After One and a half year of ownership, I had to get this.

[naemcivic]

had to pick these up to cover some stone chips on the hood. Should I do this myself or ask my body shop friend to help fill it in?





The top pen is for my color Aruba Blue, and the bottom pen is for Clear coat.

Notice the production date of it? Does it ever expire?

[a4iceburg]

where did you pick those up?

[ItsDubC]

I found the clearcoat pen fairly difficult to use. I ended up putting too much and then had to wetsand it down.

[naemcivic]

^^wetsand? I really have no idea. is it a 2000 grid paper?

[Kay15]

Those pens are not as easy to use as people think, I have chips all over I will try to fill them all up before winter probably today if the weather holds up to give it some dry time.

[Vinchenzo51]

if you search youtube for "how to wetsand" you'll find 100 videos on how to do it, its easier then you think but is also easy to screw up if you get carried away. if your really uncertain, why bother, just let a professional do it

[ItsDubC]

^^wetsand? I really have no idea. is it a 2000 grid paper?

The higher the grit, the better I'd say. I think I ended up using 2500 and 3000. The downside of wetsanding is that when you're done, you really get to see how much orange peel our paint/clearcoat has from the factory, as the area you wetsand will be smoother than the rest of the car So who wants to wetsand their entire ride?

[hender]

the pens are at the dealer, i got both clearcoat and Bril. black for about 15 bucks.

they're a pain in the ass to use and i probably won't use it again. haha

[xileh]

When I was going to touch up something, I buy a new brush from a hobby paintshop.
Buy the smallest you find. Much easier to use :)

[Ox2gen]

^yes, smallest most-fine art paint brush or a toothpick. I brushed micro amounts of clearcoat off the pen tip and that was all that was needed.

[MiracleWhips]

Agreed on the paint pens as being kind of useless unless for larger jobs where you really don't care if it blends all that well.

For stone chips that are down to the metal, I agree that you want to cover those up with some paint.

However I generally get a small bottle of touchup paint (or extract paint from the touchup pen into a water bottle cap) and use a toothpick or other micro sized craft paint brush to slowly dab minimal amounts of paint into the chip to try and build up the paint until it reaches the stock paint height. If you try and put too much paint on at once any other way, it will go beyond the edges of the chip and make the blemish even more obvious. It will also run all over the place.

[naemcivic]

I will first test on my winter beater car first to perfect my skills in touching up before it goes anywhere near my Audi.

[ScoGold]

Can you buy that touchup paint online? I have Aruba Blue Pearl too...naemcivic I think you're my twin (except I've only had mine for 11 days)!

[MiracleWhips]

Can you buy that touchup paint online? I have Aruba Blue Pearl too...naemcivic I think you're my twin (except I've only had mine for 11 days)!

Not the OEM paint pens, but this site is great to use, and cheaper. Used a few times now.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com

[Ryan_T]

I use these all the time.

[genep]

using the pen to apply the paint will cause uneven application. i found great success by emptying out paint from the "pen" into a cup, then using a small paint brush to apply the paint. same thing goes with the clear coat. if you try and use the clear coat pen, it just smears away the paint. try the paint brush technique and give a shout out to bob ross.

[NickZag]

I wish they had the brush style... I HATE the pen applicators!

[hiwords1]

it shouldn't smear away the paint if you let the paint dry first

[quality_sound]

The toothpick method works well too. I also overfill and then wetsand. Some colors will naturally blend better (white, for example) but you can get a very good touchup on any color.

Also, paintscratch.com for regular paint and drcolorchip.com if you need to cover an area. Dr. Colorchip's system is VERY easy to use.

[ThePiombino]

I had the dealership throw in these pens when I got the car. Tried using them a couple times- not very ideal.

[coolwater]

Yes these pens SUCK. I mean even the salesman that threw them in for me at delivery told me they SUCK and they don't make the old bottle/brush sets No' Mo'.
Anyway I got this from duplicolor. Works very well. Has brush and ball point pen tip.
You get an even dot that can then be sanded down and polished.
http://duplicolor.com/products/scratchFix/

-cW

[naemcivic]

Can you buy that touchup paint online? I have Aruba Blue Pearl too...naemcivic I think you're my twin (except I've only had mine for 11 days)!

congratulations on a nice color choice, as this color is discontinued after MY09; therefore making it more exquisite. I am not sure if you can order this touch up pens with the aftermarket. I bought this from my dealership for $17.50CDN.

[PaulTheo]

I managed to buy the touch ups with a brush but still not good to use. I use a miniture hobby brush and mix the clear coat and the base colour together and just fill the chip very carefully if I get too much paint on I wipe off and try again. Seem to work well on my lava grey. Got this tip from one of the detailing forums seems to match in very well.