Hair scratch repair?

Padocarr

I would be grateful if someone could advise me on how to repair a 300mm length scratch along the side of our car. The brake handle on a childs bike caused it.

The car is an 2006 Honda Accord, graphite in colour.

Description of scratch:
Length approx. 300mm
Its of a hairline width and depth.
Metallic paint removed, with white layer below now visible.


I have phoned Honda to order the touch up, to the exact colour.

Any help would be very much appreciated, unfortunately we only had the car less than a week when this happened, so I would like to repair it properly myself. I have some experience in finishing but not in the motor trade on metal. Thanks.

af_thefragile

You can get scratch repair kits in Halfords.

You just paint over the scratch with some touch up paint.
Then give it a bit of polish and it shouldn't be too bad...

Owen

Jesus no. Don't do that, it'll look hideous. Most of Halfords' (Yes, I know, ranting about Halfords again) touch up pens have little resemblance to the original colour, and even if they do, you'll be applying a matt coloured paint to an area covered with nice glossy lacquer, it'll stand out a mile, and no amount of polishing will cover it.

See if you can drag your fingernail across it. If your nail doesn't get stuck, it's deep enough to polish out. Get some G3 cutting compound (Don't use T Cut, that's nearly as useless as Halfords) and a clean rag, plenty of water, and even more elbow grease. Works wonders.

If it's deep enough not to polish out, you'll have to have it painted, professionally.

Padocarr

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to reply.

Yes my nail does fall into the scratch.

Paint Doctor: If I firstly, mask tape off the surrounding area.
Secondly, exercise great care and patience with a very small brush, could I apply the Honda supplied touch up in this way?

Would I need to carefully clean the scratch with, for example, 600 grit or finer, before applying the touch up metallic paint?
Then, is there a trade method to blend / sand / polish in this new surface, smooth and flush with surrounding surfaces?

Owen

Touch up paint will always look like touch up paint, no matter what you do to it. The best you can hope for is that it looks less obvious that the scratch, but you will always be able to see where the touch up paint is in comparisson to the original paint on a panel.

Owen

And I never answered your question. Doh!

If you're using touch up paint, you want to keep the area you're touching up to a minimum. By using sandpaper of any grade, you're widening the repair area up, and causing more work.

Padocarr

Thanks Paint Doctor for the reply, I'll see how I get on with it next week.