[CX-5 2016.5] Small scratches - Your take on touch-up paint

Hi

My wife accidentally closed the door onto the trunk door of my CX-5 2016.5. Pictures below.

Since I don't believe in divorce (shady), I would like to see if I can get this fixed. Have any of you guys had experiences with Mazda genuine touch-up paint pens, or Color N Drive Exact Match OEM Paint Repair Kit? I found some on Amazon and some of the reviews are terrible - not the right color, made the scratches worse, etc. I'm very hesitant to try. Did the reviewers perhaps use the pen the wrong way? Got the wrong color code?

The scratches aren't that big or deep, so I want to believe I don't need to spend $300 on a body shop to get this fixed.

Any thoughts will be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks
Phil

phillipviana said:

Hi

My wife accidentally closed the door onto the trunk door of my CX-5 2016.5. Pictures below.

Since I don't believe in divorce (shady), I would like to see if I can get this fixed. Have any of you guys had experiences with Mazda genuine touch-up paint pens, or Color N Drive Exact Match OEM Paint Repair Kit? I found some on Amazon and some of the reviews are terrible - not the right color, made the scratches worse, etc. I'm very hesitant to try. Did the reviewers perhaps use the pen the wrong way? Got the wrong color code?

The scratches aren't that big or deep, so I want to believe I don't need to spend $300 on a body shop to get this fixed.

Any thoughts will be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks
Phil

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That is a tough one... I think the repair will come down to how picky you are.

If you are picky, I really do not think you will get the results you want for this type of long scratch repair by touch-up pen. You just can not get close to a factory sprayed metallic / mica paint finish from a touch-up pen or brush. It will most likely take a re-spray by a professional.

If you are NOT picky, you can attempt using a clear-coat safe scratch remover product to lessen the visibility, and live with the results. Or perhaps a well placed decal?

Thank you for your response! Roughly how much do you think I'd be looking at if I go for a repair at a body shop?

Also if I decide to not be so picky, can I just use the touch-up paint or do I need ALL the other stuff like primer, seal, etc.?

I did get rid of scratches but those were not as deep - they did not penetrate through the color and exposed the primer.

The Mazda touch up paint is 11 bucks, if it was your hood you d need to do a lot.

With the rear - I would get the touch up paint.

Clean thoroughly - use a clay bar to lift of impurities, buff the scratches with Scratch X or ultimate compound. Apply the pen paint, seal with thick coat of wax.

you may want to do a scratch X to blend in before coat of Wax.

If you have not done any of these - i would recommend get a small bottle of ONR, Scratch X, Wax and one applicator pad and 1 Micro fiber towel.

Note - i do not think clear coat safe scratch remover will fix these. If you apply 5 times you might see an improvement but they are only meant for minor blemishes. Like an accidental key brush that only punctures clear coat. So you do need paint. GL.

It is always hard to estimate a repair bill, but it seems unlikely that it would be less than $300 or more than $800 for paint, materials and labor.

Body shops will be happy to give you a free estimate.

As far as doing the touch-up yourself, there are some great DIY videos on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhcYZULgbOU

If it were mine, I would start with some Meguiar's "Scratch-X", and decide how much it still bothered me after. But like KAPS said, with your depth, it is unlikely that this will help much...

First question on the scratches, can you feel them with your finger nail? It's hard to tell exactly how deep they are from the pictures. If you run your finger nail across them and can feel it it is through the clear and most likely the color coat as well. If not then it means it's just in the clear coat and should be able to be buffed away. It's possible also that there is paint transfer from the other car and the paint is on top of your paint.

Fixing deep scratches is a very time consuming thing but it can be done right if you know what to do.

https://www.ammonyc.com/detailing/ride-along-147-best-touch-up-tricks-mercedes-g55/

Larry has some great tips on removing deep scratches in that video. As far as the touch up pen goes, it will be close but not exact I believe. The meteor grey is that way anyhow, works well for small scratches. You could maybe find a custom paint shop to mix you a spray can of the correct color to do a larger area and blend after its dried. Good Luck!

phillipviana said:

Thank you for your response! Roughly how much do you think I'd be looking at if I go for a repair at a body shop?

Also if I decide to not be so picky, can I just use the touch-up paint or do I need ALL the other stuff like primer, seal, etc.?

Click to expand...

It's hard to tell what's going on in the pictures, did it cut through the paint and down to the primer? If you take your finger nail and run it across the mark does it catch? Or is it paint transfer ? You can get some rubbing alcohol on a micro fibre cloth and try rubbing the mark to see if it comes off and also use scratch x like others have said and try to remove the mark. If in fact it the paint has been taken off down to the primer then you have a couple of options, 1. Go get a few free estimates from good body shops or get the dealer touch up paint and fill inside the scratch followed by some clear coat and then a very very light wet sand with 2000 grit and then buff it, if you do not feel confident in doing that look for a body shop that can do it.

I'm 100% sure that the paint is completely gone and that's the primer exposed. No touch-up paint you use is going to fill that all the way in and blend in to such a degree that you'll be happy. A bodyshop could paint the area and blend it with surrounding areas.

Thank you for your responses. Unfortunately if I run my finger across the scratch it DOES catch - the car clearly lost some paint. It wasn't another car, but the garage door :-(

In that case, Scratch X won't help, is that right?

phillipviana said:

Thank you for your responses. Unfortunately if I run my finger across the scratch it DOES catch - the car clearly lost some paint. It wasn't another car, but the garage door :-(

In that case, Scratch X won't help, is that right?

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Correct, Scratch X is just a mild polisher to take out surface scratches in the clear coat, it doesn't fill anything in or blend anything. Most touch up paints are really only sufficient for small rock chips and that's really only to make the chip blend in with the surrounding paint from more than 1-2 feet away. Even with the best touch up paint you'll be able to see it when you get closer to the car. I would try to find a shop that will do the repair by masking off the whole back of the car and only working on that exposed area. Some shops might try to say you need the whole tailgate resprayed and want to charge labor to remove it from the car, or will try to say it needs to be "blended" with other surrounding panels. A good quality shop should be able to perform the repair to that specific area and blend it into the immediate areas around it without having to remove anything except the license plate.

Hey guys, just wanted to provide an update on what I did, share some photos and let you know how satisfied I am:

- I went to the best body shop in my area and got a quote for $491 (full repair).

- The clerk said to me I could also get one of their guys to do a touch-up with their paint and just tip the guy something like 10 or 15 bucks. That's what I went for.

- The guy looked at the color code in the driver's door and mixed the paint on the spot in the shop.
---> According to him, the genuine Mazda pens (or any other manufacturer's for that matter) are not good for this kind of repair, which is exactly what other folks told me in the forum.
---> Scratches apart, I was amazed at how similar his paint was to my car's color (Meteor Gray, color code 42A)

- Overall I am very happy and consider that the problem is 90% gone by spending only with 3% of the cost for a full repair ($491)
---> I am sending some photos below. Bear in mind that the photos were taken specifically with the intent to show what the repair looks like: I looked for the right angle, the right light, the right resolution, etc. Whenever it looks really bad, it really isn't.
---> With naked eyes, I'd say it's very unlikely that someone would notice the scratches from 3 feet away (unless they knew about the scratches before).
---> For sure if I tried to sell the car in a shop or dealership the buyer would see the scratches during inspection.
---> Someone who's not picky at all would easily call it a 99% improvement.
---> Someone who's very picky would call it at least a 75% in my opinion.

- It sounds like this was definitely a better solution than buying the pen and trying to repair myself.

Thanks everyone for your help! And here come the photos...

I would be happy with that.

Were you allowed to watch him repair it so that you can DIY next time when it is your fault. (rockon)

mazdadude said:

I would be happy with that.

Were you allowed to watch him repair it so that you can DIY next time when it is your fault. (rockon)

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I did watch the guy do it but I think it will be hard to find the right paint (apparently the touch-up ones don't match the original that well) and I don't have the guy's skills and accuracy lol

I love DIY but for $15 I'll go over and over and over again