Fixed my key mark!
 

Well, as most know I got my car keyed pretty bad earlier this year. The mark is all the way to the metal and I've been told numerous times the whole door would have to be repainted.

Being the poor college kid I am, I decided to try and touch it up and have that as a temporary fix until I can get the job done professionally. I took touch up paint to it, but that didnt turn out too hot.

I talked to my dad and grandpa (who both painted cars for a living when they were younger) and they said mask it off, wet sand it with 800 grit, paint it, wet sand, paint it, wet sand, then take rubbing compound to it.

Well I've sanded it once so far and its nice and smooth, and just put another layer of touch up paint on it. I've been taking pictures the whole time and I'm excited to see how it will turn out.

Heres the key mark before messing with it:

http://www.swmmotors.com/images/scratch.jpg

Just started and put a second layer of touch up paint on it after i wet sanded it a little with 800 grit

http://www.swmmotors.com/images/wetsand.jpg

Done with the sanding

http://www.swmmotors.com/images/wetsand2.jpg

Just started with the rubbing compound

http://www.swmmotors.com/images/wetsand3.jpg

and then!

To whoever keyed my car:

Thanks, I learned how to fix a deep scratch. I owe ya one!

:punk:

http://www.swmmotors.com/images/wetsand4.jpg

nice... good job... i hope ya find that :censored: and beat their ass

nice work man! what kind of touch up paint did you use? brush? spray? something else?

I used my motorcraft touchup paint I got from Ford when I got the car. It has a small brush with it.

Thanks guys!

Damn good job!!!

Same stuff I used once

Damn, you got skills. Wish I knew how to do the whole wetsand thing. My car needs lots of love.

I am going to practice on my moms CRV, but it really doesn't look like that hard of a job to do with a little patience. GREAT WORK on it BTW.

Holy smokes, good job!!!! Question for ya (or your relatives who have the experience) How, or what, is the correct way to fix chips in paint? I want to fill in the chips, but how do ya do it so it doesn't look like ya have a big clump of paint. should I just get a pinstriping brush and do little dabs as possible, let it dry, then do it again. Anyone???????

subscribing.... I have a good size chip on my hood I've been struggling with

Heres the thing i hate it when people tell you you have to get your hold panel and such repainted with a scratch because you dont!!. Its all about your prep work. You need to feather out all the layers then they shoot primer sand it, base coat, clear coat then they block sand the area to make it a even area and you can never tell the difference. As for your little dents the same thing will apply. They make primers that are thick enough to fill little chips and sometimes dents. You should be able to have it done for a little bit of nothing. Here is the thing though if your car has had alot of sun light exposure you'll have to get your paint matched up at a automotive paint store.

Someone asked for a close up on another board. Dont let this picture fool you, it is STILL there and obvious if you are close to it. I am going to re sand it and re paint it probably 2 more times and hope for near perfect results

With that being said, heres a close up. Its still there, but its not really visible and definitely not visible at certain angles anymore. Can you see it? :D :D :D

http://www.swmmotors.com/images/wetsand5.jpg

I'm no professional and I know the way I did the scratch isnt the correct way, but it worked pretty well for me.

As for a rock chip, I would probably do exactly the same way as I did the scratch. Mask it off, and put some touch up paint on it. Of course it will be all clumped up and bubbly but then take the sand paper to it and wet sand it LIGHTLY until its smooth, re do the process.

Take off the masking tape and go at it with the rubbing compound. Polish it, and wax it and it should be as good as new.

2 things I was afraid of while doing this, and maybe someone on here can help me:

1) Obviously my clear coat is now gone in that section isnt it? Is there some type of clear coat I can buy or should I just polish it and wax it?

2) I was really paranoid about the wet sanding and rubbing compound not taking it out, so if someone else attempts this, BE CAREFUL with the sanding... dont do it too hard. Doing it a few more times than normal is better than not being able to get it shiny again!

Yes the clear is now covered up. Depending on how deep you sanded it might still be there just covered up by the touch up now. The only thing about touch up is no matter who touches it up you can always tell where its been touched up. It looks good for a first timeer.

I was afraid of that, but like I said in the beginning this is a temporary fix and a good chance for me to learn what i'm doing.. sort of.

It will probably stay like this for a while, and then when some money falls into my hands I'll go get it professionaly done.

Dang I need to do somethin like this, cuz I got keyed a little too(whats w/ people keying mustangs??) too bad i suck at this kinda stuff and would screw it up. So how error-proof is the method you did?

If you happened to glob up the paint you could just sand it down again. As long as your not getting judged at a car show the normal eye normally wont be able to see any touch up work.

I think I am going to try this too. My car got keyed THE DAY AFTER I BROUGHT IT HOME!

So to wet sand...what grit paper, how exactly do i do it? Just wet the sand paper, what? never done it before.

I got a little bowl of warm water, and 800 grit wet/dry sand paper and just soaked the sandpaper in the water, got it nice and wet, and lightly scratched away until the touch up paint was flat and not clumped up. I did this a few times and then took rubbing compound to it.

The only thing I was worried about the whole time was sanding it too much and the rubbing compound not getting it clear again.

Deffintly agree with the 800, but i want you to try something else if you do it again. I want you to block sand that little are with like 1800 or a real fine sand paper. If you can get the surface to be nice and even you could shoot some clear in the area sand it with 1800 again and it might be really hard to notice. I've never tried it, but it makes since.

I'll run and get some more sand paper sunday and attempt it and see what happens

Thanks for the advice :clap:

when you get your color built up nice and smooth, see if you can go to a body shop and ask them for just a little bit of clear,"just a alcohol bottle cap full is plenty" then what I would do is do the same thing your doing with the paint,get you a swordtail brush "pinstriping brush" and run it down the length of the scratch, let dry and wetsand just like your doing

your doing great, we painters charge lots of money for what your doing :punk:

watch out going that high with your sandpaper, you will make the area look more smoother then the rest of the car, meaning you will take the factory orange peel out, and end up having to wetsand the whole car to get it to look as smooth as the area you fixed "not that thats a bad thing, just alot of work, and spraying clear over 1800 grit sand scratches = runs

I would stick with 800, or 1000 on a factory finish

to keep from sanding so much on the panel, when your paint and clear get built up along the scratch line, a good tool to use to shave that down is a razor blade, take a razor blade put a piece of tape on both sides of the blade to protect the corners from digging into the paint, then take the razor blade and lightly shave the paint or clear down along the scratch...... heres a picture of what i mean with the blade


Good Luck