I am thinking of starting my spring cleanup and was wondering about touching up some small rock chips. I had a white Taurus in 1991 and I did very well on it. My 1994 Taurus was a metal flake red color and you could see every spot plain as day after I did it. My 2000 F-150 is red. I would hope to do a good job but am wondering if maybe I would be better off just suffering with the rock chips. They are small but.... Any expierence out there? Thanks.

 

get the correct touch up paint from the dealer and then use a tooth pick and let it flow into the hole. it will be a bit above the rest of the paint. then use a small piece of extra fine sandpaper and sand the bump down level with the rest of the paint after allowing to dry for a few days of course. then polish out with your favorite rubbing compound and afterwards wax.

 

Since it is red and since it came with a clearcoat, if you don't appy a touch up clear over the red basecoat you apply, it will quickly fade and look like his previous vehicle, all spotted.

Do just as was stated, but apply just enough of the red color to cover, LEAVE room for touch up clear.

When the red base is dry, apply the clearcoat touch up, and apply it "slightly" above the surrounding surface. When it dries, it will shrink down some.

Then, once it is dry, do the 2000 grit sanding with a small block and compound, followed by a polish.

Very important to replace the clear to get a color match.

ketch

 

Best thing is Turtle Wax Chip Stick!
JJ

 

Please give me the details on the Turtle Sticks. Thanks

 

the turtle wax chip sticks work well,they come with a lipstick like scratch and chip filler and some wax to go over it with,altho it doesent last long and is only temporary it does look good between waxes

 

Take your truck to a paintshop and tell them you want a touch-up bottle of color matched paint for your truck. They will usually only charge $8 - $10 for it and they will make it match.

Before you put the paint in you'll need to strip the wax off the area. I like to use Dawn wash. It won't hurt the paint and it'll strip the wax off. Use a toothpick then to let the paint flow into the chip. Let it dry.

Get some pencils with rubber erasers. Use a hole punch to cut some circles out of a sheet of 2000 grit sandpaper. Use rubber cement to attack them to the pencil eraser. Let the glue dry and then let the eraser sit in water for about 30mins. That'll let the backing to the sandpaper get soft.

Then just sand the spot you touched up with the pencil eraser until it is level. I did this and tried to remove the sanding marks by hand but I couldn't. I had to use a rotary buffer. You'll probably have to do the same. I wouldn't try any harsh rubbing compounds for taking out sandpaper marks. 3M's Swirl mark Remover or Meguiars #9 should take the marks right out and leave your paint with a bright shine.

I have tried Eagle One Scratch Remover and Meguiars Scratch X on sandpaper marks before with no success. It takes a buffer and a polish.

 

I have the color matched paint but someone said to also get a bottle of clear coat. Do I need to go back to the dealer for that or is it available elsewhere like Schucks? Thanks.

 

I've never used clearcoat on my touch-ups and don't have a problem. If you use the sandpaper and then buff it out, you can hardly notice the mark at all.

I use a synthetic wax that provides UV protection.