Touch-up paint question

Touch Up Paint

I have a 1992 Toyota Celica with almond beige pearl color. I purchased a touch-up paint to cover small fender spots that were put there by someone spilling a liquid (or paint) on the fender. I suspect it was paint, or similar, since I could not remove the spots. Since the car’s color has faded, is there something I could add to the touch paint to lighten its color. The touch-up paint is darker than the car’s paint.

Thanks,
Jerry

 

That's the nature of paint. You probably need to hit a paint store and let them mix up a color for you which matches your current paint, not what it had when it left the factory.

That or paint the whole car.

 

I agree! A good color mix/match guy can come closer to matching the existing color although since faded paint is seldom uniform in color, it won't be perfect. Are you trying to paint the entire fender or just a portion?

 

Thanks to all for your comments. The area of where the defects are amounts to about a half dozen 1/8 inch circles and one or two small streaks. So, painting the whole fender to match seems not the best economical choice. I only want to cover the defective spots. And, finding a good independent car painter to blend/match is probably not worth the cost or time for such a small area.

So, I was wondering what the professional car painters add to an existing paint to lighten it. I thought if what they add is something I could purchase, I could try to blend it myself.

Jerry

 

What kind of touch up paint did you buy? is it an aerosol can or a quart can that you can mix up? You can't mix anything into an aerosol can although there are some automotive paint stores that will custom mix paint and put it in an aerosol can.

To lighten up paint [any type] you mix in some lighter paint [maybe white, maybe not] that is of the same base. Occasionally you can lighten paint by adding colorant although that has limits.

You might want to post a pic or two of the fender. Generally you can't just spot spray any portion of the body and expect it to look good. Usually it's best to paint an entire piece or section defined by body lines.

 

I decided to take my car to a professional car repair service and get their comments. There is another area of the car that could use a spot paint job and maybe the two jobs will be worth the cost and effort.

Thanks for the help.

Jerry

 

You could try rubbing compound and with any luck will remove the offending marks without a major impact on the original color.

 

Before you go and spend $$ be advised that spilled liquid is only TOP LAYER of the clear coat deep. That said, all you need to do is to buy $6 worth wet or dry sand paper kit, get some water, and sand spots off. Start with 1200 grit, and move all the way into 3 000 grit. Make sure to use one of them rubber sand paper holders as fingers will not provide smooth, even surface. Be gentle, you can easily go through clear coat.
But that's the simple and cheap fix. Back at my old place, we were next to propane store. One day they decided to re-paint all of their tanks on a windy day, that blew cloud of white paint onto all cars parked in front of my office.
Owners talked to propane place and they hired a guy to remove paint stains. That's exactly what he did.

 

First, I did try a rubbing compound and also using bug spray to remove; even tried turpentine and 0000 steel wool. Anyway, took it to a body shop and learned a new twist. The body shop did remove the touch up paint and thought I might have had some sort of acid on the fender. And to fix the spots the whole fender would need painted.

And now the twist. It turns out all body shops now use a water base paint. The paint on my car is solvent base. So, it would be difficult to match the water base to the solvent base. They said they could possibly order in some solvent base paint and give it a try. However, the conversation seem to go to the fact, matching the fender to the original color may not be easy. I could sense they thought for as small as the spots were, I should forget it, which is what I will probably do.

The enclosed picture is the best I could do to show the spots. Some spots were also located on the front bumper and elsewhere on the fender. Look in bottom right; you may need to magnify to see better.

Jerry

 

Sounds like someone liked you and spilled some brake fluid onto your car.
Does finger nail catch on those stains?

 

I’m trying to remember, but I think when I first found the spots I could feel a little material where I would have been able to catch a nail on the edge. However, now with all the rubbing that has been done on the spots, they are now smooth with no edges to them.

Jerry

 

Personally, I'd have tried what I said. I fixed many SCRATCHES not just stains with it. But to each of his own. It can be quite damaging to the paint with one wrong move. Patience is the key. And a lot of water.