I accidently rubbed my wheelbarrow against my tailgate when it was down and put a deep 4" long scratch right down into the primer. :-(

What the best way to fix this?

In my previous life, I've tried filling a scratch on my beater car with touchup paint that came in a tiny bottle that looks like my wife's nail polish, but the outcome looked terrible to say the least.

I'll be going into the deal later this week for some warranty work, so I havne't asked yet, but I seem to remember seeing some reference to them selling touchup paint in a spray. Would this work better? I have an airbrush set that I'm tempted to try to fill the scratch with several layers of paint and then polish. Would that work also?

 

If you want it to look right, have the gate painted by a body shop. I had a similar experience, and it cost me about $200

 

I have done body work for years. If you want it to look right, have a good body shop paint the gate.

 

Depends on the scratch - most have their own situation. Best way is to have it repainted, but if it is not that bad, you might be able to do it yourself.

If you can find one of those small touch up bottles that match your paint, you can use it and then wetsand the scratch to get it to blend in. Once you have the scratch blended and sanded, then polish and wax it. I have done a few this way on different vehicles. If you take your time, and the scratch is not too terribly bad, you can blend it well enough it is not too noticeable.

Might be worth a try anyway before you pay someone else to fix it.

 

Let a pro Paint it,trust me.

 

If it is a metallic paint color, get it painted. The metal flake is VERY VERY hard to blend. A body shop wont even try to "fix" it. They will just repaint.

 

Several months ago, the Discovery Channel did a show on how to: auto appearance/detailing.

In one segment they mixed epoxy with touchup paint. When it was dry, they carefully color sanded the area and rubbed it out.

You couldn't tell where the scratch had been.

 

Deep scratches may be touched-up by a professional and will look great, but over time, the touch-up paint has a tendency to disappear from pressure washing, etc. The best long term solution is to have the panel repainted.

 

Exactly!!!! The ONLY way to fix it permanently is to have the panel repainted. Don't be afraid to use touch up paint, but don't expect perfection either. With touch up paint your best bet is to get factory paint, clean the scratch thoroughly with alcohol, and put one generous coat on it. You should not use paint to "fill" a scratch, it will shrink as it dries, or crack out in places, plus with no clearcoat, it will discolor quickly. But it will keep the spot from rusting, so it's still a good idea, just not a good fix.

 

I have repaired scratches in my wife's cars. Go to the dealership and get the touch-up paint using the color code, best chance of a match. Clean the scratch with alcohol and the apply thin coats allowing each coat to dry until there is a noticable bump, by feel, over the scratch. Using 2500 or 3000 grit wet sanding paper, using a spray bottle with water, gently spray and sand until smooth, and then use buffing compound and the scratch is gone, this has worked every time for me and with my wife, I had lots of practice doing this.

 

If you are really brave, try this link. I used them last year to do some paint wear along the sealing surfaces along the top edge of the door. If you know your paint cide you will get a exact aerosol match. I need CX (dark shadow grey) they were the only source I counl find it in a aerosol.


http://www.automotivetouchup.com/