Unless you have a place where you have really dinged up the paint (like all the way to the primer), you probably won't need to use touch up paint. There are lots of ways to remove minor scratches and such, without resorting to paint. A good site to look things up would be www.autopia.org which is a detailing only site.

For minor scratches, I've had good luck using a very weak abrasive such as 3M Swirl Mark Remover. Its a lot of work by hand but isn't impossible. The abrasives go up from there, depending on what you need to remove.

We have 2 places on our hood where we were hit by rocks, and I'm afraid touch up is our only option. You can also find directions for doing touchup on that other site.

Ron

 

If the repair goes beyond what SilverGT mentioned, there are some good tips and web sites previously posted here that I have used with reasonable success. Look for the thread

"professional" scratch removal

and search for hints from TrickedOdyssey. I just tried to follow the link provided and it may not exist anymore, but here is another one to try

http://www.autoeducation.com/carcare/paintchips.htm

It may be the same article under a different URL. Anyway, I hope this helps you get started. I would definitely recommend the first attempt to be in a less obvious place, if possible, to build confidence and develop the skill.

Good Luck,

Jeff

 

Touch up paint

Just came back from PEP Boys and while I was there, I noticed that they sell "touch up" paint for Honda's. I looked at the different aerosol cans and they sell taffeta white for my 2001 Ody EX. I bought a can for like $4.00.

I will try it on some scratches under the front end. I hit a dip in the road and it scratched some paint on the plastic.

I was surprised that I could buy in spray paint cans. It is easier to apply than the small bottles the deler sells.

 

When I have used the touch up paint that came with my Accord it ended up making the scratch look more obvious and really stands out. Of course I didn't do any prep work or even have a clue what I was doing, I just painted the touch up on.