best way to fix a keyed vehicle on your own

ssKable · #1 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 05:20 AM

Someone keyed 99 f150 on the drivers side from the headlight to the taillight, I was able to buff a little bit out with some scratch X but the drivers sid door to just above the rear wheel is to big of a mark to buff out. I do not want to report this to my insurance because I have a 500 dollar deductable and they will raise my insurance even though they have no right to. Any tips on trying to get the scratch out myself?

jim henderson · #2 (**permalink**) 05-07-2003, 11:30 AM

You can try to buff put or repaint or use touch up paint.

Or you can do a trick that was posted on a Chevy website...

Find a crayon about the color of your truck and crayon the scratch and buff off the excess. Works surprisingly well. When ever the crayon wears out, just do it again.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

ssKable · #3 (**permalink**) 05-08-2003, 04:39 AM

Thanks for the tips, I was going to try and get some touch up paint and an air brush and see how well I could get it but I like the crayon idea, I think I will use that as a temp fix. I am planning on learning how to paint vehicles so after I go through the course I'm just going to repaint my whole truck a different color.

1956MarkII · #4 (**permalink**) 05-08-2003, 11:02 AM

You can fix this yourself with touch-up paint, but here's the secret: DON'T use the brush that's attached to the bottle cap. That brush is way too thick. If you have a lot of patience (that's a LONG scratch), get a very fine artist's brush. Clean the scratch, and apply the smallest amount of paint that you can. You may want to mask off both sides of the scratch. After it has dried for at least 24 hours, gently rub it out with some polishing compound. If you've got a steady hand, it should come out quite well, and it will provide a lot more protection than the crayon technique. I've used that one myself, but it doesn't last very long.

mikefraz01 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-26-2003, 09:30 PM

i used the artist brush and touch up paint, then wetsanded and buff'd it out, looks great

Dutch123 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-01-2003, 02:19 PM

My 1996 Pacific Green Bronco was keyed from front quarter to rear on both sides 3 years ago. I used the touch up piant for 3 years with the supplied brush and it looks like a long thin scar on the truck. with a bumpy ridge sticking up from scratch-yuck! The key went in deep. Since I have hours... I want to do this right. What I understand from 1956MarkII is that an arist brush works the best. My question is what is the best way to take down or get the previous touch up piant down to a flush level with the original coat.Do I compound first or do the wet sanding deal? I'm not clear on what wet sanding is all about.?

thanks
Dutch