Hi! I'm rogue. You may remember me from such threads as "how do I get these scratches out?" and "why do I have all these paint chips?"

I tried the SOA official WR Blue touch-up paint and (very stupidly) used the STOCK brush. I now know that a TOOTHPICK with very little paint on it is the way to go... :rolleyes:

But I've got a big ugly splotch of touch-up paint on my door where there used to be just a hairline scratch. How do I blend this in/sand it down effectively? There's lots of web sites like properautocare.com that explain how to clean/wax and remove scratches, but no one really deals with how to fix a botched scratch removal job! :lol:

Anyone with experience in this, I'll give you my little sister in trade for help! I've tried Meguiar's Scratch-X, no results... but I didn't really rub it in hard or anything, just let it haze as per the directions on the tube.

TIA!
-rogue

A friend of mine did this to his Electron Blue Pearl Civic Si and I helped him get it reasonably well, but not perfect. I think it's not possible to fix it perfectly unless you have the proper tools. Anyways.

Wet sand with 1000 grit sand paper. You may or may not have luck finding the proper stuff, but any auto body supply store should have something. I just used a small piece and soaked it in lots of water. This is important otherwise it will scratch badly. Basically, just sand it down applying just enough pressure to remove bits of the paint. This totally depends on how much paint we're talking about here, but this will take you a while to sand. Keep sanding. You aren't going for a smooth finish, you just want to try to get the paint as level with the rest of the car as possible. Keep it wet at all times or it will scratch. You could probably use a sanding block. I didn't and got it nearly perfect.

Once thats done, use 1500 and 2000 grit paper to give it the smooth auto finish. Once nice and smooth you will probably need to use some scratch remover and then polish to bring back the shine and finally give it a good coat of wax. You don't want any water getting under the paint otherwise it will crack and bubble Depending on the care taken, you should hardly be able to notice it.

The key is to wet sand it and get it as flat and as smooth as possible. I managed to fill in a dent on the hood of my mates car left by a rock by applying small amounts of paint and then sanding it down. Can only see it if you know its there.

Good luck!

I've got a nice set of micromesh, ranging from 3000 to 12000 grit. niiice, handy padded fabric things. I figger they'll be great for touchup. :D costs about $20 for the set.

Micromesh? Wazzat, now? Sounds spiffy, might be what I need!

I'd heard about the sandpaper things before... I'm just scared out of my mind to use it on my car :D

Look at the damage I did with touch-up paint... imagine the horror I can inflict with sandpaper!

if you really don't want to do it yourself...you can take your car to a good bodyshop. They will be able to wet sand it for you and the results should be quite good. I would wait to collect some more chips and scratches before going tho, - much more cost effective that way.

I heard that a clay-bar will clean things up. I have yet to try it though -- haven't had time.

LaterZ!
Darren!!

Go to www.langka.com. Product is specifically for removing the "blob" left after applying touch-up paint. Works pretty well.

Thanks, all, for the response!

I dove in and tried wet sanding today... with very nice results!

I skipped the 1000 grit paper and went right for 2000 grit... the area I'm working on is SMALL, only an inch-long scratch that was poorly repaired by me.

Wet sanding that blob of paint took about 20 minutes, using barely fingertip pressure, but I love the results! Took it right back to the original clearcoat, while leaving touch-up paint IN the scratch itself!! The finish looks a little dull, but a coat of Meguiar's scratch-X buffed that RIGHT up! I'm confident I can make this sucker disappear with a little more scratch-X and some good polish/wax work on the area!!

Woohoo, things are looking up! Soon I'll be touching up those damned hood dings...