what's coming.   when it's time for the clear coat, if the chip is really large, you could try the brush... if you gob or glop the stuff all over, quickly take a good lint-free cloth like a well-washed T-shirt rag that has been pre-soaked in the alcohol and wipe the whole gob off. if you take up the paint in the chip, do that over... if it has really set, you won't.   once the chip is filled in with the clear coat (it will tend to be high at the edges and thin in the center, or vice versa, depending on how you applied it), let it set without washing or waxing for a week or so.   then gently wash with water and a soft cloth, see where it is too high, and if you are really fussy, and feeling well in control of fine strokes, make another trip to the parts store for some fine grade polishing compound. NOT polish, "polishing compound." there is a coarser stuff called "rubbing compound" that will leave big gouges when you buff the repaired area unless you are really, really good. if you're asking > ME < about how to do this, you ain't. and I ain't. on a very nicely soaked cloth, pick up a wee little bit of polishing compound, say the size of a pea, flick off half of it, and gently, ever so gently, rub the repaired area and the area around it occasionally with the compound. try this first on a piece of scrap plastic of some sort to get a feel for how to lightly smooth a surface without having it look like it was levelled with swings of an axe. clear is best, because you ARE working with a thin piece of clear plastic in the car's clear coat. and that's how it's done. will it match excellently? alas, no. will it look like it was smoothed with a sledge? hopefully if you're careful and play with a piece of scrap plastic first, it shouldn't. there's a craft in the work that you will have to develop... pity the first hack in the car wasn't down by the rear fender, so your training wouldn't be noticeable... but doing the job first on junk hard plastic should get you cautious enough. good luck!
#30 of 1025 Thanks, swschrad by cheerful Feb 19, 2002 (10:31 am)
I will head to Pepboy this weekend and follow your instruction.

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