Touch up paint

[mandon75]

Having never bothered with touch up paint before I was curious as to whether or not it's something I could do myself or is it best to leave it to the professionals?

note: I don't want to touch up a whole panel it's just light scratches and stone chips.

[The-Acre]

2 hours ago, mandon75 said:

Having never bothered with touch up paint before I was curious as to whether or not it's something I could do myself or is it best to leave it to the professionals?

note: I don't want to touch up a whole panel it's just light scratches and stone chips.

In my experience touch up paint is fine for stone chips (although it'll be far from invisible) but using it for scratches will look dreadful.  Fine scratches can be mopped out but I would go to a pro if you don't have decent equipment or knowledge.

[rayaans]

Depends on how skilled you are with sandpaper.

Ideally you want to fill the stone chips in in thin layers and build up. Then stick the clearcoat on top and wet sand it down. Then final polish to remove the hazing.

[mandon75]

I had a look at some YouTube videos on touching up and maybe I just clicked on a very professional one but there seems to be a lot more too it than just squeezing some paint into the chip. I have spoken to my Lexus dealer and they are going to sort it for me :-)

Thank you for your swift replies 

[rayaans]

3 hours ago, mandon75 said:

I had a look at some YouTube videos on touching up and maybe I just clicked on a very professional one but there seems to be a lot more too it than just squeezing some paint into the chip. I have spoken to my Lexus dealer and they are going to sort it for me :-)

Thank you for your swift replies 

Depends how you want it to look.

Most people generally just buy a touch up bottle and stick it on with the supplied brush. This looks better than the stonechips of course but eventually ends up looking like a golf ball.

The real way to do is to build up layers with the touch up, stick the clear on and wet sand it down so its all smooth - then it just needs a machine polish to bring the shine back.

[mandon75]

I want it to look good but I'll have to ask my dealer what kind of service they provide. I'm guessing if it's to be a decent job they'll be keeping my car for a day or two. If I had an old banger I'd give it a go but I want it to look right.