Touch Up Paint Advice (white M3)

[sdfan]

Thanks in advance for any help and advice. Long story short had a nasty door ding that I had a PDR guy pop out and now I'm looking to perform a DIY touch up repair.

I liked the ease of Dr. Color Chip but I felt that a multi-step process would ultimately look better with the white pearl so I purchased a "touch up direct" kit online after seeing some positive reviews on other Tesla forums (although the amazon reviews weren't the best.)

Here is my plan. Anyone with firsthand experience with these types of touch up repairs?

1.) Wet sand the defect and surrounding edges (1/4") using 1500/2000 paper. I read about better control by gluing a piece on the back of a pencil eraser.

2.) 2 coats of primer -> 2 coats of base -> 2 coats of mid -> 2 coats of clear coat with wet sanding (2000 paper) in between coats.

3.) Polishing compound at the end to blend everything in

I've also read about a trick using toothpicks to basically finely dab and apply the paint and primer. It'll probably take a week or two to complete the repair. Keep in mind it may sound like I know what I'm doing but this is my first time doing this. Ultimately, I know it will not look perfect but as long as it's camouflaged well and I don't make it look worse, I will be happy.

Thanks again for any help and advice!

 

[Face_Disguise]

I also bought the touch up direct kit for pearl white, so I'm interested in the responses to this as well (although my marks are about 1/8th the size of yours. Honestly, I'll probably pay the local detail shop to do it properly since I'd probably mess it up...

 

[Xtrs]

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING: I used Touch Up Paint and repair | AutomotiveTouchup for my pearl white PPSW (spray paint) , came with 3 cans for all the coats , spent an entire day painting in my makeshift painters box , I put atleast 5 coats EACH and waited 20+mins each coat even did some light sanding - the end product looked FANTASTIC , however 3 months later I see very noticeable yellowing and rock impacts. I believe it was about $70~ in total for the kit...

TLDR; best to have a pro do it with UV treated paint

Hope you all have better success then myself!

 

[scarpiamod3]

Tesla's paint is crap, i'd be really careful about sanding and cutting, its just to thin

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING: I used Touch Up Paint and repair | AutomotiveTouchup for my pearl white PPSW (spray paint) , came with 3 cans for all the coats , spent an entire day painting in my makeshift painters box , I put atleast 5 coats EACH and waited 20+mins each coat even did some light sanding - the end product looked FANTASTIC , however 3 months later I see very noticeable yellowing and rock impacts. I believe it was about $70~ in total for the kit...

TLDR; best to have a pro do it with UV treated paint

Hope you all have better success then myself!

I've very good luck with Automotive Touchup spray cans. The yellow is most certainly the clear coat. If so, buying a better quality 2K clear coat from another vendor would solve that problem. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/SprayMax-Gla...0082LJMC6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

But get your respirator out! One whiff of a 2K and you'll be down for the count.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Thanks in advance for any help and advice. Long story short had a nasty door ding that I had a PDR guy pop out and now I'm looking to perform a DIY touch up repair.

I liked the ease of Dr. Color Chip but I felt that a multi-step process would ultimately look better with the white pearl so I purchased a "touch up direct" kit online after seeing some positive reviews on other Tesla forums (although the amazon reviews weren't the best.)

Here is my plan. Anyone with firsthand experience with these types of touch up repairs?

1.) Wet sand the defect and surrounding edges (1/4") using 1500/2000 paper. I read about better control by gluing a piece on the back of a pencil eraser.

2.) 2 coats of primer -> 2 coats of base -> 2 coats of mid -> 2 coats of clear coat with wet sanding (2000 paper) in between coats.

3.) Polishing compound at the end to blend everything in

I've also read about a trick using toothpicks to basically finely dab and apply the paint and primer. It'll probably take a week or two to complete the repair. Keep in mind it may sound like I know what I'm doing but this is my first time doing this. Ultimately, I know it will not look perfect but as long as it's camouflaged well and I don't make it look worse, I will be happy.

Thanks again for any help and advice!


View attachment 585879 View attachment 585880

That's such a big chip of paint removed, I would be tempted to put a little bit of filler and then sand it smooth before painting. Otherwise, you'll have a divot effect unless you sand a huge portion of the panel.

When painting that kind of repair, I use a cardboard piece with a hole just bigger than the damaged area for the primer and the color, and then make the hole a little bigger for the clear, and hold the cardboard about an inch from the surface and spray through it. That gives a nice feathered edge.

Go with extra coats on the clear so you have some thickness to work with for color sanding and polishing.

 

[sdfan]

Thanks for the tips! Really appreciate it.

 

[sdfan]

A quick review of the "Touch Up Direct" kit as I'm sure my mistakes will help others. Overall, the kit works well and camouflages blemishes pretty well. This was my 2nd attempt. My first attempt was awful quite honestly. I tried to be meticuous by using tape to block off the edges but that led to paint build-up on the periphery. I tried to sand after each application (base -> mid -> clear) but that sanding seemed to mess up the paint even more which led to a really cloudy and turbid final look. My 2nd attempt looks pretty decent and acceptable so overall I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Good luck to any of you facing a similar dilemma. In hindsight, I think you will also have good results with Dr. Color Chip or even similar colored nail polish.

 

[Face_Disguise]

Thanks. That's a much better colour match than the Tesla kit. Craziness.

 

[wmo168]

yes color match is good.... he needs to fill in the crater over the paint and light sand and buff to level off..
I will be order from them soon

 

[colden1216]

yes color match is good.... he needs to fill in the crater over the paint and light sand and buff to level off..
I will be order from them soon

What did you end up using? The Toyota touch up paint, or this “touch up direct” kit? Thanks

 

[TexSam]

I've very good luck with Automotive Touchup spray cans. The yellow is most certainly the clear coat. If so, buying a better quality 2K clear coat from another vendor would solve that problem. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/SprayMax-Gla...0082LJMC6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

But get your respirator out! One whiff of a 2K and you'll be down for the count.

I was selling my previous white GMC Terrain. I was painting a much larger area, about 4" - 6" above the windshield from one side to the other. I had the same slightly yellow issue with the clear coat. I called Dupl-color and the second timed I called the rep said not to clear coat it. According to her white and black don't need it as much as other colors. Now she was perhaps covering up an issue with their product, I can't say for sure. Perhaps a real painter on here might give their thoughts. I wet sanded the clear off, reshot a coat of white, feathered the edge and left it. I wholesaled it to a dealer, they didn't seem to notice the touch up.