Joseph Park Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 White cars are hard to take car of, they show dirt and grime a lot and touching up is a pain. I bought my 2011 MKZ with platinum white metallic tri coat. Ford/Lincoln charges a premium for. When I bought the car it looked absolutely brilliant in the showroom. White brings a brilliance and sense us class to any car. The Metallic tri-coat is so pretty because the metallic coat has a shiny blue tinge to it giving the mundane white sparkle and brilliance. The problem with this is matching paint for this color combo. On most Ford/Lincoln cars this white suffers from dis colorization. The plastic bumpers seem darker in color than the metal parts of the car. Two weeks into owning my car someone taped bumper by the rear licence plate and a pin sized piece of paint chipped off. Living in NYC I try to tell myself it isn't if but when accidents like this will happen. Still I owned the car for only two weeks and seeing the black primer against the stark white bumper made the mark really noticeable even though the chip was tiny. Researching how bad Lincoln's touchup pen was I decided to get tri-coat touchup from TouchUpDirect from EBay since it wasn't an all in one pen. Since the bumper is ever so slightly discolored compared to the metal parts of the car, the base white coat looked like whiteout and was too bright. The metallic coat was a bit watery even with a generous shake and the paint didn't have the shimmer of the factory paint. The topcoat sealed up the job. Overall the paint is serviceable and the paint can't be noticed a few yards away, but up close the spot looks very white. I had 2-3 rock chips on my front bumper. Again it came out alright but looks like if someone had acne scars or discoloration marks on their face. Overall a beautiful color that shows the chrome accents off very well unlike the silver/grey colors. BUT if your anal about scratches or discoloration this paint is not for you. anyone have any suggestions for touchup for platinum white metallic tri coat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveB_TX Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Swing by your local automotive paint supply store. They will be able to match your paint perfectly. It will cost you more, but at least the color will match. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davisjl Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Actually, of all the colors... white is one of the ones that LEAST shows dirt... Black being the most. As for touchup paint on dings such... I've never had any luck with anyone's touchup when it comes to metallic coated paints. I've owned BMW, Audi, Cadillac and Acura... all pretty much sucked when it came to touching up a ding from a rock or anything else. The only thing I've found that works is to put a clear bra on the car Prior to getting the chip/ding. That way you keep from having to use any touchup pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Park Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 So a maddening thing happened today. But my story goes back a couple weeks ago. I park on the street and usually I have no problems but one day (3 weeks ago) some Chinese guy asked me to move my car since he has a "big" car (Lexus RX) and I said why? He got mad for questioning him and cursed at me and spoke a bunch of Chinese mumble jumble. The next day he spray painted neon green paint on the sides of the end of driveway on the curb, but some of the spray got on my chrome wheels. I confronted him about it and he said he did spray the paint but refused to pay to get it off and it cost me $60 to get it detailed. Yesterday I parked about a block away but on the same street to avoid the Chinese d bag. I wake up this morning to check on my car and I see hug key marks all over the car. Literally there isn't a panel that isn't damaged besides the hood and bumpers. I am furious at this point and I slam on his door and confront him and he says he has nothing to do with it and I can't prove anything and you know what? The sad part is the stupid Chinese man is right. No cameras around and no one saw anything, so legally nothing I can do. I guess this is where the semi happy news comes in. Since this was considered vandalism my insurance covered everything besides my $250 deductible and since almost every panel was touched and because they want to properly match the paint they are repainting the whole outside of the car. As I mentioned in the previous post my rear bumper and front bumper had some touch up fixes down which came put sub par at best since it's almost impossible to replicate tri coat paint on touch up kits and because the plastic bumpers had become discolored. So the good news is my bumpers will actually match the rest of the paint and I am getting a freshly painted car. The estimate came to $5300, but thank god for insurance lesson I hate chinese people, btw I am Korean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALICOJOE Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Hi, my car is the same way! No way the factory touch up matches the front fascia. I'm think about painting the whole thing instead of trying anymore touch up paint. The only paint that I have found CLOSE to it, is Mercedes code #50, then use the clear coat from the Ford tube. Still a "Mickey Mouse" fix!! Good luck. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcgliss Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 (edited) The paint in those touch up pens and vials is too thick. For metallic colors, I mix small amounts of the paint with model paint thinner so that it flows smoothly. By building up thin coats it lays flat compared to the globs that form straight from the vial. This is even more important on vertical surfaces where the paint can sag and refract light differently. P.S. It's sickening to hear of intentional vandalism. Edited March 31, 2018 by jmcgliss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dino Posted March 31, 2018 Share Posted March 31, 2018 Automotive touchup paint is what these folks do. I highly recommend them, their stuff is great. https://www.automotivetouchup.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruzingGuy Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Also Dr. Colorchip is very good. I have had good success with them. https://www.drcolorchip.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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