How to Dramatically Improve Your Touch-Up Paint Skills (Part 3: Correction Edition)

I have previously shared information about touch-up painting twice.

1. How to Dramatically Improve Your Touch-Up Paint Skills (Brush Selection and Technique)

2. How to Dramatically Improve Your Touch-Up Paint Skills (Part 2, White Pearl and Silver Edition)

Even tiny scratches on body panels become more noticeable when a car is new or well-maintained.
I believe you’ve had the experience of searching for touch-up paint by color code at an auto parts store, confirming the matching color with the sticker on the lid, only to find that the repair becomes even more noticeable.

This is a repair mark on a blackish pearl metallic finish.

It appears whiter than the surrounding original paint.

Let’s zoom in.

This is the result of the owner’s efforts, but I’m sorry. Let me wipe this off.

You may not know this, but commercial touch-up paint can be redone. Touch-up paint can be easily wiped off with thinner, and the original paint film is hardly affected by thinner.

The original scratch was a small linear mark only a few millimeters long, as shown here.

White scratches on a blackish body are indeed noticeable. However, no matter how carefully you try to paint, the brush that comes with commercial touch-up paint is unsuitable for scratches of this size, and the color doesn’t match.

I have primary color paints that I received from a body shop that went out of business, which I keep stocked on my shelf.

Having a rich selection of primary colors allows me to mix colors as I envision them.
After checking the primary colors in the mix, I combine them appropriately to create a marbled effect.

This creates a continuous range of similar color tones, so I select a color that will be less noticeable from the usual viewing position and carefully apply it with the brush tip, making sure not to go beyond the scratch.

For small scratch repairs, Ueno Bunseido’s brush, the Woody Fit, is exceptional. I personally use the Kolinsky 2/0 size from the weasel family. Please compare it with the brush tip that comes with commercial touch-up paint. I believe it’s impossible to precisely fill in a line scratch with the spread resin brush tip.

Since the scratch area is indented, painting with exactly the same color will make pearl and metallic reflections stand out. The trick is to make it slightly darker.

If we were to fill in the indented scratch area with urethane clear mixed with color and make it flat, it would be even less noticeable, but this is sufficient for a side panel repair. This short 10-minute process also provides adequate rust protection.