How do I level touch-up paint?

[guy48065]

I bought a used car from the "scratch & dent" section.
I recently got a touch-up paint pen to fill some of the more obvious scratches & chips.
This "pen" is the kind with a pointed scrubber tip, hard-tip paint pen, small color brush, and a small foam applicator of clear coat.

On hairline scratches it overflows the scratch and leaves a wide trail whether using the hard tip or brush. On vertical panels it's hard to keep the paint from running.
I tried a clay bar which helped a little but it doesn't take the paint down to level with the original paint.

What's the trick?

[glen e]

Use a toothpick to lay it in the scratch then wait 30 to 60 days so it cures nice and hard. Then sand it flat with some 3000 grit wet/ dry paper, then polish and seal.

[guy48065]

How risky is it to sand a repair to CC paint?

I'll keep your advice in mind to avoid using the applicators in the touch-up pen next time--but my question was how to correct the paint "snail trails" I currently have.

[Rsurfer]

How risky is it to sand a repair to CC paint?

I'll keep your advice in mind to avoid using the applicators in the touch-up pen next time--but my question was how to correct the paint "snail trails" I currently have.

In the case of your photo..tape both sides of the scratch and carefully block sand. Start with 1000g remove tape and feather in with 2000g.

On smaller chips, I like to use a pencil eraser using punched out sandpaper glued to the head of the eraser. Makes for surgical sanding without sanding the surrounding area.

[guy48065]

It was a beautiful day today so I was sprucing up my car before your reply Rsurfer.
I'm a woodworker and old fashioned tools for leveling the surface prior to final finish are a cabinet scraper and card scrapers. Both are held nearly vertical and the cutter is flexed concave very slightly. As they are pulled or pushed they take a fine wispy shaving off the wood and leaves a nicer surface than sandpaper. Well I used a single-edge razor blade like that to shave the paint line down to the clear coat. The blade was held angled back, not forward where it could dig in, and I went slowly and took very light passes. The CC is very hard and the lacquer paint was relatively much softer so the blade didn't mark the CC as it scraped the paint down level..

Next I'll apply a couple layers of CC and then wet sand, polish & seal. I might try the eraser tip--that's clever!