How to Smooth Out Touch Up Paint on Car – Easy Dizzy!

If you are worried about the scratches and fade-out parts on your car’s surface, you must be out of the internet for years. Because there are a lot of cool DIY-type solutions to this that you can find just by a few searches. Today, we will be discussing on how to smooth out touch up paint on car.

You know, car paints can become nicked and chipped after quite a bit of time. That’s pretty normal if you are riding a car for a long time. So, what people generally do is just paint on the affected areas to cover up the wound.

But these inexperienced attempts don’t end up pretty well. You can clearly see that there’s nothing changed, or you can even notice the patch that tried to cover the wound up, itself becomes a problem.

However, there are some easy ways that you can use to solve this issue. Simply chipping at the scratch or trying to dissolve that in a solution that thins the scratch up, can make magic happen.

These easy and simple solutions can make your car shine like new again, and if you are planning to sell it, it becomes a great deal instantly!

There are a number of ways to do this. We will be discussing three common solutions. Let’s get started!

Method One: Pick the Loose Touch-Up Paint Away

Step 1:

Scrap the touch-up paint on your car by your fingernail. Before doing that, you need to feel the paint on your finger. Try to figure out if it is loose enough to be removed by your nails. If you think it is loosely stuck there or it is just painted recently, then you can easily take it out with your nails.

Step 2:

This is to be followed if Step 1 is not working for you. If it’s hard enough and not coming out with your fingernail, use a toothpick instead. Try to put the toothpick inside the paint from the bottom and gently push the paint upward.

If it can’t withstand the pressure of the toothpick, it will come out slowly. Slide the toothpick from the edge of the paint gently to make it come out easily. If you are lucky, you can take the whole paint out from there.

Caution: Whatever way you are following, if it’s fingernail or toothpick, make sure you don’t scrap the paint too hard. If you are hard on it, it can affect the original paint of the car and ruin all the fun.

Method Two: Apply Lacquer Thinner

Step 1: 

 Take a little detergent liquid. The powder will do, but the liquid is better. Put a little bit of liquid in a bucket and pour water from a hose with a bit of power. It will form a foam inside the bucket.

Now take a rag and dip it in the bucket. Gently apply the rag on the affected area of the car. Remove all the dirt and grime that is covering the touch-up paint area.

This is because you need to make sure that the area you are going to work with is clean. Otherwise, you may end up rubbing hard dirt against the car surface to worsen the wound.

Step 2:

Take a soft cloth and gently rub against the car surface to dry it up. Make sure the cloth is clean and completely dry. It’s better if you can wait for about 20 minutes before you rub it.

Step 3: 

Now apply the lacquer thinner on the touch-up paint. You can use a simple Q-tip to rub a little bit of solvent against the dried touch-up paint area. This will make it soft. Make sure you follow all the instructions that the solvent packaging comes with.

Keep the solvent on the touch-up paint area as long as the packaging instruction suggests.

When done, simply wipe the area with a clean and dry cloth.

Method Three: Sanding the Paint Off

Step 1:

First, you need to apply car masking tape on the touch-up painted area. This is very crucial. You don’t want to remove extra paint from the car. So, you need to make a box shape around the affected area with the masking tape.

You can find masking tape in any retail store if you are wondering where to get these.

Step 2: Now take a 150-grit sandpaper and gently rub it on the touch-up paint area. It will remove the softened touch-up paint region. Gently press it against the surface. Use a back and forth stroke for this. Don’t go hard on it. Don’t go beyond the masking zone.

The grit number is quite vital. The lower the number, the more coarse the sandpaper is. If you are using sandpaper with a high coarse rate, it can damage your car. So, make sure you are not using any sandpaper that is more than 150-grit.

Step 3:

As you have finished the sanding, you can see there is a light coat of paint dust that is made from scratching the surface. Take a small, clean, and dry brush and gently brush off the dust from the surface.

Now wipe off the remaining with a clean cloth. Check if all the paint has been removed or not. If not, repeat the process.

Step 4:

After you are done rubbing with 150-grit sandpaper, now rub with a 600-grit one. It will smooth out all the rough edges from the touch-up paint. It will even clear off the area you have been stroking with the 150-grit sandpaper.

Don’t forget to use both of these papers. The 150-grit will remove the touch-up paint, and the 600-grit will smoothen the entire area.

Step 5:

Finally, use a clean towel or a piece of cloth to clean and wipe off the operated area. Remove any chips you find on the surface gently with the cloth. Now, you can see the area is ready for a new touch-up painting job!

Don’t forget to dump the masking tape once you are done with your project.