I drive a 2013 ES 350 which has the black obsidian paint. Through normal wear and tear my car has developed quite a few deep chips and scratches in a lot of random areas. I took it the dealership for an oil change and asked them to quote me on what they can do to fix all the areas. Option 1 was to have it painted over. This was a while ago so I can't remember the actual dollar amount, but quote was around $800. Option 2 was for them to do a touch up on the areas and this was around $250. Has anyone done any type of touch up on their car by themselves and gotten good results? My main concern would be that the color from the touch up paint wouldn't match my car paint. If you've had success, could you share what brand of touch up paint you used and where to get it from? Any other info would also help.

 

Welcome to CL.

This will work very well (if you use it correctly) on minor and surface scratches, smudges, stains, and discolorations, but for deeper stuff, yes, you are probably going to need professional work. If you do use Scratch-Out, make sure to get the scratch-remover and not the rubbing compound....the yellow bottles are similar.




One other trick that I have used on occasion is that, if you don't want to go to a body shop, and the scratch/chip is really bothering you, IF it is in a suitable place, you can simply cover it up with a strip of automotive blackout tape, which will make it look like a piece of flat-black trim. I did that on my brother's car a number of years ago...a Subaru Impreza. He got a deep, ugly scratch on one of the lower rear body panels, and I put a carefully-trimmed strip of black tape over the panel horizontally, covering up the ugly part, and did the same on the opposite side of the car so it would match. He liked the result (it looked more or less like factory trim).....and kept it on for years, until he sold the car to an ex-co-worker.

 

 

I think this is an "it is what it is" deal. Years ago, maybe 2009, I had that service where a pro touches up your car. I watched, he hand mixed the paint to exactly the color, and took 2 hours, was so careful etc. When I saw the results, I thought, wow, I could have done the same using factory touch up in about 5 min.

What does this mean? Touch ups can only do so much. You have a crater, which is concave, it's touched up, now it's convex. The less convex, the better.

My LS430 is moonlight pearl so it is a tri coat. I got two big stone chips going to CT last year, which did bother me as they were bare metal. Once I got the touch up, I touched them up, and yes, the spots are convex. But it's a 2006 so it doesn't bother me. The car has 2 tiny dings that most cannot see, which did not occur under my ownership, so they don't bother me.

I agree, respraying a car is horrible, you see 2018 cars that have had body work and the texture is all crinkly, with paint matching perfectly. Why throw the baby out with the bathwater? Get some genuine OE touch up from the dealer (cheaper than online as hazmat), and maybe spend a full 3 min. applying as little paint as you can, and then live with it. I can live with chips, but not dings. It's like a person has to buy a beater to be able to go to pre-school, those parents (I should say we not those) are absolutely nuts. Don't drive a nice car to pre-school.

 

It's not the dealer most likely. Usually they have a local paint and body shop vendor they would use.

 

Dr Color Chip is far better than those blobby touch up pens

 

Dr. Color Chip is a very good product. I've had consistent good results.

 

First time I've ever heard of it.....but if this video is credible, it seems to be a good product.


With a deep chip on a Corvette fiberglass body, though, the guy had to apply several coats.

 

ive used it on my viper and mustang, the color match is very good. The fact that you can level it makes it a hell of a lot cleaner than blobby pens

 

Thanks guys for your replies. I will try out Dr Color Chip and see how that works. I looked into it and it seems very user friendly. I'll try it out first on a not so noticeable area on my car to see what the results look like.