Paint Touch-Up

In preparation for placing Invinca-Shield on the car there was a rock chip that I needed to touch-up because it would be under the Invinca-Shield, which is of course exactly the type of thing that Invinca-Shield is designed to STOP from happening! The picture below depict the touch-up procedure, as always, click on a picture to see a full size version.

1) Clean the area with some rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol to remove any dirt, wax, etc.

2) Using a toothpick, carefully apply a light coat of paint inside the chip. At this point I let this first coat dry for 24 hours as a base coat to adhere well to the primer, you don't have to do this, but I do it because I think the results are better. You do NOT want to form a "blob" at this point, you simply want to lightly coat the recessed area of the chip.

3) Using a toothpick again, fill in the chip with touch-up paint (I was using the Solar Yellow touch up paint from Toyota pictured below), at this point you do want to have a slightly raised "blob" of paint. Be sure that the paint completely fills the rock chip. If your chip is particularly deep you may require multiple coats of touch-up paint. My chip was not that deep so the one base coat plus the "blob" coat was enough.

4) The directions say allow to dry 45 minutes, I actually let it dry about 75 minutes before applying the Langka. Langka is available from www.langka.com . Langka is a white cream paste in a small bottle along with a plastic flat blade. To use, simply wrap a smooth piece of cloth like a t-shirt or underwear around the plastic blade. DO NOT USE A TERRY TOWEL! Apply the Langka liberally to the cloth wrapped plastic blade and rub in one direction across the blob for about 10-12 seconds. The excess "blob" touch-up paint will come off on the towel and the surface will be mirror smooth.

5) If you missed any spots allow to dry overnight, and repeat the touchup process and Langka process again. I think you can see from the pictures below I achieved good results! Now it's time for the Invinca-Shield!

Here is the nasty rock chip beforehand.	Another view of the chip	Clean with alcohol, I think this was Wal-Mart brand! :-)
Clean the area well. Note the Toyota emblem is going to get removed, see the picture series for that soon!	Here is the incredibly hard to find factory touch-up paint for Solar Yellow. Thanks to Pete for sending me his, mine is still back-ordered!	Use a toothpick, don't use a brush, to do the touchup. Allow the capillary action to draw paint from the toothpick and into the chip.
So here's the before	And here's the after!	Here is a picture of the Langka bottle, and applicator, but I was alone when doing the 2nd coat and Langka removal so I didn't get any pictures of the actual process.
A close-up after shot	A really good after shot, showing no chip!