Hi,

I got some scratches on my car's rear (rubberized) bumper. The color is a tricoat one. Scratches are about than 1/8'' wide I would say, in the form of lines on the edge of the bumper. Would you recommend pen or brush for best results ? (I want to avoid the spray since it requires more expertise, and I don't want to sand the original paint off).

The paint is off there on these scratche, but it doesn't go not deeper. Do you advise to use rubberized (non metal) primer as well if possible, or regular primer, or just the paint is OK... 

Thanks
Dave

Applying a tricoat finish is more difficult than a regular basecoat/clearcoat combination but with some practice you can achieve satisfactory results. Because these can be very tricky, you may want to consider having a professional apply this paint or leave the entire job to a collision shop. However, it is also a very expensive repair job in the shop.

You will get better results with the spray cans as you can control the depth of the midcoat  easier. However, if you are willing to practice off the vehicle, the paint pen will also work. It's just difficult to get the midcoat part perfect. Let me know what you decide on.

Hi,

Actually the paint color is NOT a tricoat, but a regular basecoat/clearcoat. Sorry for the error. But my original questions remain:
-paint pen or brush
-(rubberized) primer, regular primer or no special need of primer.

Anyway I don't want to go to a body shop only for these paint scratches since it will cost several hundreds $.

Thanks.
Dave

PS: I would love to send a picture of the scraches on the bumper (and later after the job), however I couldn't fugure out how to post an image with the image code.

Use the "More Post Options" and select the img button. then simply enter the url between the image tags.

The paint pen should work fine on your scratch. The main point about tricoats is it takes more practice for it to look good.

Hi,

Great! Here are 2 pictures of the paint scratches on the bumper.



So the pen would be better than the brush ?
Would I need primer ?



Thanks
Dave

Try your pictures again as they didn't come through.

OK, I didn't realize since I was able to see them on the forum. Sorry, I hope they are visible now.

Paint pen should work on these. Just take your time. Practice off the car and then try one of the smallest scratches from start to finish. And have some lacquer thinner handy in case you need to clean up.