# Touching Up A Key Scratch



## waqasr (Oct 22, 2011)

Not sure if anyone here has seen my thread HERE

But my car looks like this now



At the moment im not going to pay the few hundred itll cost to get resprayed so touch up is the only option. Ive done touch ups before rather successfully but not too sure how to approach this one as the scratch is deeper and thicker (previously ones have been thin).

So im not sure how to get my paint mixed for this one, should I:

Do base coat and clear coat as a seperate stage on this, or,
Get the base coat and clear mixed together?
I lean towards mixing the colour and clear because when doing them separately its hard to ensure you've left enough of a "valley" after applying colour, for the clear to sit in

The paint is a pearl colour so not too sure.
Or i was thinking mask around the whole scratch and spray instead so the flake lays down better? So should I get a can mixed up instead? Really confused how to tackle this one!


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## Bartl (Apr 3, 2013)

I would go over it with IPA then 50/50 mix of paint and laqure leave for 24 hours then wet sand. 
Apply paint with a 000 grade brush.


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## waqasr (Oct 22, 2011)

Thats what i was thinking too. Only thing is when mixing colour and clear, would it give as much gloss as doing colour and clear separate? Also since ill be sanding back down, wouldn't it affect the flake in the paint?


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

waqasr said:


> Not sure if anyone here has seen my thread HERE
> 
> But my car looks like this now
> 
> ...


Sad to say but what ever approach you take you will still see the scratch. best to save your money and a long term solution will be to have a respray. I wish you well.:thumb:


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Touching that up will stick out like a sore thumb,get it respayed


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

By trying to touch it up,it's going to stick out like a sore thumb,save yourself the bother and get it resprayed. :thumb:


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## waqasr (Oct 22, 2011)

At the moment I cant afford to spend to get the whole side resprayed. Tbh im sure it wont stick out as much as it is now. Ill post a thread once its done and im confident it will look _alot_ better.


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## matt_r (Jun 20, 2006)

I know you have probably thought of it already but will mention it just in case you haven't.. I had an Astra VXR and some a#$ehole decided to key the car down both sides and I went through my insurance with protected NCB and was over the moon with the results in the end..


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

suspal said:


> Touching that up will stick out like a sore thumb,get it respayed


^^^^^^^ THIS!

The pearls in the paint will sink in the paint - they'll only sit properly when sprayed.
So even if you touch up with an exact colour match the pearls won't work making it look a completely different colour.

Save your time and save your money :thumb:


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Edit.
Just reread your post and saw your thinking of spraying by masking off the scratch. 
This still won't work - you'll end up with it looking a different colour. It might be closer to the original than it is now but I guarantee it will be a minimal improvement and will still stick out like a sore thumb.
If scratches of this scale could in any way be improved to anything near a half acceptable standard, then when asked for a "cheap/improvement only job" a bodyshops answer would be to simply spray the scratch. 
Instead they politely explain 'It can't be done' because they know however hard they tried the outcome would be a waste of their time and the customers money.


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## justinio (Jun 24, 2013)

Heres a good video from Ammo NYC 




It still isnt a very good fix though. Only a respray will get yours out I'm afraid. But as a temporary solution, until you have funds for a respray, it might not be so bad.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

I've not watched the video - 
but what I can tell you without even watching it is that a touch in/improvement on any solid colour (especially on black) is going to give far far better results than on a metallic or pearl.
It'll be tough job trying to find a video of an acceptable touch in/improvement on a silver car


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