The Biggest Questions About Touching Up Car Paint, Answered

Last Updated December 5, 2024

When you have a chip or a scratch in your car’s paint, your first instinct might be to apply some touch-up paint. Applying touch-up paint to a chip or scratch in a car’s paint helps hide the blemish and protects the underlying body metal from rust and corrosion. 

Sounds simple enough, right? Not quite. While putting on touch-up paint may seem like painting in a kindergarten art class, it’s far more complicated than you’d think. 

In this article, I’ll answer all your biggest questions about touch-up paint. Let’s dig in. 

What is Touch-Up Paint?

Touch-up paint is what we use to paint over a chip or scratch in a car’s paintwork. There are two primary kinds of touch-up paint:

• Touch-Up Paint Pen: This kind of touch-up paint is applied with a pen-like device and doesn’t require a brush to apply. It may or may not come with a clear coat paint pen to apply over. 
• Touch-Up Paint: Conventional touch-up paint typically comes in a small canister and is applied with a brush. 

What Does Touch-Up Paint Do?

Touch-up paint does two things:

• Hides Blemishes: Touch-up paint hides scratches and chips in your car’s paint by filling them in with paint that matches the rest of the vehicle’s paintwork. After polishing the vehicle, the touch-up paint should match the rest of the paint exactly so it looks like the damage never happened. 
• Protects Body Metal:  A car’s paint helps protect the body metal against rust so the frame of the vehicle doesn’t start to corrode and weaken. Touch-up paint will fill in the gap in the paint’s protection, keeping out the moisture and oxygen that produces rust.

Can Touch-Up Paint Prevent Rust?

When it comes to chips and scratches in your paint, one of the biggest concerns is rust. As I mentioned previously, a car’s paint helps protect the body metal against rust so the frame of the vehicle doesn’t start to corrode and weaken. You need to cover up the chip or scratch in order to prevent rust from starting to form. 

Touch-up paint CAN prevent rust, but that depends on a number of factors:

• How Big is the Scratch or Chip? Touch-up paint is for touch-ups — small scratches and chips that are too small for normal painting processes. Because of this, touch-up paint typically uses tiny brushes and small amounts of paint. If you were to try to apply this over a large scratch or chip, the paint would be spread too thin to properly protect. Situations like these may require the area to be re-sprayed in a paint booth in order to protect against rust.
• Are You Applying to a Clean Surface in a Clean Environment? Touch-up paint requires a clean environment and surface in order to adhere properly to the paint. Otherwise, dust and other contaminant particles can impede the adhesion. If the touch-up paint can’t stay on the car, it won’t be able to protect against rust. 
• Are You Using High Quality or OEM Paint? How well the touch-up paint will prevent rust depends on the quality of the touch-up paint. High quality touch-up paint sourced from an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer, the company that manufactures the car) will prevent rust extremely well because it is made from the same paint they use in the factory.
  
  On the other hand, some aftermarket touch-up paints may not be as high quality and could require an application of clear coat to offer full protection against rust. Be sure to research touch-up paint if you’re going to cover a scratch or chip by yourself. 
• Are You Experienced Applying Touch-Up Paint? In order for the touch-up paint to properly adhere and protect against rust, it needs to be applied correctly. If you’re not experienced applying touch-up paint, application errors could leave your car’s metal exposed to rust.

Is Touch-Up Paint Permanent? How Long Does It Last?

High quality OEM touch-up paint is designed to be permanent and last as long as the rest of the paint on the vehicle. High quality, premium, body shop-grade aftermarket touch-up paint is also permanent. 

This of course all depends on how well the touch-up paint is applied — if used incorrectly, touch-up paint can fail prematurely and leave the chip or scratch exposed. 

Cheaper touch-up paints, on the other hand, aren’t as durable and only last a few years. For some people, lower durability is an acceptable trade-off for fast results and ease of application. 

Can Touch-Up Paint Be Buffed Out? 

Yes, touch-up paint can be buffed out. Polishing touch-up paint after application actually helps blend it in with the rest of the vehicle’s paint. This is because touch-up paint can leave a slightly uneven or raised texture compared to the surrounding paint. Polishing smooths this out, reducing visible edges and making the repair less noticeable.

Does Touch-Up Paint Expire? What is the Shelf Life of Touch-Up Paint?

Let’s say you’ve got an unused bottle or pen of touch-up paint sitting in your garage cabinets. How long before you need to throw it away? Does touch-up paint have an expiration date or shelf-life? 

First, check the manufacturer’s info to see if they specify a shelf life or expiration date. There are many different brands and types of touch-up paint available with varying shelf lives, so going to the manufacturer for that information is probably your best bet. 

What if you don’t have access to manufacturer information? Overall, a pre-catalyzed paint like touch-up paint should have a shelf life of 1-2 years if stored in a cool, dry place. If you’re not sure what the expiration date is, this estimate should work well. 

Can Touch-Up Paint Look Good?

If applied correctly with a perfect color match, touch-up paint can look so good it’s indistinguishable from the rest of the paint. Here are a few tips to make touch-up paint as seamless as possible with the rest of the paint:

• Get a Perfect Color Match: A dealership or professional bodyshop has specialized tools that can match the color of your paint exactly to the correct touch-up paint. A perfect match will ensure perfect consistency across the finish. 
• Polish After Applying: Polishing the paint after applying touch-up paint will help create a uniform surface by sanding down raised edges on the chip or scratch, leveling high spots in the touch-up paint and removing swirls/scratches in the surrounding paintwork. 
• Apply Clear Coat & Ceramic Coating: Applying clear coat will further blend the touch-up paint in with the surrounding paintwork. Once applied, installing a ceramic coating over all of the paint will blend the appearance further. 

Can I Touch Up My Car’s Paint at Home? Do I Need a Professional?

If you’ve got a tiny rock chip and you’re already armed with an OEM touch-up paint pen, you can absolutely apply touch up your car’s paint at home. 

Things get a little more complicated with bigger (or deeper) rock chips and scratches, especially those that have penetrated to the body metal. These types of blemishes will require application of primer before the touch-up paint as well as clear coat after application. If applied incorrectly, the touch-up paint could fail prematurely, leading to rust on the body metal. For this reason, we recommend going to a professional detailer or body shop painter for any larger chips and scratches. 

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Hopefully this article answered some of your biggest questions about touch-up paint. It’s an incredibly effective solution for those pesky rock chips and scratches that inevitably arise from daily driving. 

Just keep in mind that you need to apply the touch-up paint correctly in order for it to properly protect the vehicle’s body metal and that polishing may be necessary to properly blend the touch-up paint in with the rest of the finish. 

Have any questions we didn’t answer here? Ask them below! Did we miss the mark on anything? Let us know as well. Thanks for reading!