A Little Elbow Grease
Because the paint repairs will be done by hand, good towels are a must. Again, we contacted our friends at Stylin' Concepts, and wouldn't you know it, the microfiber towels were on sale, making this hit-and-run a little less costly. Make sure you check out Stylin's website when you are shopping, because there is always something on special that might save you a few bucks.
The first thing we needed...
The first thing we needed to do was find out what was actually wrong with the paint on our R/T. With a little Mothers Pre-Wax Cleaner on a towel, we rubbed the area profusely, and to our surprise, most of the paint problems were just on the surface and came right off. We said most, because we did find a nice little scratch that would need to be fixed with paint. We picked up these two bottles of DupliColor's Scratch Fix 2in1 at our local AutoZone store. We bought the proper Intense Blue Pearl to match the basecoat and a bottle of clear.
The next step was to figure...
The next step was to figure out how bad the scratch was, and to do that, we had to clean it out thoroughly with a little dish soap and a toothbrush. Once it was completely clean and dry, we took a close look to see how bad the scumbag got our truck. Luckily, the damage was only in the clearcoat, and that's all we need to fix, so the blue touch-up will go in the glovebox.
DupliColor Scratch Fix 2in1...
DupliColor Scratch Fix 2in1 got its name from the two different applicator tips in the bottle. One is a taper-tip brush, which allows for pinpoint or broad-stroke use and can be used at any angle. The brush put on a little too much material for the scratch we had.
So, we went with the second...
So, we went with the second applicator in the 2in1, the roller-ball pen tip. The pen tip worked out perfectly. We put the tip right into the scratch, depressed the pen to release the paint, and just dragged it along. It put down a perfect layer of clear right into the scratch.
The 2in1 directions state...
The 2in1 directions state the paint will dry in a couple of hours, but because it was butt-ass cold in the shop that day, we let it dry over night, just to be safe. Coming in the next morning, we found our touch-up nice and dry, and it was ready for sanding. If your scratch is wider and the paint shrinks into the scratch, which it will do, you may need to lay down another coat. But, for the skinny scratches, one coat should be fine.
Now to level out the excess...
Now to level out the excess paint, we used some 800-grit 3M wet or dry paper that we soaked in water for a few hours to get it pliable enough to roll it up.