We repair a lot of scratches and rock chips on our customers cars using factory-paint-matching paint and a variety of brushes, squeegees, scratch fillers, and excess paint removers. Most of the general public isn’t aware that paint chip and scratch repair is a subspecialty of the automotive business. One big reason: body shops don’t want you to know about it. 
Nonetheless, there are a few persistent myths that we keep hearing, and in this blog post we’ll try to establish what’s truth and what’s fiction.
- The touch up paint my car dealership sells me is the best way to fix scratches and chips. Not true. The biggest problem is with the applicator: it’s just too large! Most chips and scratches are best touched up with a fine-tipped artist’s brush…the kind used by hobbyists who assemble model cars and airplanes. The second problem with dealership paint is that it tends to be thinned out with clearcoat. On light metallics, this makes the paint transparent. That is…you can see through the paint and into the scratch below. Paintscratch.com can sell you a small amount of paint without the fillers. Its color coverage is excellent.
- You can’t touch up anything larger than 2 inches. Sometimes true…sometimes not. Blacks, whites, solid reds, and most dark reds, blues, and greens, can be touched up, sanded flat, then buffed to a shine. It’s not a 100% repair, but it can get you out of a $1k+ body shop bill. Silvers, golds, and all other light metallics can’t be touched up beyond 2 inches. The metallic flake in the paint simply does not lay down flat. It reflects light in varying directions and draws attention to the scratch.
- You can touch up steel parts, but touch up doesn’t stick to plastic. Not true. As long as the plastic surfaces have been cleaned with iosopropyl alcohol or wax and grease remover, touch up paint will bond permanently.
- Touch up paint always looks dull…like freckles all over the face of your car. This is true of do-it-yourself touch ups, which don’t involve the application of the “clearcoat” that gives paint its shine. The professional’s trick is to mix in a small catalyzed (two part) clearcoat with the basecoat (colored paint) prior to applying it to the car.
- Touch up paint will eventually fall out, buff out, or be removed by car washes. Again, as long as the repair area is completely clean prior to touch-up, the repair is permanent. Touch up paint is of the same formulation as the car’s factory paint (urethane), and there’s no reason it won’t have the same lifespan.
We hope this clears up some of the mythology about scratch and chip repair. If you want to take a shot at it yourself, visit paintscratch.com. If you want a pro job, give us a call. Most touch ups are $35 – $60 for the whole car and take around 30 minutes.