Using touch-up paint..

[SilverBullet00]

So I bought some touch-up paint the other day from the dealership to take care of a nasty scrape I have on my roof (nestled just under my side molding on the drivers side). Its got a tiny bit of surface rust because the scrape goes down the the bare metal- what is the best way to go about the repair? I have honestly never used touch-up paint on a car and have it turn out half way decent so any tips would be great!

heres the carnage:

View attachment 401647
View attachment 401649

 

[SMRcalidiv]

OUCH, thats gotta be sanded off first, and do you mean you got the tube of touch up paint with the brush? That area might be a little too wide to brush-touch.

 

[four six]

WOW what happened? +1 for sand first

 

[CRZYHRSGT]

+2 for sanding. It might not be a bad idea to check under the molding over the door and the seal around the windshield to make sure there's no rust under there. The molding is just preventative but if there's rust around the windshield it can get pretty ugly (not just looks but leaking problems).

 

[RMODEL65]

its not gonna look good with touch up paint sorry but ull need to sand prime then topcoat u might want to take the car to a macco type shop and pay them 150-200 esp if u dont have a paint gun and compressor

 

[SilverBullet00]

its tucked under the molding pretty good so I dont care so much what it looks like, I primarily care about it protecting against rust. I might just take it to the dealer and get a quote

 

[SilverBullet00]

WOW what happened? +1 for sand first

I have no idea, it was like that when I bought it. I didnt notice it at the time

 

[Black'02]

Wow that sucks, it looks pretty bad. It looks like the paint is flaking a bit around the edge. I definately dont think you will make it with touchup paint. If you dont sand and prime it the rust will just wind up getting worse and showing through the paint rather quickly anyway.

 

[ZIncGTSTANG]

You could just sand, prime with brush,and touch up for now and see how it turns out. Its not likes its in a really obvious spot where people will be able to see right away that its been fixed with touch up. You could probably get it close to invisible even looking right at the touched up area if you're good with touch up. Remember to let it complete dry before you add another layer of touch up or you'll get brush lines. You can even add clear if you really want to get into it. Good luck

 

[forum155pl]

my car has the same thing.. but there is still primer .. i would yank of the moulding and check for more rust..

 

[DTNODYA]

It's in a bad spot to do a good repair with touch up paint in a bottle. But if you are determined to try, first you need to sand down to bare metal (through all the rust). Then you need to use (preferably) a self-etching primer or a Y2k primer (too advanced maybe) ... If you can't use either then I guess just use touch up primer ... But go buy some good brushes from a hobby store. DO NOT USE THE BRUSH IN THE BOTTLE or it will look worse than rust! Tape off everywhere that you don't want to get sanded before you start sanding (just a tip) Then use a paint prep solution (wax and grease remover) and use a tack rag (sticky cloth that removes dust) before painting ... They can be found at a local paint store or crappier ones are at autozone. Get a blue tack rag if you have a choice between blue or yellow ... Good luck ...

 

[SilverBullet00]

how does that molding come off? I could totally see me breaking it off....