Car Touch Up Paint:
How to Tell if You Really Need It
Car touch up paint is often believed to be the “only” solution for fixing scratches. But you may be surprised to learn that 80-90% of car scratches do NOT need touch up paint. With a simple technique and the right tool, you can remove those scratches entirely, and forever, without ever needing extra paint.
So, how can you tell if you’ll need car touch up paint? Before you open your wallet, you’ll want to investigate the scratch carefully to see how bad it is. You don’t need an expert for this. By simply looking at and feeling the scratch, you’ll be able to tell how deep it is and whether you’ll need touch up paint.
If you discover that you do need car touch up paint, don’t worry. We’ll show you a complete scratch removal kit that has all the tools and paint you need to fix the problem quickly and easily.
How to Tell if You Need Car Touch Up Paint
Around 1990, nearly all car manufacturers switched to a “two-stage” car finish: primer, then the base color, then a clear coat of hard urethane on top. Before 1990, cars used only a single-stage lacquer which was much less durable and needed a lot of care to maintain.
The vast majority of scratches found on cars are in the top clear coat. The scratch shows up white because the clear coat reflects light. In fact, this is very similar to the way that diamonds reflect light. The scratch may be an eye-sore, but chances are it’s not as bad as you think and won’t be difficult to remove.
Here’s a simple way you can determine what kind of scratch you have and what you’ll need to fix it.
➜ Pull your fingernail across the scratch.
Can you feel it? If not, then the scratch is definitely in the clear coat. That means you should be able to fix it easily with an effective polish and the right technique. For most clear coats, this process includes cleaning and inspecting the area thoroughly, removing the scratch with a polish, enhancing the luster of the paint with a glaze and then sealing it with a professional polymer paint sealant. If you don’t feel the scratch, then you should NOT need car touch up paint to remove it.
➜ Can you feel the scratch, but only slightly?
If you can barely feel the scratch, then this is probably a “borderline” scratch. In most cases, this too will not require car touch up paint to fix. However, if you discover that polish alone isn’t enough to remove the scratch, then you may need to remove a little bit more of the clear coat. This can be done with wet sand and a special scratch-removal sponge. Typically, the entire process will involve: inspecting the scratch, wet sanding, polishing, glazing and sealing.
➜ Can you definitely feel an obvious scrape, chip or gouge?
This is where the car touch up paint will be needed. If the scratch is noticeably deep, you will need to add the touch up paint in between polishing steps to completely eliminate the scratch and get your car looking like new again.
IMPORTANT: Before you even touch your car with polish, wet sand, or paint, make sure you are using all the right materials and techniques. One mistake could make your scratch 10 times worse.
The Ultimate Car Scratch Remover System has everything you need to eliminate your scratch with zero guesswork. It comes with a true, professional formula that you won’t find in stores (nothing like those cheap, ineffective shelf products), plus easy-to-follow online videos that show you exactly what to do.