I just bought a '97. It needs some touch up paint but i don't understand the coding on the door jam. Is going to the dealership my best bet?

 

You could probably find it at any auto parts store. I found some at Walmart before also. You can go to the stealership, you'll just pay more for it.

 

I'd buy it somewhere else if i knew what the color was.

 

What is the color code?

A decent resource to help 'decode' your paint is paintscratch.com .

 

RC ?

 

a small bottle of touch up paint really isn't THAT much. As long as it's under 10 dollars what's the difference if you pay 5 or 7? Not trying to be a smarta** but once you break a twenty it's gone like a fart in the wind, right?

 

Stay with the dealership...they are so many variations on the colors...they have a book there that they can check against the year and production month...I just picked up some Clear Birch Metallic for my wifes '03 Exploder and fixed the scratch that my daughter put on the side with a gas nozzle...14 bucks and a perfect match.

 

Any suggestions for the best way to apply touch up paint? My wife's '02 WRX has been abused in the parking lot.

Grim

 

Thanx for the advice. Do I have to put clear coat over the touch up. @&&hole thieves crammed a screwdriver under the handle and chipped the paint off, that's the worst spot.

 

Grim, that stuff is really thin so if I had any suggestions I would say to just dab it on. I really haven't expiramented with it that much so if anyone else ha a suggestion, I am all ears, too...

 

Here's a couple of old, but good, threads with some pointers from Intel486 regarding applying touch up paint:
Paint Chip on the Front End !HELP!
Touch up paint? Where, how?
Paint Chips on new hood
Finally, here's a decent link regarding chip and scratch repair from BetterCarCare.com:
http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=27

It's probably information overload, but I've already got some rock chips in my F150 and want to be as well informed as possible before trying to repair them. I don't want to do a bad job that leaves the surface looking worse.

Good luck!

 

I use the method that Intel486 described in that first thread that JohnandDar mentioned to this day.... it works!