So after accumulating a few rock chips, I finally decided to use the Dark Silver touch up paint I bought in November. Upon first filling in the chips I noticed that the touch up was a quite a bit darker than the DS from the factory. I figured that this was just the way it looked wet and waited for the stuff to dry before applying the clear coat. When I checked on it I found that the color of the touch up was still dark and now dry. I didn't apply the clear coat because I am afraid that it will prevent me from fixing the color mismatch.

My questions are...has anyone else used the DS touch up paint? If so, was adding the clear coat necessary to lighten the DS paint? Did I get mislabelled paint? What do I do now?

I'll try to get some pics tomorrow and maybe then I'll be able to see if the touch up is DS, BRG, or Astro Black

Thanks in advance for any help

Oh yeah I am using the OEM touch up paint and clear coat.

<~Confused Aero

 

This is common, so no need to worry about a mistake. The touch up paint is darker probably due t some sun-fade of the original paint.

 

I have the opposite problem. My LY MC had the bonnet repainted at some point before I became the owner. The bonnet is a small amount darker than the rest of the car (not noticeable unless looking for it). When I went to fill in the chips, the touch up paint was lighter than the hood. That was when I noticed that the touch up paint matched the rest of the car, but not the bonnet.

 

metallics are hard to match because the flakes need to be positioned the
same way to get the same color... usually it is not possible with touch up
paint. you can, however, get the best out of the touch up if you put
a dab in a plastic cup (yogurt cup), then use a toothpick with the tip tapped
flat, and pick and choose the part of that dab with the closest color match
to your paint. you can play with the metallics on the car for 10-12seconds
before the paint starts to get too thick. it's really trial and error.

if error, just wipe off with a cloth and try again. the thin excess that
dries around your touchup from you wiping it will come off when you
use some ScratchX or any fine polish at the end.

if you add clear it will not change the color. it will just make it glossy.

i tend to just mix 50/50 of the gloss into the touchup and do a one-time
app.

 

I have used it on a two month old car. No sun fading. It does go on darker then it should. Clear coat does not help. I have found the the paint seems to separate it's colors almost immediately on the supplied brush. I instead used the corner of a paper towel rolled or twisted to a point and dabbed a bit of paint on it and transferred it to a small chip and gotten a perfect color match that way. For small chips, this method is working for me.

 

Interesting - the DS touch-up paint I have is much lighter than the paint on the car.

For my Honda Gold Wing motorcycle (Candy Orange metallic) I have touch-up paint pens from Color-rite. There's a metallic base coat, a color translucent top coat and then a clear coat. This matches much better than the dealer touch-up paint. This may be a good option for the MINI.

Another choice to consider is paint from www.paintscratch.com.