touch up paint application

[88Nightmare]

whats the best way for applying touch up paint without there being blotches? A lot of times I see people who put touch up paint on their cars and you can see spots clearly showing where it had been applied. whats the best way to blend it with the factory paint job? I thought I recall someone saying after it completely dries, wetsand it with 1000 grit paper, then again with 1500 or 2000 grit paper, then some rubbing compound and then wax. Any tips or suggestions?

[xxsn0blindxx]

If it is a chip that you're filling, carefully sand the edges of the chip to take the sharpness off. I find that using the corner of a piece of 800 grit folded over several times diagonally works well. I have also heard of cutting a small dot of sand paper and gluing it to a pencil eraser works well. Then clean thouroughly with rubbing alcohol to remove dirt and wax. Carefully apply thin layers of paint allowing to to dry completely between coats. Use a tooth pick or fine tip artist brush to apply the paint. The brush that comes in the touch up bottle globs it on too heavilly. Once you have built up the paint to just above the level of the original paint, carefully use 1000 grit paper to smoth it down and then 2000 to reduce the sanding marks. Then use multiple grades of rubbing and polishing compounds to polish the sanded area back to a mirror finish. You can also use a clear coat touch up paint as your last paint step before sanding. This isn't as necessary for solid colors, but may make the repair less noticable on metallic finishes. One piece of advice is to try to kepp your sanding strokes small to minimize the area that needs to be polished.

[88Nightmare]

when I am sanding, should I do dry or wet sanding?

and it is actually two pretty deep scrapes I am covering up.

[kornholio788]

Anything above 400 grit I always wet sand.

[xxsn0blindxx]

Yes definitely wet sand and keep a container of water to dip in and wash off the paper periodically. If you can see a distinct layer of paint in the scratch, like it chipped/scratched then smoothing out somewhat before applying paint may help, but if it is a pretty clean line you can skip the pre-sanding. The biggest thing is patience. You won't get it finished in a day with all the drying time in between coats, but taking your time will result in a better end product. Laying thin coats and building up slowly is the key so that you can level it out with the surface.