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#31

12-13-2010, 08:54 PM

2black1s

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Join Date: Nov 2010

Location: Simi Valley, CA

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Quote:

Originally Posted by 2black1s

onaride63's method is sound. I posted a repair process on another thread a few weeks ago very similar to onaride63's. I'll search for it later and post it here if I can find it.

One difference in my process is when you fill the scratch with the color coat I like to leave it slighly below the finished surface allowing for the clear coat to provide the final build to the finished surface.

And one other thing to try on yours... If the scratch isn't all the way through the base coat (color), then you can skip the color coat steps and simply do the clearcoat part of the process.

Before applying any paint use a cotton swap or something similar with some solvent to clean the area. Alcohol works good. Avoid using anything as aggressive as lacquer thinner or acetone as it can attack the original finish.

I'm not sure what type of paint the Harley touch-up kits are, but if they are acrylic lacquer like many auto touch-up kits from the dealer, I don't like to use them. You can do a much better job with urethane auto paint products.

Ok... Home from work. Here's my process I previously posted for touching up paint chips or scratches.

Paint Chip Touch-Up

I'm an old body shop and paint guy. Don't do it any more but did a lot of custom cars and bikes back in the 70's.

The best process I've found for touching up chips (short of repainting the entire panel) is this...

1) Using the edge of a razor blade or Exacto knife, test the margins of the chip for adhesion and carefully chip/trim away any paint that is not firmly adhered to the substrate.
2) Clean the damaged area using a cotton swap and solvent. Enamel reducer or alcohol is my solvent of choice as it will not damage the existing painted surface.
3) With a fine tip artists brush fill the chip with the appropriate color. Do not try to make the color coat flush to the existing painted surface, you need room for the clear-coat. Minimize any application of paint outside the margins of the chip being repaired. As with most paint applications, multiple thin coats/layers are preferable to trying to fill the chip in one coat.
4) Allow the color coat to dry thoroughly. It will shrink a little as it dries and if you did step 3 correctly the touched-up color surface will be slightly lower than the existing paint surface.
5) Carefully clean any excess color that may have exceeded the margin of the chip. If you're really careful a new and sharp single edge razor blade works well. Very fine (1000G - 1500G) wet-or-dry sandpaper is another option.
6) Again, using your artists brush, apply the clear coat in thin coats until the chip is filled flush or slightly higher than the existing paint surface. Allow to dry thoroughly between coats and overnight or longer for the final coat.
7) Wet sand the repaired area with 1000G - 1500G wet-or-dry paper.
8) Polish the repaired area.

It takes some time and patience, but done correctly, this process will yield a virtually undetectable repair on solid colors such as black, white, red, etc. Other colors such as metallics, pearls, etc., are more difficult because it's very difficult to match the lay of the metallic when touching-up with a brush.

All of the materials needed including the paint can be obtained at most automotive paint supply stores.

Hope this might help some of you in the future.

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