I read that Paint Clinic article and it was very helpful. But I have a few extra questions:
1. My car has at least 1 chip where the metal is exposed. Previously I just got touch-up stick and put a couple of layers of the paint into the chip with no primer underneath. It's still pretty obviously visible and ugly, but at least the metal is not exposed.
Do I now have to remove this touch-up paint and put down primer? If so, how do I get out the existing paint that's in the chip? Will sanding do the trick?
2. Where do I get primer? And are there different kinds/grades of primer that might be specific to different cars/models? (I drive a Mazda6.)
3. I have some long&thin horizontal scratches on my bumper that are totally my fault due to clipping a snow bank last winter. Is the process basically the same? Fill with paint and then wet-sand it down and then buff it out? Is there anything special about tackling something like this?
4 In the final stage of the repair when you wet-sand down the excess paint and then re-buff the surface, do you need a powered buffer? Or can I do that by hand with a microfiber towel?
5. When buffing out the surface after sanding it down, can Meguiar's Scratch-X be used to smoothen it out? Or is that the wrong kind of product? (I have some of this already so I'm hoping to save some cash.) What exactly qualifies a product for buffing out the wet-sanded surface?
1. My car has at least 1 chip where the metal is exposed. Previously I just got touch-up stick and put a couple of layers of the paint into the chip with no primer underneath. It's still pretty obviously visible and ugly, but at least the metal is not exposed.
Do I now have to remove this touch-up paint and put down primer? If so, how do I get out the existing paint that's in the chip? Will sanding do the trick?
2. Where do I get primer? And are there different kinds/grades of primer that might be specific to different cars/models? (I drive a Mazda6.)
3. I have some long&thin horizontal scratches on my bumper that are totally my fault due to clipping a snow bank last winter. Is the process basically the same? Fill with paint and then wet-sand it down and then buff it out? Is there anything special about tackling something like this?
4 In the final stage of the repair when you wet-sand down the excess paint and then re-buff the surface, do you need a powered buffer? Or can I do that by hand with a microfiber towel?
5. When buffing out the surface after sanding it down, can Meguiar's Scratch-X be used to smoothen it out? Or is that the wrong kind of product? (I have some of this already so I'm hoping to save some cash.) What exactly qualifies a product for buffing out the wet-sanded surface?
