[Picus]

Originally Posted by Reflections

Great write-up and great work, thanks for taking the time to share. Hope you're getting less snow than we are in Calgary right now.

Edit - Question:

If you're adding clear at the end and before sanding, isn't there a danger if you build up the basecoat too deep that you will sand all the clearcoat off while levelling the scratch?

Also, is it worth masking off an inch out from around the whole scratch to reduce how much area you're sanding?

Heya - when I layer the paint the layers are really, really thin, so it not a lot of sanding is required. I suppose it is possible all the clear is sanded off, but as I mentioned above that doesn't really matter anyway. The clear is more to make the touchup match than for protection.

Masking might work, I don't do it because the whole process is almost like blending paint, so making might leave funny marks. It is worth a shot though, maybe I will try it on my next one.

Originally Posted by BMW335i

Picus, I got a scrape on the underside of my front bumper (the lip). Its below the actual face of the bumper so from standing outside you can't see it. Would you approach a scrape (with quite a few spots down to the black plastic) the same way? If not, what would you reccomend? Thanks.

I know those scrapes! The problem with bumpers is that the paint is often thicker on them, so it's harder to reach the level of the existing paint. Otherwise I would approach it in exactly the same manner.