PiCASSO

Recently purchased a new touch-up paint pen from a Honda dealership to match my 2002 Civic 'Satin Silver Metallic'... since, after 6-months and some 18,000 km, I have hundreds chips on my front end, along with nasty side cratches from large rocks travelling at fantastic speeds before making impact with my rear quarter panels. This new touch-up paint PEN is nifty: from one side, it has your original base colour and the other side, the clear coat.

Well, yesterday, after a good wash (of my car), I've decided to give this new touch-up paint a try. First tried getting the paint on a piece of paper and then began applying the paint. The application of the paint to the surface of the scratch wasn't as perfect as I wanted it to be. But I left the car sitting in my folks driveway for the next couple of hours, which eventually turned into the following day. In the morning, with my bad luck, it rained (Niagara Falls, ON). So after wiping off the excess rain, I realized that my touch-up painted so no where near matching my original OEM paint colour. Frustrated, I thought that I needed to put some clear-coat to finish it off.

To my amazement, as I applied the clear coat, the newly applied paint started to smudge. So I decided to clean off the clear coat with a paper towel, and I found that it completely took off the 18-hour ago-applied touch up paint! WTF? Temperatures at the time of application (3:30pm) were hovering around 7 or 8 degrees Celcius... then dropping near 0 during the night.

So what happened? When wiping the morning water off, the new paint seem to stay on, but still wasn't matching the car. When added clear-coat, the paint dissolved off the car. What's wrong with this picture? Do I need to have warmer temperatures for the paint to dry? Then will it match my base OEM paint? Maybe after the addition of clear coat?

All advice is most appreciated.

Cheers,

PiCASSO

PS. Why is my paint so susceptable to chips? I've never seen this so bad on any of my previous cars. Maybe it's just my bad luck... and Michigan highways (I96 and I75) aren't world's greatest.

JSWhaler

iTrader: (3)

Ya, I'm closing in on about 18 k miles and I have small chips on the front from normal driving. It happens to all cars (mine is black) especially when you drive it all year round. Winter gives a beating to cars. You can't really touch up all of those small chips in the front cause they'll leave marks, if you want to get rid of them, you'll need to get a paint job/ partial paint job which can be costly. Even after a paint job, the marks will come back with normal driving. If the car is left out, eventually the sun will get to it and cause the color to slightly alter, which is normal.
The only advice I can really say is to shake the touch up paint a lot then apply it after you have washed the car then let it dry in a warm place over night in a place such as a garage. Once you have done this apply a small coat of wax over it to give protection. If it is too cold, the paint will not bond with the body and the same if it is too hot. Chances are, ther will probably still be marks there, hopefully just not as much. It bites, but that's life.
One last thing, the stock Honda paint is not that good. If you can invest in a better quality paint job (much $$$) then you will see a huge difference. My dad's had about five paint jobs on one of his cars and it looks sweeeeeeet.
If any of this helps I'm glad.

PiCASSO

<< Ya, I'm closing in on about 18 k miles and I have small chips on the front from normal driving. It happens to all cars (mine is black) especially when you drive it all year round. Winter gives a beating to cars. You can't really touch up all of those small chips in the front cause they'll leave marks, if you want to get rid of them, you'll need to get a paint job/ partial paint job which can be costly. Even after a paint job, the marks will come back with normal driving. If the car is left out, eventually the sun will get to it and cause the color to slightly alter, which is normal.
The only advice I can really say is to shake the touch up paint a lot then apply it after you have washed the car then let it dry in a warm place over night in a place such as a garage. Once you have done this apply a small coat of wax over it to give protection. If it is too cold, the paint will not bond with the body and the same if it is too hot. Chances are, ther will probably still be marks there, hopefully just not as much. It bites, but that's life.
One last thing, the stock Honda paint is not that good. If you can invest in a better quality paint job (much $$$) then you will see a huge difference. My dad's had about five paint jobs on one of his cars and it looks sweeeeeeet.
If any of this helps I'm glad. >>



Misery loves company... I appreciate your feedback. With regards to OEM paint, I'm assuming that this is simply a cost issue. I'm sure that Honda can put a little more money into their paint process at Marysville, OH or Aliston, ON, but these days cost reduction is the main theme. I've been noticing this a lot, especially when working for Chrysler (and driving a Honda, hehehe... but I'm still contract employee), with all our MCM ideas.

As for a new paint job: no can do. This Honda was primarely an source to get me to and from work, secondarly to have fun and look good, otherwise I would have purchased an Acura CL coupe or something much more pricier. Money will always be an issue with me in my first years out of school. For now, drive my 2K2 Honda for another 70 to 80k kilometers... and in the mean time save my money.

Cheers,

PiCASSO

JSWhaler

iTrader: (3)

sounds like a plan, ya I've noticed that a lot of the sub $20k have pretty much that same crappy paint job. I guess that's one thing you get on a more expensive ride.

NickDaMans02Civic

Yeah the touch up paint sorta works, not as well as I would like. Yeah I hate the front of the civics and how easily they get chipped. But oh well a fact of life, I installed the full bra on my car and it works but the paint is fogged on the hood in a few spots, so I now have to take the whole bra off when I wash the ride so guess there is no real win situation. Unless you install that Clear Coat that is a strong cover over the front of your car like the Lexus and Mercedes have that SolarGard has out at dealers my new ride will definately have it for sure. I was hearing $125 for it but I dunno.

2K1SilverHX

I called my insurance company State Farm and asked if the chips from rocks in the front end are covered.... and to my luck they are.... (Fortunately I have a $0 deductable) so when I get around to it, I will get new paint on my front end

PiCASSO

<< I called my insurance company State Farm and asked if the chips from rocks in the front end are covered.... and to my luck they are.... (Fortunately I have a $0 deductable) so when I get around to it, I will get new paint on my front end

>>



Keep in mind, regardless of the amount of dollars for your deductible, whether it is $0 or $500, the more claims you make within a specified period of time (I think it's usually a year or two), the more likely your insurance will go up as you are "prone to having your car damaged". A good example is your windsheild. With only 18,000 km on the clock, my windshield is looking like a war zone. I can get it replaced by my insurance company, but the more often with the year or two I do it, the more likely they'll up my premiums. Then again, this could be different in the US.

2k2civicballer

iTrader: (1)

picasso has a point.

brill

When I picked up my touch-up paint I asked when was a good time to apply it... the reply was basically warm and dry... now you probably don't get that much 'dry' in niagra falls and that could be hindering your efforts... especially if the air was saturated enough to rain that night.

PiCASSO

<< When I picked up my touch-up paint I asked when was a good time to apply it... the reply was basically warm and dry... now you probably don't get that much 'dry' in niagra falls and that could be hindering your efforts... especially if the air was saturated enough to rain that night. >>



True. I've talk to the guys at the dealership parts crib and he told me that I also must have put too much paint on it. Apparently, the base coat of touch-up needs to be very thin in order to dry properly. But given what you've mentioned, with only about 2 km away from the actual falls, there is plenty of moisture in the air which hindered the drying process.

Cheers,

PiCASSO

brill

you might want to consider travelling to a friends place which is farther away from the falls one sunny day - then trying again.

and one of the detailers on this site said to apply thin thin thin coats until you build up to the level of the original paint job... and leave about an hour in between each coat to dry.

PiCASSO

<< you might want to consider travelling to a friends place which is farther away from the falls one sunny day - then trying again.

and one of the detailers on this site said to apply thin thin thin coats until you build up to the level of the original paint job... and leave about an hour in between each coat to dry. >>



Hey Brill, I'm living in Windsor... NF is my folks place. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG] Might wash my car today and add a 'thin' layer of touch-up assuming that the forcast predict a sunny weekend and weekdays. Although it's been only 2-weeks since I thoroughly washed my car (inside/out), it looks like a sh*t whole.