Has anyone used paint pens, or how well do they work? Ive got alot of little scratches all over the truck and Id like to get rid of them and was wondering if anyone had used these pens rather than repainting.

 

I tried to use one to touch up some little scratches I had. But the paint didn't match and I couldn't find my color.

 

Never used one on a vehicle. The only ones I've used have been bright yellow/orange and I used them to mark metal in the shop. It may help a little but you'll never match factory paint exactly and it'd be hard to get it just right

 

Has anyone tried Dr. Color Chip repair kit? Been looking into it for a few small scratches from over the years. Looks like a decent product not bad for $40 for the basic color matched kit.

 

I've used the duplicolor touch up pen before and it worked ok, not a perfect match but it matches good enough that the chips on my door weren't as noticeable anymore

 

06malibu - I've used touch-up paint with a fair amount of success. Check your paint code (usually located on a sticker in the door jamb) and then you can get the color-match touch-up in your local automotive store. I used Scratch Fix 2 in 1 by Dupli-color, and I thought the color match was dead-on. From close up the only thing I notice is that the scratch or ding is still visible as an indentation, but now that it matches the vehicle, your eye is not drawn to it. From 10 feet away, I can't see the ding / scratch.

If you get good at applying the touch-up paint, you could get the scratch level-full of paint so there is not even an indentation, and it would virtually disappear. But that's the hard part. Also, when you wax, if the indentation is still deep enough, it will hold wax and leave a white mark. One trick is to let the touch-up paint dry (about an hour I think) then apply more paint. Repeat until indentation is full. Or get spot putty to fill it, then use the touch-up.

texasman - I have also tried Dr. Colorchip. That is also an effective product, although a bit more involved to put on. I think the big selling point w/ Dr. Colorchip is that it makes it much easier to get the scratch / ding level-full of paint so you can't even see the indentation. It does take much patience though, and is a lot more expensive than the Dupli-color Scratch Fix ($10 or less for the Dupli-color and $40+ for Dr Colorchip).