Got a couple little dings on the rear bumper, but don't feel like springing for a whole bumper repaint right now.
Called the local JLR dealer-- $36.95 for what I assume is one of those small bottles. Color is Ultimate Black Metallic.
Worth it? Or go with another product?

 

I'm sure there are those who can do touch-up with those little bottles and make em look ok but that has never been my experience. I got the JLR kit for my Polaris White and it was more than noticable when used. It did work ok for minor scrapes and chips on the lower splitter but still noticable under close examination.
I have since taken to using a competent paint shop nearby with reasonable charges for their work.
Others may have advice better than mine though.

 

The Dr Colorchip stuff worked great on my x100, honestly could make small chips really disappear. That car has since been repainted but overall was very happy with their color match and the effect, which held up well.

 

The Speed Pack spoiler I bought off FleaBay last fall has a short but fairly deep scratch on the top of it, and the light gray substrate shows obviously through the (what I surmise is) Ultimate Black Metallic. I've been looking all over for a small tube of touch-up paint, and if your dealer charges only $37 for it, I'll grab some. Cheapest other places that I've found is over $40 everywhere. That seems like a LOT to pay for what ends up being less than 1/8-ounce of paint.

 

 

I just go down to my parts store that specializes in paint for local body shops (Still a NAPA store)

I can get the paint any way I want it, from factory original base and clear coats, to a gloss enamel in brush or aerosol.
Don't think I spent more than $25 for each of them (couple oz/ea.) (The aerosol might have been a bit more).

I got the Jaguar touch-up, when I bought the car, and it was worthless, hence I found something more trustworthy here in town.

Vince

 

There's nothing wrong with the Jaguar Touch-Up pack of colour and clearcoat EXCEPT:

1. the COST
2. the BRUSH in the cap. Don't even think about using that or the results will look worse than the scratch.




Repairing chips and scratches is a skilled job which takes a lot of time and practice for success. Ultimate Black is probably not the best colour to start the learning curve.

Graham

 

I agree with graham. Dont use the brush, order it dont get off the shelf. We dont stock and neither should any dealer unless theyre big on selling alot otherwise you get old goey paint. Shake well, clean area well, use a straight pin to dab and fill. After i get the area level. I wet sand to flaten with 600, then 1500 and 2000. Then buff out and voila' . Most times you can only tell because you know where it is if done right

 

Luckily, I have not needed any touch up yet. I got a clear bra installed on my front bumper right after purchase and have missed any road debris. Yes, Jag wants $35 for the small bottle but I'll assume for a very small imperfection and using a toothpick will not be too noticeable for the fix. Anything bigger will require a professional paint shop.

 

My local Mercedes Dealership offers Paint Chip repair for $129. apparently per online chat, no limit to the number of chips. Outside of my skill set so I'd rather pony up the dough and complain if they don't get it right:-)

 

 

How much does a body shop charge to do this?

 

This is clearly what I got as they pulled it off the shelf the day I bought the car.

 

I used them for the paint to repaint my battery area in my x100. Excellent color, and since it was the bottom of the trunk, it wasn't light degraded and they did a great match. I got the 2k clear too. Made me less pissed about a leaky battery lol.

 

I just stopped by my local paint dealer and had a touch up bottle of Brilliant Red for my kids Audi and a bottle of IRR for my Jag. Cost for the both was $32. They have the mix based on the paint code.

 

This is the biggest reason to get an AGM battery.

 

Have one now.

 

The place that works on the cars on our show does excellent, high-end work, and they help us out a little with the price. He'd charge $300 cash to pull the rear bumper and repaint. I guess my issue is, since I live in a city and have to do a fair amount of street parking, my rear bumper always gets little love taps. I figure this is a good opportunity to see if any of these things work, and maybe not have to do a respray on that bumper cover very often.

 

Thanks for the thoughts so far!
I think I'm gonna give that Dr. Colorchip a try. I figure: it doesn't work, or looks crappy, I'm back to having the bumper repainted anyway. It's worth the $ to see for myself.
I'll keep y'all posted.

 

There are seven products that you ought to have, if you're a DIY owner who wants to try gorgeous touch-ups. Altogether they amount to about $65 from your wallet. But they last very long, and most important, LOL they give you the power to erase what you did wrong, and start the touch-up over again.
1- ABN Fine-Point Disposable Brush Applicator. Super tiny brushes for dabbing on your touch-up paint really thin and clean with no blobs. Comes in a pack of 100.
2- A sanding pen. A cool little item that "scrubs" the spot you need to paint (because sometimes the chip is too danged small for you to get you paint into, or too danged rough around the edges. THIS is the gadget that you can use to scrub open the touch-uo that you messed up, so you can start all over again.
3- 1500 grit sanding paper, designed for cars. You hardly ever need this, except when your paint damage is a nasty gouge that pokes up from the surface, and needs to be filed gently down.
4- 2000 grit sanding paper for cars (sands your touched up area super flat and gentle, so it blends right into the surrounding paint. This grit is so fine, all it leaves behind is a white fuzzy haze on your paint.
5- Maguires Ultimate Compound. This is the stuff you polish away all signs of the touch-up AFTER you've done the best you can with the paint and the final gentle sanding with 2000 grit paper.
6- A little bottle of pure acetone. This is the same stuff all the women use in your girlfriend's nail salon. Try never to use your touch up paint until you've first put several drops of this stuff in the bottle and shaken it up (because the toouch-up paint in that bottle is almost always too thick and globby for you to use on a simple chip).
7- PATIENCE. This stuff all needs to go in in thin layers, and wait overnight to dry, then another thin layer, etc.

The sanding pen is the favorite tool, because like I said, it let's you scrub out the screw-up and start all over again.