Touch Up Paint

[fljjmarz]

Good morning everyone. 

I’m looking for some recommendations as to where to get the closet matching touch up paint.  
I’ve been working on bringing back the shine to the paint and wanted to touch up any smaller scratches before I put the wax coat on.
I did a search, but didn’t come up with anything recent on this topic, and I figure that there has to be some different options then there were a few years ago.
My car/color is 1975 Sahara.

Hope everyone is well during this pandemic.

Thank you,

Frank

 

[esty]

unless your paint is original and new, you'll not be able to buy an off the shelf touch up that will match...the only way to insure exact is a color match by a paint shop

 

i recently bought touch up from 3 sources trying to match my (always garaged) 2018 honda fit that did not match

[Steve Tochi]

When it comes to repairing scratches with paint pens and brush/bottle products, often it appears "the cover up is worse than the crime".  I believe the best way to do it is to knock it down, feather and blend....although the paint match will be the challenge. I purchased some of this for my Polaris from automotivetouchuppaint.com, with metallic silver being impossible to match anyway. But might be okay for other areas like inside spare tire well!

[fljjmarz]

Thanks for the quick responses and info Esty and Steve!

My car’s paint is far from perfect and has lots of places where it’s been touched up already.  I’m just looking to get any of the scratches/dings, where there’s visible metal showing through, covered up with a decently matched paint.
So one option I have is to bring it to a paint shop and have them color match me some touch up.  Unfortunately my car isn’t 100% roadworthy...still accumulating $$ to completely redo the brakes.

The second option is to have it spot sprayed...sounds expensive, see above ?

Anyone else have an ideas where to get a decent touch up paint?

Thanks again 

[Steve Tochi]

Frank,

I understand, you can go to that website I posted, and order paint pens and bottles in "factory" BMW colors.

Steve

[rcf925]

I went to local auto body, They have a on site paint shop that sells to the public. They polished a little area and scanned with computer tool, Match came out great. I've used this method a few times with good results

[fljjmarz]

Thanks for the Link Steve!

Thanks rcf925, appreciate the info!

[John_in_VA]

https://www.paintscratch.com/ is another vendor that supplies spray, touch-up bottles or paint pens.

[thinksound_mike]

3 hours ago, John_in_VA said:

https://www.paintscratch.com/ is another vendor that supplies spray, touch-up bottles or paint pens.

John, Have you used them before? How was the match?

[esty]

i've used paintscratch products, including their touchup pens which did not please me so i bought a pint of the sprayable paint, sanded, sprayed with a prevale sprayer, clear'd and it worked a lot better...FYI, almost all of paintscatch sprayable paint is water borne, meaning it has to cure before getting it wet and then MUST be clear coated or it will have a flat finish and will wash off in due time

Edited June 2, 2020 by esty

[thinksound_mike]

Hi Esty!

 

Did you have to thin the paint before using the sprayer? And how much coverage do you get with a pint of paint? Can you do a roof with it?

 

Hope you're doing well.

 

Mike

[esty]

i did not thin the paint that was shipped to me. i sprayed it out of the can as recommended by paintscratch...i would buy 2 pints or a quart to do a roof..you'll want to put 3 heavy coats on letting each coat dry for 30-60 minutes between coats...then overnight before spraying your clear...i'll say again, it is critical that after you spray any of the water borne base coats do not let it get wet...and air flow, a fan is a good aid in drying it

 

if you get any trash in it (bugs that fly), you can use 800-1000 grit to lightly sand it out before applying the next coat...same for final clearcoating,

[fljjmarz]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been meaning to post my touch up results for anyone doing a search and coming across this thread.

I looked into “Automotive Touch Up Paint” but they didn’t have Sahara as one of their color options for the 1975 model year, so I wound up trying “paint scratch”.

It took about 3 weeks to get the touch up pen, which seemed like a long time to me.  When I finally got the pen and was able out to the garage, I have to say, I was kinda disappointed.  

I’ve attached some pictures, so you can judge for yourself.

 

I tested the color match before applying to the car.  It did seem darker, but I decided to give it a try anyway:

 

One of the scratches before the touch Up:

 

This is the results:

Hopefully this information can help someone in the future make their own decision.
Thanks,

Frank