Can it be done? (by me, in my driveway)

The PO of my car tried to touch-up some scratches near the door handle and didn't do a very good job. The paint color is a poor match, and the surface is very uneven; he just globbed it on there.

Anything I can do at this point, short of getting the panel re-sprayed? Like I said, it's near the driver's door handle, so it bugs me each and every time I get in the car.

Thanks

 

I'd try LANGKA first

according to their FAQ page

Q. Will the Blob Eliminator work on the touch up paint I put on my car some time ago? A. It depends on how long the "old" touch up paint has been on the vehicle. The BlobEliminator is only "guaranteed" to work on newly applied touch up paint as in our directions. However, it will most likely work on old touch up paint, just no guarantees. You'll just need to be sure the area is very clean since you will need to rub longer and use plenty of The BlobEliminator if you are going to attempt removing this old touch up paint.

I've used it on old t/u (applied b4 I discovered the product) with success - not 100% but better then b4 I started. http://www.langka.com/index.php

If not going that way ... or as a next try ... I'd very very very carefully wet sand with 1000 grit. Like BBQ - slow and low is the recommendation here - many many passes with very very light pressure. With 1000 you will be able to polish out the scratch with a decent polishing compound then wax the heck out of it to restore the finish. (I'd probably finish with a wet 2000 then polish but I'm a bit excessive at times)

clean / change the paper often as it will fill up fast.

If contemplating a re-spray you've got little to loose here besides cost of materials and your time versus the experienced gained.

 

depending on how fresh the touch up is, you can take some scratch-x and foam appliator and remove it pretty easily.

if the touchup is completely cured it can be removed but you're going to need to sand it off. i'd use a 2000grit sanding block but make sure you know wat you're doing cause it can damage the rest of your surrounding paint if done incorrectly.

 

a sanding block is HUGE as compared to the area you seem to be concerned with.

A piece of 2000 wrapped around one finger would be my reference . . .

or a very very fine emory board - yes for sanding finger nails. small . . . flexible . . . .

keep the sanding to where you have a problem . . . . and I'd be WET sanding with lots of water

 

or a soft ragged dipped in laquer thinner will remove the touch paint easily.


Mark

 

If you must sand ..... I use 1500 or 2000 grit 3M wet/dry paper (usually wet with a spray bottle). Use a 1/4 inch paper punch to punch out a "circle" and then glue it to a new pencils' eraser end with a dab of CA. THIS is what I use for fine work. You can work the eraser to a wedge and do the sme trick for a different sanding shape. I use an eye loop magnifier on the area while working with the new sanding tool.

 

My suggestion for what it's worth is to have him start off with 2500 or 3000. I think 1500 is waay too coarse for someone that has never wetsanded before. It'll be hard for him to remove the scratches from the wetsand paper.

Just a suggestioin...


Mark

 

+1 !!

This is what I used to fix a Volvo where the previous owner had smeared on touchup all over. Langka removed the old touchup easily despite it being on for over a year, and I determined that 80% of the damage was just transfer that removed easily. The rest was wetsanded and compounded.

I'm not a huge fan of Langka for blob removal, but I do use it for this situation, to remove old paint easily.

Here's what the paint looked like that I removed..pretty horrible. Unfortunately I didn't take any afters.