[abdiver]

It was a matter of time. At least I know the culprit who made the unsightly 3/4 inch long white scratch on the vertical surface of the rear bumper. It was me!

Upon close examination, I noted I had penetrated the paint and the offending object left some of it own paint in its place. I plan to call Acura for some touch-up paint but have had little success with past automobiles and touch-up paint. Any suggestions on the use of touch-up paint?

Thanks

 

[MGTD]

One problem with touch up paint is that all of these cars are painted with a clear coat over the color coat. Nobody sells the clear coat as a touch up paint option.

What you ideally want to do is to lay down the color in the scratch and then build the surface back level with the existing paint. Very hard to do. Basically you need to add paint in layers. letting each dry, until it is even with the surrounding surface. There is no object in the world that knows how to go into the crack and not on the surrounding surface so you end up with a sort of valley in the scratch area and mountains on both sides of the scratch.

Many have done their filling and then color sanded the mountains off after drying and then polishing the surface smooth again. For best results you would have to do this very carefully and after every coat. You may end up removing to much clear, and then you would have to spray over that spot. At least a clear coat probably would not show as much as a color coat.

Another technique that I have used with some success is to wipe the freshly painted scratch with some thinner and a firm flat object that sort of levels and removes the mountains without messing with the scratch area. Is very tricky to do. You can leave a little residue on the edges which can be polished off later.

Chris

 

[genemish]

Clear Coat - I have it!!

I have to disagree.. I currently own a 2000 Audi A4.. Also Silver.. I live in Brooklyn, NY - so touch-up paint is a must for anyone.. When I called my dealer, he told me to come down with my manual which has the paint color sticker on the inside.. He went to the service department and brought me 2 bottles - First one is paint and Second is clear coat..

 

[mr1margarita]

Dupli-color also has a clear coat in a touch up bottle.

 

[MGTD]

There you have it then. Get the scratch color back with your touch up paint using one of the above techniques. Should only need one or two coats. Then follow up with the clear touch up paint and it shoud be like new.

Chris

 

[canson]

Abdiver, check out http://www.autopia-carcare.com/painchiprep.html