Paint Gouge/Chip/Scratch Repair Question

M

moose00015

New member
Hi everyone!

I am new here as you can tell. I recently purchased a trunk lid for my 2007 Subaru WRX STi from a junkyard. When I bought it the lid itself was covered in grim and I failed to notice two sets of gouges/chips/scratches that were where someone pried off the emblem. I was wondering what the best way to go about repairing these were? I was looking into purchasing touch up paint from paintscratch.com or a similiar website. Does anyone have any suggestions? The color is Urban Metallic Grey. Below please find pictures of the damage, they are about the length of a thumb to give it some scale. I can take more pictures if these aren't helpful enough.



Thanks!



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moose00015...welcome to the forums!

For situations like yours, I have been happy with the Dr. ColorChip system. While not a perfect repair, it makes paint chips and scratches much less visable. Easy to use.
 
Has anyone had any experience with automotivetouchup.com or paintworldinc.com?any good tutorials on how to remove the rust in the scratches and properly blend the touchup paint in as best as possible?



My main concern is finding a decent match for the touchup paint.
 
moose00015 said:
Has anyone had any experience with automotivetouchup.com or paintworldinc.com?
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I've used automotivetouchup.com paint. Just like all the others I've tried, sometimes it's an OK match and sometimes it's simply awful. IME *NOTHING* matches 100% from every viewing angle when you're touching up a metallic. I usually say "good enough" when it simply doesn't look terrible...and yeah, that still disappoints me every time (there's usually *one* angle where it looks great, but that's seldom the viewing angle you care about).



any good tutorials on how to remove the rust in the scratches and properly blend the touchup paint in as best as possible?
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See if you can find one of the threads where we discussed this stuff in detail. I just typed out a short version for somebody maybe last week...



My main concern is finding a decent match for the touchup paint.
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Good luck with that...sorry to be such a pessimist :o Besides those two sources, you might check with a dealer (sometimes the OE manufacturer stuff is OK), and also look up paintscratch.com. That DRColorchips is a somewhat different system, and hey, it might work out great for you. I'd just caution you to have realistic expectations (if you *really* want it to look super, take it to a good paint guy, I have spot-in jobs that are 100% undetectable). If you DIY it, don't be surprised if you have to redo it a few times (or many times if your experiences are like mine) before you get a satisfactory end-result.



Oh, and welcome to Autopia!
 
your biggest issue you're going to have is that is a metallic finish which will be almost impossible to match up good. The best option would be a re-spray.
 
Yeah, it's sorta a question of whether the problem bothers you enough to justify a respray.



OR, maybe you could cover the damage with an emblem. (I prefer the debadged look, but hey...).



Heh heh, I experience the flip-side of that- my beater-Blazer had a dealership emblem covering damage just like that; I took off the emblem only to discover paint damage that bothered me even more :o
 
Thank you all for the replies! I still have a few more questions so please bear with me.



I understand that whatever touch up I do won't be completely hidden. The big gouge seems that it will be mostly covered by the rear subaru emblem. The other one will probably be more noticeable.



From my readings it appears that metallics when applied with a brush or a pen don't lay correctly as they do when sprayed. Is there truth to this? Would I be better off masking off the area as best as possible and doing a couple of passes with a spray can vs. a pen or brush?



Would it be possible if I take it to a body shop to have them spray in those areas without having to repaint the lid itself? If that is a possibility I'd definately explore it. I just don't want to have to pay for a respray of the lid and find that it doesn't match the rest of the car. The idea was to have an OEM lid I can switch to and from. I was so excited I didn't inspect it as well as I should have and now I'm paying for it :sadpace:.



Accumulator, no reason to apologize for being a pessimist. I'd rather have an upfront honest answer than some cushy one where in the end I'm really dissapointed.



I glanced at this thread yesterday. http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-...nding-spring-cleaning-black-g35-56k-owie.html



His touch up seems to have gone well. I need to read it more in depth as I literally read it 5 minutes before running out the door. I'll look at those rust links too!



Again thanks for all the help and if you have any recommendations or ideas I'd love to hear them!



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Picture of the car on its summer wheels and rather dirty. I know that will make most of you cringe. :getdown
 
Automotive touchup.com paint matched my wifes yellow mini Cooper better than 30 dollar dealership touch up you really have to follow thier steps though
 
Thanks for the replies! I had a few more questions for you guys before I make my decision on how to procede.



I realize that touch up will not match 100%. I just want to get as close as possible. From what I have read it seems that metallic paints don't lay the flakes down well with a paint brush or paint pen. Would I be better off pursuing a spray can of the paint? If so how should I prep the area? Would I try to clear out the rust in the gouges, mask off the area and spray or would I have to sand out a larger area to incorporate all the damage and spray the bigger area?



What about the option on "spot-in"? Would this be a way to approach the damage? I want to avoid repainting the whole trunk as the idea was to have an OEM trunk and just be able to swap lids. Unfortunately I was too excited and didn't check the trunk that well and ended up with damage :sadpace:.



Thanks for all the advice so far, if you have more I'd love to hear it!
 
moose00015 said:
..I realize that touch up will not match 100%. I just want to get as close as possible. From what I have read it seems that metallic paints don't lay the flakes down well with a paint brush or paint pen. Would I be better off pursuing a spray can of the paint?
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*NO* don't try that!! The "right way" to do it is with an airbrush.



Was it David B or Brad B who did that on a silver Porsche :confused: I'm pretty sure it was one of those two guys...man-oh-man did it turn out great! If you want to spray it, find that thread and try to do as he did. Good luck with that though...if I thought it was a practical solution I'd have tried it by now.



I've done some airbrushing in my time, and I know my way around my Paasche airbrushes (or at least I did when younger), but I've never tried it for this. You would need to get the right equipment (no cheapo airbrushes!) and IMO most people would be better off just paying a pro to do it.



What about the option on "spot-in"? Would this be a way to approach the damage?
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The potential problem with spot-ins is primarily durability. Some guys here, painters who *KNOW* this stuff, say it'll fail. Oughta take the opinions of professionals seriously. BUT, I have first-hand experience with countless spot-ins that've held up perfectly. Most of my vehicles have them, and I've simply *NEVER* had a problem even after many years.



Gotta have a *GOOD* painter do the work and then you gotta baby it, as in no really aggressive compounding/polishing.



If that were my trunklid, I'd take it to one of the two painters I use and have it spotted in. Then I'd take it easy with any subsequent polishing. Even with a good painter, some repairs turn out better than others, but I have repaired spots like that which not only look 100%, but also have held up perfectly for many years on daily drivers.
 
http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-detailing/43937-chip-repair-three-simple-weeks.html



I think that is the link you were telling me about. I'm gonna call down to the body shop that did the repairs on my car. I bought a wrecked STi...haha and see if they'll be able to spot in the repairs on the trunk lid. The only other reason I'd want to get touch up paint is because my roommate from school had scratched the top of my spoiler with his ski tips :( and I scratched the roof a bit when installing the fairing for my ski/snowboard rack...
 
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