None of us want to experience the annoyance and expense of dealing with scratches on our cars. Repairing a scratch can be simple or hard depending on its severity. Deep or bigger scratches may require a new paint job, which involves colour matching and specific equipment like a Brisbane spray booth and paint gun. These scratches need the attention of a professional car body specialist, however; the majority of minor and simple scratches can actually be dealt with quickly and cheaply by you, the owner.
The team at Elite Paints has put together this simple “How To” guide for repairing minor scratches:
1. Buy Car Touch-Up Paint Online
The Internet is arguably the greatest single resource of the modern age. You can find and buy car touch-up paint online from great providers like Elite, and bring all the necessary materials you need to repair a minor scratch in a single, convenient package.
Just take special care in matching the paint colour with that of your own car, otherwise it could be a time-wasting mistake as you have to return it and order more.
2. Wash and Prepare the Affected Area First
Fixing a minor scratch with touch-up paint is not just a question of slapping some paint on a brush, you have to first prepare the affected area. One problem is proper and even binding of the paint with your car’s surface. Any contaminants will affect that, so you need to clean them off.
Why not give the entire car a thorough cleaning first? If you don’t have time, at least thoroughly clean and rinse any and all contaminants — including wax and paint chips — from the affected area. You might have to use sandpaper to get rid of stray paint chips or lone paint specks.
3. Apply the Primer
The next stage will be to lay down some coatings of primer. The primer is the substance that helps ensure proper binding of your paint to a clean surface. Take small amounts of the binder and apply it in thin layers. You’ll have to wait at least 20 minutes between each layer before you apply the next one. The waiting time will depend on the product you’re using, so check the packaging and follow their guidelines.
4. Apply the paint
Now comes the fun part, painting! Actually, application of the paint is almost exactly like that of applying the primer. Take small amounts and apply the paint in coatings. The waiting time between coatings should be roughly the same, perhaps 30 minutes, but could be longer depending on the product.
Apply the layers steadily and evenly. A good idea is to practice with the paints on another metal surface like an old tin can.
5. Sand Down and Apply the Clearcoat
You may notice that the paint you’ve applied has covered the scratch, but there’s kind of a bump there where your layers of paint have made it uneven. Don’t worry, this is normal! You can take care of that, smoothing the paint down to the same level as the rest of the basecoat by using wet 800-grit sandpaper.
Once the area is smoothed down so that you can rub your finger across it and the surface without feeling a difference, then you’re ready for clearcoat.
Clearcoat is needed to protect the new paint from the elements. Apply it in exactly the same way as you did the primer and basecoat, also waiting 15-20 minutes between coatings. The final result should be a neat, restored coat that an unknowing eye would never guess once housed an unsightly scratch!
Look to Elite Paints when you want to buy car touch up paint online.
