Touch-up paint thoughts? Mazda Velocity Red Mica

[d00df00d]

Car is a 2011 Mazda RX-8 in Velocity Red Mica.

I scraped the front edge of one of my rear fenders on a brick wall recently, trying to maneuver in a tightly packed garage. Entirely my fault. It's an eyesore and the scratches definitely got through the paint, but not quite to the metal.

I just want to touch up the blemishes for now so they don't look too hideous. I figure a full-on paint correction is in this car's future at some point anyway; most of my miles are highway and there's a fair bit of debris around.

I was told by a Mazda dealership that they only sell touch-up pens, which are only for tiny and thin scratches. Any thoughts on something better?

 

[geeman789]

Look for an Autobody supply store. They can often mix a small can of touch up paint for a reasonable price... I just did that for my Midnight blue Honda, at a NAPA AUTOBODY because no one sold regular touch up paint in that color. ( everything but...), and the dealer only had the terrible Honda touch up pen... 3 oz , $10.00 . Seems to match perfectly...!

 

[CharlesE]

Dr. Colorchip worked well on my Velocity Red MSM.


Dr. Colorchip

It works best on stonechips. Small scratches are acceptable, larger scratches down to the metal appear somewhat darker than the surrounding undamaged paint.

 

[JC1]

Find a local auto paint store that can put your color code into a spray can. If you cannot find anyone local try automotivetouchup.com. I've used them and their color matched my civic perfectly.

Regards, JC.

 

[qwertydude]

Just realize that touch ups on any metallic, pearl, mica, candy etc. Will never look right because the reflective particles won't sit on the painted surface exactly like the original. At best you can get a match of color but the feathered edges will always leave an obvious halo. And worse the touch ups tend to have their color in a dyed clear which tends to fade or wear away over time leaving a lighter or in more extreme cases a silver painted spot.

This is why paint shops insist on repainting the whole panel.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: qwertydude
Just realize that touch ups on any metallic, pearl, mica, candy etc. Will never look right because the reflective particles won't sit on the painted surface exactly like the original. At best you can get a match of color but the feathered edges will always leave an obvious halo. And worse the touch ups tend to have their color in a dyed clear which tends to fade or wear away over time leaving a lighter or in more extreme cases a silver painted spot.

This is why paint shops insist on repainting the whole panel.

Yes, I'm aware. As long as it looks less hideous than it does now, I'll be okay with it for the near future. I'll do it right later, when more of the paint needs work.

 

[Picky1]

Tried out some Dr. Colorchip on my car and the color match was good and it worked excellent on road rash as long as the chip did not have any depth. I tried to layer it on the deeper chips by doing three separate applications, but it still didn't really fill in the void it seem like it started to highlight the edge of the chip more?

Has anyone else worked with this product? If so, what is the trick to fill in deeper chips?

 

[DBMaster]

If the scratches are only down to the color coat you might have better results using some polishing or rubbing compound on them and then covering with some touch-up clearcoat. Just thinking along different lines here.