I have a 2016 Ford F-150, 2.7 Ecoboost in a Blue Flame Metallic color. I recently had issues with small rock chips on the front from a road trip I took. Well, I am not versed in vehicle painting, but I can usually look something up on Youtube or this site and figure it out. Long story short, I ordered touch-up paint and clear coat along with 2000-3000 grit sandpaper and went to town. I wet sanded the affected areas, and applied the touch up paint and clear coat and was happy with most of the minor repairs. Well, I screwed up on a spot that was on the driver's side, near the headlight and sanded it too much. It was a very small raised area where a small rock had apparently hit my truck and by the time I was done, I had a spot about an inch across. I will try to attach a photo. I gave up trying to repair the spot myself and figured I would get a couple of estimates, have it done by a professional for around $150.00 and be done with it. Both estimates came in around $400.00, since according to both of the body shops, the entire fender has to be painted with clear coat after the spot is painted. My understanding is that the clear coat can't be "feathered" into the rest of the fender without it being obvious. I did a little research and learned that I should have applied "etching primer" to the spot since it is aluminum. The etching primer gives the paint something to adhere to, same as sanding would do, and will make the top coat smoother. I have applied the touch up paint at least a dozen times, using toothpicks, small brushes, small paint applicators, and even put on hospital latex gloves and used my finger to apply the paint (this actually looked the best out of all of the attempts), but it still wasn't acceptable to me in the end. I'm agitated at my ignorant self for making a simple little speck on my truck this big unsightly area now, with most of it being down to bare metal. I am thinking about using some spray can etching primer (after masking off, let it dry, then apply the paint and clear coat and see how that looks. I probably should have just put the speck of paint in the tiny divot caused by the rock and been done with it, but it was raised around the edges some due to the rock pushing it out I guess and I couldn't live with it. Any suggestions or comments on what to do with the future paint issues? (Other than the obvious, "leave it alone and let someone take care of it that knows what they are doing" comment}.

 

I just clean the area with denatured alcohol. Then I usually put a few drops of paint on some tin foil or a paper plate. I then use a straight pin as a brush. I just apply one drop at a time slowly filling the void.

 

May or may not be of help but my wife bought a touch up pen for her 2017 and used it along the outer edge of the driver door. Alcohol whipe and applied the paint pen. Allowed to dry and then used the clearcoat pen. Black exterior and less than obvious spot i guess. I cant tell though.

 

I've never had good luck making it not obvious - I used the brush built into the bottle and it always seems to apply too much no matter how careful I am. Using foil or a paper plate and a straight pin does sound like a great idea.

That said I've always just been worried about stopping corrosion and I'm not super worried about it being immaculate.

Ultimately I think so long as you clean it good and get the paint on there soon after the damage you should be fine. You don't want to give corrosion a time to get in there.

 

I've been using this Langka - Paint Chip Repair for 20 years. It really works well. It takes awhile to get it properly finished, but you can't tell where the chip was. I had a Ruby Red Mustang (that paint is a B***H to touch up). You couldn't tell where the chip was when it was completed with Langka.

 

Sort of a related topic, but not paint chips per se.

We had to navigate a narrow driveway, and going around a corner, I had to make a choice about taking off the rear quarter panel of a Maserati, or scrape some shrubs on the other side.

I ended up with several very light scratches from the shrub. Not into the color, but it did make it through the clear coat. I've tried polishing with very light polish, but they scratches remain. Any suggestions on how to work these out? Is it possible to go over the areas with a little clear coat, and then polish them some more?

Do I need a body shop?

 

I've used this -> https://www.turtlewax.com/our-produc...tch-repair-kit Made by turtle wax to take out most of the Arizona pin stripping we get when offroading. It cleaned up 99% of it.

 

GlueGuy: this sounds like just clearcoat scratches and I have become an expert at getting those out, since I am so ****. Just wetsand the area of the scratches with 2500-3000 grit sandpaper, making sure you use a sanding sponge/block behind the sandpaper so you don't apply uneven pressure with your fingers. Wet it good, sand some, dry off and it should dry to a haze (it will look very faded). after you can't see the scratches in the repair, you just put several coats of polish on it and it will come back to life. The whole principal here is that it will get rid of the clearcoat scratches fairly easily. You just need to keep it wet while sanding, and don't sand too much like I did. You can watch Youtube videos of wetsanding clearcoat scratches, it should give you the idea.

 

For sure it is just in the clearcoat. In the past I have used Perma Plate PaintGuard renewer for these kinds of scratches, but for whatever reason, it has not worked on these scratches (yet).