Thread: Paint : What is the best way to repair a scratch and chipped paint?

I bought the Kia touch up marker pen from the dealership.

I guess the first step is to clean the area. Is a Chamois with dish washing liquid the best thing to use?

Are there any other tips?

Does anyone know off the top of their head what a body shop would charge to repair about a foot long scratch and a few small
dots of chipped paint?

Depends on what the labor rate in your area is and the cost of paint/materials. Also depends on location of scratch and if the shop would have to blend into adjacent panels.

Dish washing liquid is good to use to strip the wax prior to doing this work. You need to dry the metal completely, try using a lint-free cloth.

When trying to fill a scratch or chip, you need to have the paint slightly higher than the rest of the paint, because you're going to sand it smooth with wet/dry sandpaper. The pens can be really hard to control - a lot of people will use a toothpick to "wick" the paint into the chipped/scratched area. Chips & scratches on flat surfaces are the easiest to fill, horizontal are the hardest. Metallic paint is very difficult to do well, flat paint colors are easier, and the more solid the color the easier it is. White is the simplest color to repair, black is also not bad, the other colors are different degrees.

Wick the paint into the chip. Let it cure completely, this means at least several days in warm weather, a little longer in cold weather. Once you've let it cure so it's really hard - you shouldn't be able to dent or mark it whatsoever with your nail - you're ready to wet sand. You want to use the smallest piece of sandpaper you can use. Some people will cut a small piece and glue it to an eraser. You sand the entire area, just past the edges of the chip, until you blend everything. You're using very fine sandpaper - try the finest you can use at first, maybe 2000 grit, and work down from there if you don't get results. You don't want to sand off anything more than until you've got it blended. Once you're done, let it cure for another week or so and then put a nice coat of wax.

There's some good videos out there if you want to do this. It's not hard, it just takes patience!

Originally Posted by jdmartin

Dish washing liquid is good to use to strip the wax prior to doing this work. You need to dry the metal completely, try using a lint-free cloth.

When trying to fill a scratch or chip, you need to have the paint slightly higher than the rest of the paint, because you're going to sand it smooth with wet/dry sandpaper. The pens can be really hard to control - a lot of people will use a toothpick to "wick" the paint into the chipped/scratched area. Chips & scratches on flat surfaces are the easiest to fill, horizontal are the hardest. Metallic paint is very difficult to do well, flat paint colors are easier, and the more solid the color the easier it is. White is the simplest color to repair, black is also not bad, the other colors are different degrees.

Wick the paint into the chip. Let it cure completely, this means at least several days in warm weather, a little longer in cold weather. Once you've let it cure so it's really hard - you shouldn't be able to dent or mark it whatsoever with your nail - you're ready to wet sand. You want to use the smallest piece of sandpaper you can use. Some people will cut a small piece and glue it to an eraser. You sand the entire area, just past the edges of the chip, until you blend everything. You're using very fine sandpaper - try the finest you can use at first, maybe 2000 grit, and work down from there if you don't get results. You don't want to sand off anything more than until you've got it blended. Once you're done, let it cure for another week or so and then put a nice coat of wax.

There's some good videos out there if you want to do this. It's not hard, it just takes patience!

Great thanks.

Do I need a primer?

As far as working the touchup paint back to the level of the original, I've been pleased with Langka. It's a bit pricey but it works. You use touchup paint and fill the chip/scratch/whatever higher than the factory paint. Let the paint cure for 4 hours to a few days, then use this creamy paint remover with a piece of soft cloth wrapped around a plastic card and gently rub the "blob" down to the paint level. Easier and safer than sanding and works pretty well.

LANGKA Paint Chip and Scratch Repair

The dealer gave me an estimate for a two inch long scratch (size probably does not matter) located on the panel behind my rear door. The quote of course considered it to be covered by insurance and was $550. I of course bought a scratch pen.

in addition to what jdmartin said - will share what one of my detailers taught me (a woman that is also a perfectionist lol)

tape off area to work on with masking tape - tape as close as possible to contain your work and/or screw-ups.
rather than a toothpick - might wanna go to local art supply store and pick up a very fine artist paint brush.
might also try a good polishing compound before using anything else - will take a bit more work but have found that this is all that has been needed for my repairs that is with the exception of one that had me resorting to a very fine grade of wet sandpaper because after a couple of hours i realized that i might be there for days with the polishing compound!!

Someone in another forum said the following:

That needs filler, primer, sand and paint

If I just use a paint pen with clear coat is there any risk of future rust damage?

That is what I am concerned about.

I bought the paint pen w/Clear Coat, from my dealer. I've used it several times so far.