paint chip repair question

[xappie]

Hi all

I have been slowly repairing a paint chip in the front of my hood that I picked up on a recent road trip. I am pretty happy with the results, the repair is smooth and flush with the surface. However, the paint seems to be a lighter colour than the rest of the car. I used exactly matched paint from my Ford dealer, and the paint matches perfectly - until I wetsand it down. This seems to cause the paint to lighten in colour.

The paint is a metallic blue, with many metallic flecks. I have tried adding a layer of clear-coat, and again that seems to look good until I get to the point of leveling out the repair.

How do I get the paint to remain darker in colour? Is it because there aren't enough layers of paint or something? I started out with a light sanding, then some grey primer, then about 3-4 layers of the touchup paint with a few days and some light sanding in between. I polished it out with scratch-x and megs #9, then waxed with NXT.

Any advice is appreciated.
phil.


(I suppose pictures might be needed - I will try and get some after work tonight.)

[wing]

I'm having a very similar problem. Mine is that my touch-up is a light colour and primer is grey and it doesn't really cover it well. I require lots of touch-up then of course it isn't level, then I sand it and see the primer again

So I primed it with a different paint that was thick and close in colour first and it seems to have done the trick.

I don't think you'll ever get it PERFECT but you should be able to get it close.

The best way would be to use a small airbrush for your final coat, you can put it on VERY thin and not have to use a brush therefore minimizing sanding.

[xappie]

Yeah... an airbrush would be cool. But I have ZERO talent with that kind of thing and before I knew it my whole garage would be blue. heh.

I have a triple zero brush that seems to work well. I think I am going to try and paint on a super thin layer and leave it without sanding. I think the small ridge would be less noticeable than the colour difference.

[wing]

I checked the spot I'm working on and I too noticed this, sanding seemed to make it duller, like removing the clear from the paint or something. Maybe it's the chemical make-up of the paint, I haven't applied my layer of clear yet though.