LionZoo

The sticker on the door of my Galaxy Gray says that the touch up code is 32S. The stick on the top of my can of touch up paint says 32. Did the dealer give me the wrong paint or does Mazda not bother putting the S on the can?

New Yorker

I'm sure it's the same—you have the correct paint.

BunnyGirl

My blue touch-up paint doesn't have a letter with it, just the number, so I'm sure it's correct.

acc3d

Speaking of touch up paint, I just scratched my 8 this morning be accident. How well will the touch up paint blend in against the original coat? Not speaking about the color of course, but the texture/splotchiness. Any tips for even application?

SC-ed

Don't bother. Touch-up paint will not work. At least VR.

Stavesacre21

pretty sure the letter behind it is sinply an index letter for the dealership. I just ordered some for my VR, and the paint code was 27 something I believe, and he told me the options...all of which were numbers only...no letters.


beats letting a needle-sized paint chip eventually chip into the size of a quarter...even if it's not an exact match.

Dev_Ace

Touch up paint was horrible....
at least for me it didn't work,
because the paint has a metallic effect, so the touch up paint has to be layered or something,
the paint itself is watery and doesn't really do anything, waste of $ in my opinion,
dont bother buying, doesnt work,

if it's light damage, leave it,
if you're too worried, go get the part repainted

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

kinda why i like having a solid color. but i've never attempted this yet.

DOMINION

Man I have chips all over my 8. Not sh!ty looking but if you get your face in there you can see them. I cant wait to get the MS kit so I can have my car repainted .

SC-ed

You wont get any match. VR touch-up is turning out black b/c metallic (mid) coat is mixed in the base coat. To get a match the mid coat, which is a transparent has to be applied over the well dried up base coat.

Stavesacre21

i'm gonna lanka it and see how it looks. Best part of that stuff is that if you don't like it, it'll all buff out easily by hand.

RedSheDevil

hmmmm .... my VR touched up great! but i learned paint techniques in college so mebbe i do it differently. biggest tip i can give anyone is be patient. many thin coats (that's why it is so thin) will give you the layered look and fill in the hole. be sure to shake shake shake a lot before you use it (then let it sit for a minute or two to let the air bubbles die down).

after you have put on your 8-10 coats (yes, 8-10 and let them dry in between too) let it dry overnight or longer. you can then do the blob remover technique. you can buy actual blob remover stuff, or go the easy route: take an old CLEAN tshirt and use a part without seams or printing etc. put a light bit of Scratch-X on the tshirt and wrap up an old credit-type card. Use one without the raised numbers (like those fake ones they send you in the mail).

With the card flat against the car, rub it back and forth over the blob of paint. The card will keep your finger from going INTO the hole created by the chip, the Scratch-X will slowly reduce the amount of paint along the rim of the hole. This technique also requires patience, as no good paint touch-up is quick and easy (unless you don't care how it looks and are just filling for non-rusting purposes).

If you wear away too much of the blob and you have an indent, you will have to clean the area really well to get the Scratch-X off and start over.

It really does work (and on VR too!)

BunnyGirl

I've only done touch-up on the very low, nearly much underneath part (the curve) of my front appearance package. You couldn't see the chips unless you were actually pretty much at face level with it but I didn't want to leave it that way. It doesn't look bad and blobby, but I haven't tried doing it in a noticeable place yet. I have a very tiny, microscopic chip low on my front passenger door from some gravel due to road construction. I finally got some paper matches to use to apply it but I haven't felt that brave yet because it would be in a spot that could be consider "noticeable."

Stavesacre21

bravo shedevil...very nice write up. Furthers to prove that the reason most touch-up paint doesn't look right is likely because of its incorrect application process.

Exact match? Not supposed to be. But done correctly, i've seen how it can be impressive as opposed to a $300-500 repainted panel.