Touch up 123 review and detail of an 02 z3

[Grouse]

Review of touch up 123 paint chip repair. With a lot of pics.
The deluxe kit
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551860.jpg
2 oz. ColorFill (your color)
4 oz. Final Touch Compound
2 ColorFill applicator towels
1 Diaper Cloth Removal Towel
1 Microfiber Polish Towel
1 pair vinyl gloves
1 Professional Comfort Chip touch up brush
1 Professional Comfort Scratch touch up brush
2 touch up cups
Easy to follow instructions
http://www.touchup123.com/
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551861.jpg

1) Read the directions and give the bottles a very vigorous shaking.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551862.jpg
The color fill will spate back into its base colors pretty rapidly. I made it a habit to shake it for a few seconds before every use.
2) Use the prep agent to clean old layers of wax off around the paint chips. If you do not do this the paint will not stick into the chips. I actually did a moderate wipe down of the major areas
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551865.jpg
3) Now mark all the paint chip areas. I did this by placing bits of blue painters tape 1 cm from chips that were through the clear and into the paint, and or 3 or more chips. My primary reason for doing this is so I would not loose track of the chips as I worked on the area’s. when you stare at the paint for so long you tend to get tunnel vision.
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http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551852.jpg
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4) Start to work the color fill in using 1 drop on a bit of the lint less towel. I found it useful to shake the color fill for about 2 minutes before hand. Then shake it for about 5 seconds before each use. The key here is to build up thin layers till you get to about 80% of the original height of the paint. I went over the chips about 10 or more times for some of the deeper chips.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551866.jpg
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Here is an example of a chip as the layers are built up. This one was particularly tough.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551873.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551874.jpg
As I finished with a chip or set of chips I removed the blue tape. Allowing me to focus on those remaining chips with tape.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551875.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551876.jpg

[Grouse]

http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551877.jpg
As they get filled they tend to blend in very well. The camera had a hard time spotting them. More on this in a bit.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551878.jpg
These have been gone over about 15-16 times at this point. These chips were down to if not past the primer. I would advise when removing the excess fill between each step to blot not rub. When I rubbed I would literally clean the color fill out of the chip. This would negate any process I had made. Take care blot with the prep cleaner around the chip, then blot with the towel around the chip. It takes a while.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551879.jpg
Here is a shot of the towel after I had been colorfilling and cleaning for a few hours. (whole thing was about 6 hours)
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551880.jpg
Finished.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551881.jpg
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Here is an exerpt of my initial thoughts after doing this for Dale.

******,

I just finished. It looks pretty good. It's not perfect, but I actually like it far better than i do dealership touch up paint. It is easier to work with than dealership paint.

For light scratches and dings below the level of the clear it works very well. 1-2 passes and it is filled sufficiently to be extremely difficult to find. I give this a 10-10 for color match and 9-10 for filling capability.

For pits that are through the clear and into base layer. These spots were 4-5 passes to get a reasonable amount of fill. I give it an 8-10 of ten for color matching and 7-10 for filling capability.

For chips that are through the clear and the base color layer but not the primer. 5-10 passes, is what is needed just to get them to a point where it is less noticeable. These areas are increasingly difficult to color match and fill. As their size does not lend to an easy cleanup process. For color match I give these areas a 6-10. The reason for this is the gel is designed to separate into two as it dries. A silver metallic base with a tinted clear. As you clean up a layer from such a deep pit your remove the tinted clear. From some angles this looks lightly off, from others dead on. For filling capability i give it also a 6-10. This is because these areas do not seem to set up as evenly as the rest. Making it risky to do the excess fill clean up.

For chips that are through down to the metal or gouges that have formed a out of the paint. 10-14 passes many of those with the brush. I give color match a 6-10 again. I do this for the same reasons above. For filling capability I give it a 4 out of ten. This is because all of your major chips or gouges were fairly large and very tricky to clean up without removing the tinted clear.


For a total score of 6-10. Much better than dealership kits. But this has a steep learning curve. After i cleaned the front end of your z3 i ended up putting nearly 6 hours into the chips, scrapes, and gouges. I think the time can be brought down maybe by 1/3rd. I also think I can bring up the scores on the last 3 sizes of chips by at least two. Most of this is simply practice and patience.

I think you will be pleased. This product is good but has a few limitations for most people.

On a final note, I think as they cured the color match increased significantly compared to the first hour or so after I had finished. The next morning it looked significantly better. Overall you will see the chips under close scrutiny. The larger chips, and gouges will give you no end of difficulty. You can make the palatable, but not perfect.

Now on to the Detail. (a week was given for the chip paint to fully cure.
The car was washed and clayed. I found a few bits of heavy marring on the flat areas. Mostly the bonnet and deck lid.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551884.jpg
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The above pictures are pretty minor marring. What is not showing is how well several years’ worth of wax can hide some pretty significant scratches. Unfortunately I don’t have pics of them. I dedicated most of my time to removing as many as possible.

I will say this. They probably were not the result of in proper wash. Here is why. The scratches were on the passenger side of the bonnet and on the rear deck lid. Those are the only two flat areas on the car. The deep marring was limited to the first 18 inches closest to the edge. This tells me something was set on it, someone leaned against it etc. These kinds of things happen. You do what you can.

For reference I tested these two areas first. I started with FPII (menzerna fine polish) on a blue finish pad. Nothing changed. I moved to FPII on a green cut pad, nothing changed. I stepped up to Menzerna intensive Polish (compound) on a green cut pad at 1400rpm and removed about 20% of the marring. I then stepped up to IP on a Orange cut pad and removed about 40% more. I then used a thin note card to check the depth of the marring. As I suspected the remaining scratches would catch the card. Meaning they were far deeper than I wanted to try and remove.

For the remainder of the car and polish I was able to use menzerna po85rd on a blue polishing pad to remove what little marring there was. Okay back to the detail. Here is the car after the claying and taping.

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Here is the car after compounding and polishing stages. No sealant or wax applied.

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Here is a hood shot after one coat of FMJ.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551898.jpg
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Moving on, here is ½ the engine bay cleaned and half of it not.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551901.jpg
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The engine bay cleaned, and dressed.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551903.jpg
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[Grouse]

http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551936.jpg
Trunk cleaned and dressed. Before and after.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551907.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551908.jpg
After the second coat of menzerna full molecular jacket sealant.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551909.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551910.jpg
Foam cleaning the Soft top. Here I am working the foam into the fabric, then buffing it off with a towel.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551911.jpg
Clean towel on the left, dirty towel on the right. I ended up cleaning the soft top 4 times on the exterior and twice on the interior. Using a different towel each time.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551912.jpg
Second time on the exterior.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551913.jpg
Third time, It is not super noticeable, but there still was enough dirt on the towel to warrant cleaning it a 4th time.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551914.jpg
Moving on, Leather seat cleaning. This is the first pass on the passenger seat with leather masters soft cleaner. Like the soft top you work it into a foam lather, then work that lather into the leather. After a few seconds you buff it dry with a clean towel.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551916.jpg
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The second pass, This time I bumped it up to leather masters strong cleaner. I made a third pass but did not remove any additional soil.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551917.jpg
The seats after cleaning.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551919.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551920.jpg

The finally, The car after two coats of FMJ and one coat of Chemical guys concurs wax.
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It is a must when doing a bmw to rep the roundel. With flake pop.
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Wheel love, sealed with two coats of FMJ

[Grouse]

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The interior final clean, condition, protect.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551931.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551932.jpg

[Calabria]

very very nice detail. you think the chip remover would be easy to match black?
what do you use on the dash?

[DetailersDomain]

nice work as always.

[Grouse]

very very nice detail. you think the chip remover would be easy to match black?
what do you use on the dash?

The next morning their color match was fantastic. I bet black would look good. If the chip is down to the primer it will take a bit of work.

That is natural look on the dash.

[devenyi]

Very impressive results! I've got to give this stuff a try!

[VroomVroom]

There are great detailers, and then there are great detailers. Grouse, my man, whatever you charge, it's not enough. Absolutely stunning work.

[Grouse]

Thanks guys.

[savetheclutch]

can someone do this in NJ??? i really need it.

[DetailersDomain]

do you have closer shots of the chips that you filled.

I'm sure the work is great but I can't see it....let me know if not maybe on your next one.

[johnp69]

Grouse what are you using to remover old residual wax before the actual detailing begins?

john

[Grouse]

the green bottle is actually the wax/chip fill residue remover.

@Phil. I will look. most of the chips not through the base coat filled to such a degree the camera could not focus. Those chips that were through the base coat or gouges did not fill enough to stand that scuitiny.

For example here is a pit down to and into the base. The only way to view it is right over head. I had to leave the tape to get a basis to focus on.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551873.jpg

This pit and chip looks to be down to the EC layer. Every time you would get to 60% of the chip filled it would go no further. when you removed the excess you would empty the chip
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551859.jpg

Here is 3 spots that were just through the clear
Before fill and as i am taping
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551851.jpg
After 2nd fill
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551867.jpg
after fill probably the 3-5th fill
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551876/original.jpg
after final fill and wipe down, it is a little out of focus as the camera had problems picking up the fill job. I did my best to manual focus off the light. You can see a few spots.
http://www.pbase.com/3lg/image/75551878.jpg

[DetailersDomain]

cool thanks!

[Seankf1105]

never seen a more profesional write up of a more professional job! awesome work! [:D] [up]

[crew219]

Grouse, how long did it take for you to receive your order?

I placed my order 10 business days ago and it has still not shipped. They refuse to answer the phone and are not responsive through email. I'm starting to think that they're a sham.

Go figure they charged my credit card the day I ordered [rolleyes]

Dave

[Grouse]

i had it in 4 days.

[Brooklyn]

you're about as thorough as they come at your job chief. the prep time alone must eat up an hour or two. i'm going to take some pics of the major chips on my car and get your thoughts on whether this touch-up kit would work. good stuff.