New Paint, Dumb Mistake!

**Blackthorn One** · 05-18-2009, 03:32 PM

Paint needs a month or two to cure. It's best not to put anything on it until then. Has anyone tried using clear touch up paint and filled in scratches with it, and then sanded them flush with the rest of the car to blend it? I'm thinking that might work for a lot of scratch repair, rather than sanding down ALL of the paint in an area just to remove the appearance of the scratch. After all, only a small amount of paint is missing, so why not fill it, as long as it will blend?

**2hotford** · 05-18-2009, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by Blackthornone

Paint needs a month or two to cure. It's best not to put anything on it until then. Has anyone tried using clear touch up paint and filled in scratches with it, and then sanded them flush with the rest of the car to blend it? I'm thinking that might work for a lot of scratch repair, rather than sanding down ALL of the paint in an area just to remove the appearance of the scratch. After all, only a small amount of paint is missing, so why not fill it, as long as it will blend?

Good point. As long as a wax or sealant is not used however, you are good to go until it cures. Meguiar's makes a product, M80 Speed Glaze which contains a paintable polymer and a cleaner. So it will help to protect that paint a little while the paint out gases and cures properly.

Tim

**2hotford** · 05-18-2009, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by teamm_ap1

I wet sanded the portion of the smudge with a small block. The clear has three coats.

I still encourage you to try and remove it first using a cleaner polish before turning to wet sanding or feather sanding. You may be surprised how easily the marring comes off of fresh paint.

Another thing to consider is if you wet sand one spot, then when it is leveled it will show up like a sore thumb compared to the other paint which will have a slight orange peel to it. In other words, it will stand out. Like I said, there is a lot more to wet sanding than most realize and it to do it right is an art in itself.

Tim

**teamm_ap1** · 05-18-2009, 09:23 PM

Tim, thank you for the advise. I will go ahead and try your method before proceeding to wet sand and polish since my order won't be here until next week. Until then, I'll probably go to a professional detail shop for advice since it's very difficult to examine the smudge with my horrible pictures. I will update this thread when I find a fix.