Touch up paint

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 08:54

I came out of Safeway yesterday to find that someone had very kindly left a large graze on the passenger side of the front bumper. s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted: s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:

The grazing is quite deep as, in places, the chilli red paint has been scraped right off to what looks like the base layer (undercoat??).

I'm confident there's no actual dent, just scratching. I received as tin of touch up paint with the car. Could I use this to paint over the scratches? How would I apply this paint? I've never done anything like that before so any help would be gratefully appreciated. s:D

s:D

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 09:08

get something like a cocktail stick or a small bit of card (and cut a point into one end). Then get a VERY SMALL amount of paint on it and almost drop it into the scratch... you then want to leave that for a hour or so and treat it with some LANGKA blob remover to get rid of the nasty blob of paint it leaves - job done!

I dont have the link for the place i got my langka but its called 'frosts' i think. If you come to JAE i will be bringing all this kinda stuff with me so your more than welcome to try it out there!

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 09:11

Excellent Kris, I have a few minor scratches exactly the same place by the sounds of it from iain.

I will be interested to see what this Langka Blob stuff is like. I also have a couple of stone chips which need attention...hopefully the new mud flaps should stop some of these.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 09:16

I also have a Mer scratch repare kit which i have seen, but not used yet (thank god) - if they are bad, we can use this. Its scary when doing it, but the end result is amazing!

All of this will be your own responsibility though and im not being held responsible if you drive away in a very silver-metalic looking car when it used to be red or blue! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 09:34

Thanks for the reply. I think what you are describing is how to repair small individual scratches.

I probably haven't explained it too well above but I mean larger areas that look like someone has scraped off the paint, perhaps "scratches" was not the right word. I can go and take a photo with the digital camera. Would one of you two be good enough to host the picture if I send you it s:D

s:D

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 09:36

if you send it to cstevens he may be able to host it now for you, ive just set up a new server for MR2 stuff and cant remember the FTP details yet so would not be able to do it till i get home... send me a copy anyway though so i can see what you mean.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 09:58

cstevens : is it ok to send you the photos for hosting? There are 4 in total, about 600k each.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 10:05

just send them to craig, he wont mind. otherwise send them to me (as per your PM)

Liz · July 1, 2003, 10:11

I ordered some Langka yesterday from http://www.frost.co.uk, cost £19.00 with the packing, had a little disagreement with a wooden post in B & Q at Chelmsford s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 10:22

thats the site i couldnt remember Liz, thanks. s:)

s:) From looking at the first photo though, i think he will need more than that to get it sorted! s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 11:47

FYI - this is the scratch repare kit i have... not used it yet, but it does do the job.

m http://www.merproducts.com/scratchkit.htm m

And its Mer, so you cant go far wrong! s:)

s:)

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 12:04

No worries for the photos, just send them to me on e mailto:craig@the3w.com">craig@the3w.com e

As for the scratch replacements, is the LANGKA better than the mer?..which is easier?

Thanks for the link Liz

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 12:07

I think for a chip, then Langka would be quicker, for a good deep scratch (like someone keying your car) then the Mer would be better IMHO

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 12:26

Cheers for this guys, i needed some help as smoe Cvnt keyed my car the other day.

Gonna try the Mer stuff.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 12:28

just a warning for the Mer stuff.. when you rub it down with the abrasive paper, it looks terrible and you almost crap yourself thinking you have wrecked your car, but once you buff it with the special cream and buffing tool it comes out a treat!

If you buy the kit, watch the video... it does explain everything and shows you what to expect.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 12:32

Excellent, will order both then...just to be on the safe side.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 12:39

you could always wait till JAE craig and try them both there... i will bring them both with me.

Anonymous · July 1, 2003, 17:45

Having the black coat, I have been using Langka for a while and I have found it is excellent for removing the excess paint when touching up stone chips.

I have suffered light scratches from cats sliding off my hard top s:evil: :evil: s:evil: and have used T-Cut and lots of polish over time to reduce them.

However I have always been uncomfortable about abrasives such as T-Cut compared to chemical solutions such as Langka although they appear to solve slightly different problems i.e. the repair in the first case is being carried out by the touch paint whilst in the second it is the abrasive wearing down the surrounding paint. IMHO the Langka and the polish respectively are just there to create a better finish to the "repair".

A tame bodyshop will give you a more expert opinion without charging for it hopefully.

Pic attached of the two:

Anonymous · July 22, 2003, 12:44

I have been on holiday for two weeks but Craig has now hosted the pictures of my scratches. Could anyone advise on how big a job this is and what I might be expecting to pay. Any help appreciated.

m http://www.mr2-photos.co.uk/images/im_car/mr2-01.jpg m

m http://www.mr2-photos.co.uk/images/im_car/mr2-02.jpg m

And here is simply a nice picture of the car!!

m http://www.mr2-photos.co.uk/images/im_car/mr2-04.jpg m

Anonymous · July 22, 2003, 12:49

Ooohhhh......thats painful. I would reckon that could be expensive, but no idea how much. Deep and lots of them. More labour than anything else. Hazzard a guess at maybe £300ish? s:? :? s:?

Anonymous · July 22, 2003, 12:55

I has a scratch the same at that on the bumper of my old Polo and SaS in Leeds (mobile outfit, like ChipsAway etc) qouted me £25 + VAT so I wouldn't panic just yet!

--H--

Anonymous · July 22, 2003, 12:56

It does depend on who you go to.

I had a much deeper larger one on the Focus...in the same place in fact. Ford quoted several hundred. I however used a retired man who used to work in the industry.

Cost me £150 and that was only cos he had to buy the paint (next time it would be cheaper). I honestly cannot tell!.

But all this would depend on the person and the fading of the original paint (however my focus was 3 years old). Even a dealer can mess up the job....ask around local body shops.

Anonymous · July 24, 2003, 12:30

Ouch! I actually did some very similar damage to my hire car whilst in the states.. a metal stake just jumped out of the bushes!
Luckily it was a Chevy, and Walmart stocked the same colour paint.. I reckon I did a pretty good job with some spray touch up paint and T-cut! s:wink: :wink: s:wink: The rental company never knew...! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anyway, your damage looks a bit extensive for a home repair.. but as Craig says, shop around for bodyshops, but even the big names have trainees given the "simple" task of painting just one panel... as I discovered when I had my rear wing replaced and painted!

I'm all for people leaning a trade, but not on my nearly new '2!!! And certainly not without proper training.. the first attempt was awful!

Sorry, filling you with confidence here I'm sure!!

Tim