[Be_Em_Double_You]

I stupidly opened my door too quick abd got a gash on my body right to the metal. I have ordered bmw black sapphire touchup paint. Will this do the job? I feel like an idiot and painful to look at. Any tips for this to be successful?

[bimmerfan1972]

Be very careful with that touch up paint. I bought Alpine White for mine and rushed it. Looks absolutely terrible. So bad that I'm considering getting the whole panel repainted. I'll see if I can get some pictures.

[Wolf 335]

Touch it up with the paint you bough. Do it in a few coats allow to dry in between.

Ensure you have enough paint to fill the scratch and then extra to bubble slightly above the surrounding paint.

Take a microfiber clot similar to what you would use to clean sunglasses and wrap it around a credit card.

Apply a little bit of pain thinner on the edge of the cloth/card and run it over the pain blob to level it.

Run a polish to finalize, done.

This is how those touchup kits work.

[cpie168]

Use toothpick to apply the touch up paint for maximum precision.

[Be_Em_Double_You]

thanks for input.
I don't like the idea of sanding it around the scratch as that looks painful.
I was going to clean it, dry then apply primer, then use toothpick for paint until its level, then apply clear coat? is this going to be good enough? I just want it to look barely noticeable. or will it stand out? I have never done touchup before. but have bought the bmw primer, paint and clearcoat kit

[Be_Em_Double_You]

Originally Posted by bimmerfan1972

Be very careful with that touch up paint. I bought Alpine White for mine and rushed it. Looks absolutely terrible. So bad that I'm considering getting the whole panel repainted. I'll see if I can get some pictures.

how big was your scratch, any photos would be great.

[Wolf 335]

Originally Posted by Be_Em_Double_You

thanks for input.
I don't like the idea of sanding it around the scratch as that looks painful.
I was going to clean it, dry then apply primer, then use toothpick for paint until its level, then apply clear coat? is this going to be good enough? I just want it to look barely noticeable. or will it stand out? I have never done touchup before. but have bought the bmw primer, paint and clearcoat kit

You don't have to sand but leveling the raised edges is recommended. I would use a very fine tip precision blade to lightly level any raised sections.

You will need to level the paint after you apply. Otherwise it will not be level with surrounding paint.

[bimmerfan1972]

A buddy and I worked on my car this weekend. If I had not applied the clear coat, it would have been much easier to fix. Skip the clear coat. We used 2000 grit sandpaper to level the paint. We did that by hand. Keep the sandpaper wet and be careful not to go too deep. Keep drying in between sanding and rub your fingers over the paint. You should be able to tell if it is level. After that, we used a small power buffer with some old compound that he had, which worked fine. Ran the buffer over the affected area several times until the shine was restored and blended in with the surrounding area. Do this several times until it looks good. We are not quite finished, I think I need to go over a few spots again with 3000 grit and buff, but even with what we did, it looks 1000 times better.

[Be_Em_Double_You]

thanks guys I wont rush it. surely as a touch up wont be as bad as the actual scratch. ive never done this before but wont jump into it without fully understanding the best method.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Touch it up with the paint you bough. Do it in a few coats allow to dry in between.

Ensure you have enough paint to fill the scratch and then extra to bubble slightly above the surrounding paint.

Take a microfiber clot similar to what you would use to clean sunglasses and wrap it around a credit card.

Apply a little bit of pain thinner on the edge of the cloth/card and run it over the pain blob to level it.

Run a polish to finalize, done.

This is how those touchup kits work.

Would you then apply the clear? The touch up I got from dealer has paint with brush and a bottle of clear with brush to.

[bimmerfan1972]

Like I said, just be careful if you are going to apply that clear. It will look terrible if you do it wrong.

[Be_Em_Double_You]

Originally Posted by bimmerfan1972

Like I said, just be careful if you are going to apply that clear. It will look terrible if you do it wrong.

so do you think it shouldn't need a clear coat if its a tiny scratch?

[Be_Em_Double_You]

Originally Posted by bimmerfan1972

A buddy and I worked on my car this weekend. If I had not applied the clear coat, it would have been much easier to fix. Skip the clear coat. We used 2000 grit sandpaper to level the paint. We did that by hand. Keep the sandpaper wet and be careful not to go too deep. Keep drying in between sanding and rub your fingers over the paint. You should be able to tell if it is level. After that, we used a small power buffer with some old compound that he had, which worked fine. Ran the buffer over the affected area several times until the shine was restored and blended in with the surrounding area. Do this several times until it looks good. We are not quite finished, I think I need to go over a few spots again with 3000 grit and buff, but even with what we did, it looks 1000 times better.

some before and afters or finished results would be good to see

[Wolf 335]

If you take the car to a body shop that deals with exotics, they will touch this up for you and you wont be able to tell there was ever a scratch there.

If this bothers you at much as it seems, then do it right and forget about it.

[bimmerfan1972]

I forgot to get a before picture, sorry about that. And I'm having trouble getting an after picture because I don't have the right light to capture the repair. The repair is good enough that you can only see slight scratching in good light at certain angles.

I'll try to describe what it looked like before my friend fixed it. The paint kind of looked like a blob, just sitting on top of the factory paint. There was also a low spot in the center, looked like a hole, where the chip was. The clear coat that I applied looked like a glaze. It was very easy to see in any light and looked terrible.

If you've never done this before and don't have a buffer, I would recommend finding someone to help or take to body shop. Luckily I have a friend who is very good at this kind of thing and he bailed me out.

[Be_Em_Double_You]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

If you take the car to a body shop that deals with exotics, they will touch this up for you and you wont be able to tell there was ever a scratch there.

If this bothers you at much as it seems, then do it right and forget about it.

your right and shouldn't cost too much? few other minor tiny scratches. so you think not worth trying to touch up myself ?

[Be_Em_Double_You]

Originally Posted by bimmerfan1972

I forgot to get a before picture, sorry about that. And I'm having trouble getting an after picture because I don't have the right light to capture the repair. The repair is good enough that you can only see slight scratching in good light at certain angles.

I'll try to describe what it looked like before my friend fixed it. The paint kind of looked like a blob, just sitting on top of the factory paint. There was also a low spot in the center, looked like a hole, where the chip was. The clear coat that I applied looked like a glaze. It was very easy to see in any light and looked terrible.

If you've never done this before and don't have a buffer, I would recommend finding someone to help or take to body shop. Luckily I have a friend who is very good at this kind of thing and he bailed me out.

there is a guy independent where I live that works from home but is 100% industry standard. so maybe wont be too expensive. touch up paint only cost me 30$. may hold off and see what he will charge me

[Be_Em_Double_You]

I went for it this afternoon. I think for a tiny scratch i don't want to go through sanding the area around it and then buffering etc. I can live with this tiny black imperfection.
I only needed 1 application of both primer and black paint as the first paint lay was enough to just bubble over.
Obviously an extremely amateur job by me.
What should i do now? Does it need clear coat?

image 1 - scratch
image2 - primer
image3 - paint

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Touch it up with the paint you bough. Do it in a few coats allow to dry in between.

Ensure you have enough paint to fill the scratch and then extra to bubble slightly above the surrounding paint.

Take a microfiber clot similar to what you would use to clean sunglasses and wrap it around a credit card.

Apply a little bit of pain thinner on the edge of the cloth/card and run it over the pain blob to level it.

Run a polish to finalize, done.

This is how those touchup kits work.

This. Great procedure!