Can this be touched up?

**JPW** · 06-05-2020, 05:50 PM

I have a daily driver 2013 Lincoln MKS Ecoboost with 130,000 miles. It is a great car and overall the paint is still almost perfect all the way around. However, at around 20,000 miles I must have hit something strange on the road. I never even heard it, but eventually noticed this rectangular speckled chipped area in my paint on the front bumper. Over time the chips have expanded to become much larger and very noticeable.

I thought about just having it painted. The one estimate I received, they wanted to paint the whole bumper for $575.00. I'm just not sure I want to spend that much since I might be selling this car in another 25,000 - 40,000 miles, which goes pretty quick here in Houston, TX. However, this one flaw really takes away from the look of the whole car so I would like to do something. I don't feel that it needs to be perfect since the front bumper has its own number of imperfections just over time like little rock chips here and there.

So I've thought about trying to touch it up myself, but I've never done paint work before. From what I've seen on YouTube, the process seems somewhat similar to headlight restorations, which I have done before. Basically, I think you wet sand moving up to finer grits of sandpaper, cleaning with isopropyl alcohol in between each sanding, prime, paint with multiple coats, and then add a clear coat. I think you might need to polish or use rubbing compound thereafter to get it to blend ok.

Anyway, am a crazy to pursue this? I've seen these touch-up paints that actually come in spray cans so it seems like it might be doable, but again, I don't have any experience with this. I wouldn't want the end result to be worse than what I have now. That would essentially force me to repaint the whole bumper and be costly.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Can this be touched up?-you_doodle-_2020-06-05t21_09_15z-jpg

Can this be touched up?-you_doodle-_2020-06-05t21_07_25z-jpg

**Mike Hoekstra** · 06-05-2020, 07:10 PM

You can go to Touch Up Paint and repair | AutomotiveTouchup They have color code match product, videos, and tutorials for using the product. The fast easy way would be to spray the whole area with the color, cover it with clear, and then blend the clear out. You may have to use a body filler to smooth out the chips first. The long tedious process would be to tackle each individual chip with color and clear coat, block sand it, and buff it out. It's more a matter of comfort level for the task. Here is a link to how I fixed the rust spots on our 10 year old Highlander which our daughter now drives.

Rust repair and touch up

I would agree that having the entire bumper painted is the ultimate way to go and make it perfect. Without repainting it, just know going in that it won't be perfect and while it won't be perfect, it can be made to look 300% better.

**JPW** · 03-05-2021, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by Spikey Mike

You can go to Touch Up Paint and repair | AutomotiveTouchup They have color code match product, videos, and tutorials for using the product. The fast easy way would be to spray the whole area with the color, cover it with clear, and then blend the clear out. You may have to use a body filler to smooth out the chips first. The long tedious process would be to tackle each individual chip with color and clear coat, block sand it, and buff it out. It's more a matter of comfort level for the task. Here is a link to how I fixed the rust spots on our 10 year old Highlander which our daughter now drives.

Rust repair and touch up

I would agree that having the entire bumper painted is the ultimate way to go and make it perfect. Without repainting it, just know going in that it won't be perfect and while it won't be perfect, it can be made to look 300% better.

Thanks for this. I took your advice and bought a spray can of the paint and clear coat some time ago, but I'm only getting around the courage to do this now.

So being that I've never done this before, I'm opting for the easier approach. I'm well aware it won't look perfect, but at 50 feet it will certainly look a whole lot better than it does. Any specifics on how I might approach this? My basic thought is:

Completely clean the area and mask it off. Wait for it to be completely dry.
I guess with no sanding or anything apply the paint. This spray would obviously get on some good paint, but also fill in the chips.
Wait, maybe 24 hours for it to dry?
Come back with the clear coat. By blending it do you mean just going heavier with spray where the chips are and lighter toward the outside?

Thanks again for the help.

**2black1s** · 03-05-2021, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by JPW

Thanks for this. I took your advice and bought a spray can of the paint and clear coat some time ago, but I'm only getting around the courage to do this now.

So being that I've never done this before, I'm opting for the easier approach. I'm well aware it won't look perfect, but at 50 feet it will certainly look a whole lot better than it does. Any specifics on how I might approach this? My basic thought is:

Completely clean the area and mask it off. Wait for it to be completely dry.
I guess with no sanding or anything apply the paint. This spray would obviously get on some good paint, but also fill in the chips.
Wait, maybe 24 hours for it to dry?
Come back with the clear coat. By blending it do you mean just going heavier with spray where the chips are and lighter toward the outside?

Thanks again for the help.

That is not going to work... If you don't do any sanding the new paint will flake, chip, peel off in a very short time. Especially if the paint you bought is lacquer, and that is most likely the case.

Then when you start spraying paint on there, the repair area is going to be much larger than the defective area is now - And it will never "blend" decently so you'll end up with a real eyesore when you're done.

Unless you splurge and do the entire bumper I would suggest simply touching up the chips (lack of a better description) with a fine artist brush using care to keep the touch up paint within the confines of the existing chips. Doing so will result in a repair area the same size as what you currently see and give you what I think you're looking for... looking black from 10 or 20 feet.

Any way you do this, you are pushing the limits of what can be "touched up".

**JDGolden** · 03-05-2021, 03:53 PM

My advice is either pay up for the full repaint of the bumper, or leave it as is and chalk it up to being a daily driver that you soon plan to get rid of.

**barry2021** · 03-06-2021, 05:44 PM

Surely they can spray half the bumper. With the position of the registration plate, blending would not be an issue.

**psnt1ol** · 03-06-2021, 11:54 PM

The cost involved in spraying half the bumper vs the entire bumper wont be that much of a price difference. Spraying the entire bumper will look better in the long run.

OP was looking for a lower cost way of dealing with this and I am not sure there is one. if you think a touch up paint blob looks bad... picture one that is almost half the size of the license plate. it would drive you nuts. Another way of dealing with this is to wrap the bumper with a gloss black vinyl but then the materials would cost XXX. If you are willing to do that then a respray is within the ballpark.

**Coatingsarecrack** · 03-07-2021, 12:59 AM

Same question guys. Thinking about trading it in... can it be touched up?

I kid. If not wanting to go crazy go to macco. Buddy had his bumper resprayed their for about $300 couple years ago. Then wet sand and polish yourself.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**psnt1ol** · 03-07-2021, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by Coatingsarecrack

Same question guys. Thinking about trading it in... can it be touched up?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Of course it can.... A bottle of NuFinnish plus several rolls of duct tape and you are good to go. LOL

**barry2021** · 03-07-2021, 07:05 AM

$575 seems a lot for a bumper respray. In Ireland, where the cost of living would be higher, you would expect to pay about $420- $450. I have worked in the motor trade for over 25 years including some time as a crash repair assessor. The cost of doing half a bumper would be 60-65% of a full bumper respray. The only downside is once done, the other side won't look so nice.

I would recommend against doing a touch-up as it will usually look worse if you are not experienced at doing this. Get a black sharpie pen and colour the defects (not recommending as a permanent repair..lol) as this will give you an idea of how a touch-up will look if you are not going to sand down the area. If you are going to attempt to repair the damage, fill and sand you will be painting a much larger area. You will need to scotch and clear coat half the bumper.

Best option if you don't want to spend so much money is it leave as it is or find a mobile smart repairer.