To Touch-up or Not to Touch-up

In the automotive world, paint touch-up traditionally has been very broadly construed to cover a very wide range of paint damage, ranging all the way from:

• rock and stone chips (road rash)
• door edge chips
• bumper scrapes
• light scratches and scuffs
• deep key scratches, and
• even more.

Touch-up is appropriate for many of these paint issues, but certainly not for all of them. In some cases professional body shop work is needed. When a vehicle’s paint finish is damaged it is important to know what kind of repair is needed. The main considerations when evaluating paint damage on your vehicle to determine if touch-up is the right repair choice include:  

• The type of damage you have.
• The extent of the damage.
• Has any rust formed?
• Your preference –how do you want to handle the repairs?  By doing it yourself or having someone else do it?
• The cost to do it yourself compared with having it professionally repaired.
• And, finally, the benefits and detriments of doing it one way as compared to another way.

Any damage to your paint should be repaired, for both economic and aesthetic reasons. 

Your paint issues may not even need touch-up–light scratches and scuffs can simply be buffed or polished out. No painting would be needed for this.   

Nonetheless, almost every vehicle will suffer some damage to the paint and finish over the course of time just from ordinary use.  Especially rock and stone chips, also referred to as “Road Rash” on a car hood (the picture above illustrates a split comparison of a road rash repair).  It’s almost impossible to avoid getting chips on your paint finish. 

 

But is aesthetics the only reason, or just the main reason, to touch-up a vehicle’s paint finish?  

Most of us think of appearance as the primary reason for touching up a paint’s finish. However, appearance affects value, and this is always an important consideration. What can I reasonably expect from touch-up for my vehicle? Can I really make the finish look better with only modest effort?  Well—yes, you can!    

Touch-up is a cosmetic repair.  The desired end result of a good touch-up is for the great majority of the chips to not be noticeably visible from the normal viewing range of the car, three feet or so. Small ones will seem to have disappeared altogether.  The appearance of scratches, however,  will vary, from completely unnoticeable to less unsightly. 

What shouldn’t you reasonably expect from touch-up? Professional body shop repair will restore the appearance of the damaged areas to a “like new” condition. Touch up can’t do that.  Yet, a good touch-up can make a world of difference — as you can see from the photo of the white Toyota 4Runner at the top of this page.  There were rock chips across the entire front of this hood.  A first-time user of the ChipMATE™  touched-up one side and we then snapped a photo.  A world of difference!

Here are some reasons as to why a good touch-up makes sense.

Economic sense.  The cost to professionally repair rock chips and small scratches will generally greatly exceed any value added to the vehicle. In many cases touch-up is the best alternative to full panel repainting or spot blending an area. Both of these processes usually require paint professionals, taking considerable time and expense.  

• A good touch up will help to protect the underlying metal from its major enemy, rust, while improving the appearance of your vehicle at the same time.

• Touch-up is affordable and can add as much value as professional repairs costing ten or more times as much.

• Touch-up is usually done at your home at a time that is convenient for you.

• Professional repair is scheduled, performed at a shop, and usually leaves you without your vehicle for several days.  Some shops provide free loaner vehicles, most do not.

• Visible imperfections to your paint finish can lower a vehicle’s resell condition from “very good” to “good” resulting in a considerable reduction in value. Touch-up provides a higher resell value. You can test this out on Kelly Blue Book.

If touch-up is appropriate for your vehicle, what are your options? There are many, many paint touch-up products to choose from. 

There are touch up systems that require lots of materials and lots of time to perform even a few touch ups on a vehicle.  Some extend over two or more days due to cure and drying times required.

CarChipFix™ does not.

Check out other touch up systems to compare with ours if you haven’t already – but be sure to also compare results – after all, you are after an excellent result, right?

 

CarChipFix™ delivers this every time. 

Our touch-up system is designed primarily to fix rock chips, door edge chips, and various paint scratches, although it can be used for larger areas in certain circumstances. 

So — how well does it perform what is it designed to do? Our paint touch-up system is a superb way to perform a cosmetic repair of rock chips and various scratches on your vehicle, in a nearly fool-proof manner. 

 

Fast, Easy, and Clean. The end result is an enhanced appearance and long-lasting protection for your vehicle’s paint finish.

We believe that we have the best available touch-up solution:  meaning the best value for the cost, the best results for the efforts, and committed to providing the best customer service.

Here’s how it works.

Starting with a clean surface, the ChipMATE™ precisely deposits the paint in the chips and scratches—there’s no excess paint to wipe away, no rubbing or polishing to do afterwards, no waiting for drying between coats—it’s all done at one time, a sort of “Once & Done™” approach.

Having the touch-up kit available gives you the ability to fix damage as it occurs, keeping your vehicle looking good all the time — while providing a level of protection from rust and further deterioration of the paint finish.

Because it is such an efficient system and ready to use immediately out of the kit, you can use it as often as you please—right at home at a time convenient for you – no need to fix things just once a year.

Our CarCareFocus™ articles are filled with information to help you with common car care maintenance questions. To be in the know and receive tips from the Pros, subscribe and receive exclusive offers! We welcome your questions and you may just see them answered right here!  

Thank you for visiting CarChipFix™, your Once and Done Solution for Touch-up with Precision™!

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