Touching up paint on my car

[Cwadda]

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I purchased my Mazda3 (mustachian car!). She's been treating me really well so far. My mom and dad had the car detailed as a birthday present when I got it because the previous owner didn't keep it in great condition. It had a number of scratches and dinks. A fair amount of scratches came out when it was buffed in the detail. But there are still some larger, deeper ones.

Today I backed into a concrete sewer at the construction site I'm working at and broke the bottom mini tail light and got a big fist-sized scratch on the back bumper. 30 seconds later another guy did just the same so I don't feel too stupid about it. Luckily it was just cosmetic damage.

I was wondering if there's a mustachian way to touch up the paint on the car. I want to fill in a few scratch marks plus the larger one I got today. I would really like to restore the car to get her looking sharp again. Thanks!

[ketchup]

Look at the "touch-up" kits from somewhere like Paintscratch.com or Automotivetouchup.com.  They can mix the exact color for your car.  It'll be a can each of primer, basecoat, and clearcoat.  You'll just need to clean the area and maybe have some sandpaper too.  They have lots of information on how to use the kits on the sites too.

[Rural]

Any auto parts store will have paint touch up kits.

[Cwadda]

Thanks. Do either of you have any specific experiences with any of them in particular? I'm worried about matching the paint because my car is black and 7 years old. It may have experienced fading.

[ketchup]

My last car I did that on was black and 18 years old.  It looked fine.  I used AutomotiveTouchUp, but I've used PaintScratch before.