Hey y'all, I just bought a nice torch red 2001 Monte Carlo LS today and am wondering the best way to touch up a few scratches inexpensively. Would a paint pen work well without making noticeable marks? Which paint pens would you recommend? I'm a newbie to all this stuff so anything helps. Thanks!

 

Well I believe about anything you do will still be noticeable. Just practice on nondescript area on the car first. There is a company called Dr. Color Chip that gives you a kit that works fairly well, I like it. Whatever you end up using use a light touch, go easy on the paint. Watch a couple You Tube videos on the subject and you should be able to make it look good from 10 ft. away.


Link to the Color Chip paint kit.

https://www.drcolorchip.com/

 

My 2 cents worth: grab the vin / paint color and any NAPA or auto paint store can match up a pint of paint for you. (I have 5 kids, they like to paint, but I don't let them paint on my car :P LOL) however they have some really fine paint brushes, that I steal, (ones where the tip is about the size of a ball point pen, and going up in size from there). For a small rock chip that still has the white undercoating primer, I'll plop down a drop or 2 of paint... in the more damaged areas, specifically fenders, I'll remove rust and loose paint, then use the black undercoating primer that bonds / hardens rust; and then paint over that with a small foam brush; (Show quality? NOOO, but when you gotta get on your hands and knees & / or stoop over and inspect closely, it's much better than seeing something from 15' away...

 

Well, finally the paint on my black car is being worked on. He wants to work on the area under the decals so they are going to have to go. So I am not sure what direction to go for decals. Part of me wants to go with whatever the original was for the 2001 MOC SS. The other part of me want to go a bit wild -- US flag, crashing waves, flaming silver dragons, rampaging dinosaurs, skeleton soldiers with swords... who knows! (OK, maybe not that last one... but I did up with zombie seat covers, so, who knows.) This dang car is going to run me into the poorhouse before I'm done with the exterior and interior so I might as well have fun with it.

On a good note, this body guy took a look at my red car and thinks he can patch up for winter use for a very reasonable price, hopefully for a couple winters anyway, so I can preserve the black one as long as possible.

Thoughts on the decals? Happy or regretful?

 

You'd get more feedback if you posted this in its own thread. Right now its tacked on at the end of a thread about touching up scratches, so you won't get as much visibility here.

You could also post some pictures of the decals you're thinking of if you're looking for input on them.