I asked for a touch up pen at the dealership and they gave me the one that goes with my truck. After applying it the color is really much whiter than the white on my truck. The color of my truck is supposed to be white platinum met tri-coat. Am I missing something, do I have the wrong part number. Any input is appreciated.

 

Sounds like they gave you Oxford White (paint code Z1), not UG (White Platinum Met TriCoat). What's on the paint pen?

 

I believe that UG is so special that the clear coat is not clear but actually translucent White with metallic flakes. So unless you apply the clear coat after the base coat it will not be close to matching. And shake, shake, shake right before applying so the metal flakes don’t bunch up.

I love the look of the Platinum White Metallic Teri coat. I had a tri coat white Toyota back in 2008. I got a scratch on the fender and it was a bitch to match. I had a Acura RL in pearl white also.

 

part number UG pomp-19500-7204a
looks like the right pen. I shook it well can't figure it out. Its on the bumper so I don't care if its perfect but a different color stands out.

 

I was using the pen the wrong way. Learn how to use that pen everyone or else you will make a bonehead mistake like me.

 

You should elaborate to help others out, if you figured out your error Dyllan - I'm sure it would be appreciated by some folks here, for sure! Thanks!!!

 

When you take the pen out of the box do not unscrew anything, look at the arrows on the pen so you don't open backwards.
The Pen is double sided and unscrews from both ends. The one end is a base coat and the other is the actual touch up paint. The one side has a bulb like shape, your touch up paint which I thought was the base coat and applied it first (my truck is white so the base coat and touch up paint threw me off). I made the mistake of opening it like a bottle of coke and spilled most of it out. The applicator for the touch up paint will be a square like sponge at the tip of a stick which actually works way better than a brush. The other side is the base coat which gives you two options, a brush or a push in needle. This stuff dries quick and i haven't mastered applying it in small enough doses where it doesn't look like a big drop on the paint. If you keep trying to spread it you will actually give it a rough appearance and it won't look right so you have to try and give it just enough where it spreads out on its own and doesn't get too thick. Another part of the pen that is the chalk like scraper to remove loose paint and metal. I used this to remove the bad paint job I did and it works great. Try to scratch literally right on the area that you want to touch up in order to avoid damaging the surrounding paint. Overall not a bad system. I am OCD with this stuff so once I get it right I will post pics. THE MAIN THING I WANTED TO EMPHASIZE IT TO NOT OPEN IT BACKWARDS. My friend who made the same mistake told me about it and I still did it.

 

I gouged the crap out of my drivers side passenger door getting my fat *** and CCW in the truck one day. $800 quote from the body guy so...hours of youtube and several products from Amazon later, I learned this:

- Duplicolor and the Ford touch up are almost identical and both were a good match for my magnetic paint. I like the Duplicolor better.
- Prep is critical. You have to take the hard edges off the scratch before you fill. I used 1000 grit wet dry to get it "U" shaped with flat edges using a thin sanding block.
- Forget the brush in the kit. Buy a small artists brush and cut off most of the bristles and use that to add several thin layers of color.
- When the paint is close to level, wet sand to 2000k to make it flat again. Use a little block, not your finger, about 1/4" wide
- Add the clear with a fat, quality art brush, a little wider than the scratch. For me this changed the color of the fill paint dramatically. It went from being "close" to almost exact.
- Wet sand again with 2K or better LIGHTLY! Then polish, then wax.
It took me about 10 tries to get to where I wasn't ashamed of it but the prep is the key if you want it to look normal. I can still find mine if I look for it but it also didn't cost me $800. For the OP, the edges of the scratch and the flatness of your repair will change the color. The depth of the clear has a lot to do with the metallic color blending in. I found that if the clear wasn't thick enough, it didn't blend.

 

impressive

 

Has anyone tried to use an airbrush to fix these type of scratches? I saw a guy on a used car lot one day airbrushing the rock chips on the hoods of some of their cars.

 

I have the Ford pen ($16), but also bought the bottled paint from Scratches Happen on Amazon; you get twice as much paint & clearcoat and a set of brushes, $27. I have not had to use it, but tested the color and it is a match after clear coat. I've used the pen on previous cars and have a hard time with it. I think the bottle and brush might work better.