Paint Pen Brand Recommendations???

I find myself saying that constantly to myself, "WTH, I just paid $150 for that? I could've done that myself in my garage" Unfortunately, to the average person, I'm sure it would have been a "good enough" job. But as I'm sure you know, those of us that end up on car forums are MUCH more particular about our cars than the average joe so we obsess over every ding, knock, howl, kazoo, whoosh, and any other word you want to throw in there.

 

True. I knew it wouldn't look great. Touch up NEVER looks like a factory finish with clear coat. You're going to have that depression where the layers of factory paint are now missing. My wife was actually more upset about it than I was and I don't think she has ever visited a Forum once.

 

Yeah, I'm actually debating right now whether to pony up $500-600 dollars for a llumar clear bra for her car since she logs about 800 highway miles a week or just have the entire hood redone every 3-5 years depending how bad it gets. There's really no way around rock chips and even the best bra won't keep the biggest stones away.

 

Whoa. So glad I joined TW. Thank you all for you advice. I will be swinging by the dealer today to pick a pen and compare it next to some stuff I found on Amazon that was highly recommended. All in this is now a $30 experiment in the name of science!

 

Which is part of the problem. You just never know who those Yelpers are.

Or any other reviewers for any other product/services groups either. Amazon, Tire Rack, etc etc. We have no clue how smart, dumb, self serving or just deceitful the reviewers are.

Trip Advisor has been pretty accurate in my experience, IF the location has a few hundred reviews. That's enough to weed out the good ones from the cousins/grandmothers and the bad ones from the competitors.

 

Might want to consider 3M over Llumar. Not the best test but proves a point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhVhZqZvKaM&feature=youtu.be
BTW, I have 3M on 2 vehicles and I've never had a rock chip on any single part of the paint that's under the film. Plenty in other areas though.

 

$15 Toyota Genuine Touch up Paint, Black Onyx, Color Code 202, Scion/Lexus

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008216AGC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bought mine on Amazon..$10.48 w/free shipping.

 

Here's some pics of the Toyota paint. The bottle is orange because it's Inferno orange paint.

 

Do it...I love experiments. Make sure to give us a review. I might be easy to impress with the stuff I bought.

 

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

Used their stuff (spray, not touch up, but also bought some touchup) for my FJ emblem on my 2015 Silver Sky Metallic
These pics aren't great for touchup purposes, but you get the idea. Great reviews.