Hi all.

My 1.8 Yeti is 3 on Saturday. The MOT went well, the brakes needed a clean because they were rather noisy especially when cold, and that was fixed before the inspection. It was all painless, in fact the whole experience owning the Yeti has been pretty painless and easy going, so far.

Actually, the only other thing that's gone wrong with the car in the 3 years (other than a damaged tyre and a small split in the seat cover seams, replaced at the first service) is the 12V cigar socket in the front keeps failing - twice actually, which is not too bad - just an inconvenience with todays sat-nav and usual phone paraphernalia requirements.

To the point of the topic...

I ordered a paint touch up kit from the garage when I booked it in. One of the few negatives with the Yeti, compared to other cars I've had, is the paint seems to get chipped and scratched quite easily. Mine is brown, 'muscavado' and the base white layer shows through noticeably. They gave me a little box with two pots. It has no instructions and is covered in Czech words, so I'm unclear about how to use it. I can see that one pot is the paint, as it matches the car (phew!). The other little pot is clear, so I'm assuming this is a varnish / protective layer?

Does anyone have experience using these pots? I'm pretty good with a brush - I'm an illustrator, as well as a steady hand I have a stash of very fine brushes. I've had people suggest tooth picks, with ends dabbed in a little paint which sort of slides off the tip of the stick. It looks like a reasonable idea, if you don't have any brushes. I have some good brushes.

There must be some useful tips for the novice, as I don't want it to look a total blobby mess.

One question I do have - how do I remove paint if I do make a mess, not necessarily on the car either? Amyl acetate used to be a solvent for car paint didn't it? But with EEC regulations aren't all paints now supposed to be more acrylic based?

I hope someone can help.

A toothpick or a torn price of paper rolled into a point is the best way to apply. If you apply too much just quickly dab, wipe off.

If you're good with brushes you ought to be fine. I found the brush included a bit clumsy, so had to wipe off most of the paint from the brush before applying it (bit like the days of old with Airfix models).

I used the wire part for smoothing the area first, and didn't use the clear coat at all. Just polished it...

Less is more, first make sure there is no polish etc in the chip, clean the area then use the coloured paint to literally just colour the chip, let it dry and then build up the clear lacquer, make sure it is not cold or you stand a chance of the paint blooming in this weather.

As for clean up, water is fine on the colour (it is water based after all) I tend to use a baby wipe though as we have plenty and they are convenient.

Touching up chips in metallic is a nightmare. The touched up mark usually come up darker than the original.....well it does with silver .... that I've had for many years and several cars ( My Yeti is new and white so touch up yet!)

My most successful attempts has been to mix 2 parts lacquer (clear) top one part base (colour) and rub the paint into the chip with you finger. You will have to build up the layers 4 or 5 times. Finish off the smoothing with polish or T cut.

If you are really brave you have finish off by wrapping a credit card in an old cotton hankerchief held really taught, dabbed in thinners on the edge, and then run this edge in a single scraping action across the chip repair.

I would not try this in the middle of the bonnet until you are confident. You must only do this on factory baked paint. If its previously repaired paint it could make a real mess.

I also use a hair dryer to heat the surface and dry the paint - in our winter climate

I used the 'muscavado' kit on my wing mirror and passenger door about a month ago. Bought a 000 sized brush from an art store as the coloured brush was typically huge and I was only filling stone chips.

Probably should have used the wire to clean out the hole, but CBA

Used the 000 for Muscavado then the supplied brush on the clear. Door looked better than the mirror in the end.

I tried some white touch up and to quite honest, it dried very fast and went quite stringy, managed to get the job done though and because the scratch was on the roof not too noticeable.

I have found the best method (for me) is to apply the colour in several coats using a very fine brush to partially fill the chip then finish with clearcoat well warmed to at least 35 centigrade so that it is of reasonably low viscosity. Might need a couple of coats to make repair just proud of the surface. Leave for several days then polish back with T-Cut (or similar) to get a smooth surface. Not perfect but looks pretty good and merges into paintwork so unless you know where the chip was it is almost invisible.

Many thanks for your input, very helpful. I'll have a go when the weather's a bit better, too cold to tinker today.

I don't have too many holes, 2 on the drivers door, which are the worst and a long scratch over the fuel hatch. I'm not attempting that, I'll try some polish on that first, it's too fine to retouch.

Many thanks for your input, very helpful. I'll have a go when the weather's a bit better, too cold to tinker today.

I don't have too many holes, 2 on the drivers door, which are the worst and a long scratch over the fuel hatch. I'm not attempting that, I'll try some polish on that first, it's too fine to retouch.

Are you sure you can't polish out the scratch over the fuel hatch - I was amazed at how deep you can buff out a scratch if you use something like G3. Nothing to lose before you call in one of the mobile scratch repair companies.

Are you sure you can't polish out the scratch over the fuel hatch - I was amazed at how deep you can buff out a scratch if you use something like G3. Nothing to lose before you call in one of the mobile scratch repair companies.

I'll have a go, it's a neat scratch and thin so probably not too deep. It was parked in a seaside car park for a week and loads of people carrying stuff to the beach past my car, typical. I bought some stuff from Halfords, maybe shooud try G3 - quite expensive - but cheap compared to getting a pro scratch bloke out, will give it a bit more elbow.

I'll have a go, it's a neat scratch and thin so probably not too deep. It was parked in a seaside car park for a week and loads of people carrying stuff to the beach past my car, typical. I bought some stuff from Halfords, maybe shooud try G3 - quite expensive - but cheap compared to getting a pro scratch bloke out, will give it a bit more elbow.

I had a whole series of scratches on the drivers door after parking in Sainsbury's car park. Amazing how careless some people are, or, perhaps because it was obviously a new car there was something more sinister going on!!

Anyway after trying T-Cut etc - only partially successful - I tried G3 and it worked a treat. Obviously if the scratch goes right through the paint finish then no amount of polishing will remove it but the G3 worked for me. Finished off with a good wax polish and it looks as good as new.

I have mato brown yeti and just fixed several scratches the way you can't find a spot where they were. I had one deep and painful scratch made by some reckless idiot's door and lots of light and medium light scratches (from thorns and lop). Did a lot of research and finally started with repairing job. First I bought Quixx scratch repait kit, which works just fine (Amazon.com 15$ - now. Regular price 20$). You can look You Tube and see yourself how it works

- light and medium lihgt scratches:

Step 1: carwash

step 2: apply Quixx tube 1 and rub with cloth in circular movements.

Step 3: clean with wet clean cloth

step 4: Apply Quixx tube 2 - rub circularly.

Step 5: Scratch is gone! If not, repeat all over again for some longer time.

- deep scratch:

Step 1: clean scratced spot.

Step 2: take sandpaper from Quixx kit, make it wet and spring some water on scratched spot

Step 3: rub very gently and keep it wet all the time - takw care not to destroy paint arround the scratch

Step 4: using a very thin (0 or 1) brush, apply a very small amount of paint on the scratch. Do it as a very thin layer of paint.

Let it dry and if needed, repeat few times.

Step 5: take sand paper and water and rub easily just to make a surface smooth.

Step 6: now yoz can put a layer of "clear coat". Let it dry.

Step 7: if you think it is bumpy, use sandpaper again.

Step 8: apply Quixx tube 2 - rub to make final gloss and that's it.

Be patient, deep and wide scratches are demanding, but you can deal with them - so have I. (hope you understand my Croatian English).

Me again... A week later and 95% gone. But not happy yet. Can't see it straight looking, but if you flash a light in it and look closely from an angle, you may notice a small dot of different shine. Even if it's now just about 1,5 mm in width and less than 1 mm in depth, I know now it's there and I know it's possible to repair it. I belive one small drop of clear coat with this thiny brush will do. (If you knew how it looked a week ago. About 4x5 mm and with no paint at all). Hope my next post will be refering about 100% or at least 99%. Telling you this so you don't give up before you make your car look as good as new. Not very demanding task, but takes some patience. Hope the same results with scotchandskoda's car.

Edited 15 November, 201213 yr by Jazz Moli

Me again... A week later and 95% gone. But not happy yet. Can't see it straight looking, but if you flash a light in it and look closely from an angle, you may notice a small dot of different shine. Even if it's now just about 1,5 mm in width and less than 1 mm in depth, I know now it's there and I know it's possible to repair it. I belive one small drop of clear coat with this thiny brush will do. (If you knew how it looked a week ago. About 4x5 mm and with no paint at all). Hope my next post will be refering about 100% or at least 99%. Telling you this so you don't give up before you make your car look as good as new. Not very demanding task, but takes some patience. Hope the same results with scotchandskoda's car.

Sounds much worse than mine. I have about 6-7 small chips, one is about 1mm wide - mostly on the drivers door and a long thin scratch. I'm going to follow your advice and have a go over the weekend if the weathers not too bad.

Than maybe you don't even need paint. This may be just clear coat scratch. I removed all of them with no paint- just Quixx (and they say it's permanent). But if you have to use paint and sandpaper, make sure it's very fine one (3000), spring lots of water and brush with two fingers only, and no preassure.

Wish you luck and best results!