I need to paint the areas on the BRZ that I treated with rust converter, and it's a bit more than I want to handle with a touch up paint stick. Not to mention that I've been waiting for OEM touch up paint for over two weeks now and still with no ETA.
There are a bunch of companies out there that advertise touch up paint in spray cans, with fairly varying prices and obviously hard to find real reviews. Does anybody have a recommendation?
A Yelp search on body shop supply companies around here didn't exactly come up with useful leads. I did hear that NAPA might be able to supply paint but I'm not sure ours does, and the prices seem to be a tad high (plus they supply 16 oz spray cans, which is more than I need).
I wouldn't look for body shop supply companies, I'd look for paint supply companies. I know of at least three in our little town. And our NAPA can also do it although you'd never know from walking in - so ask them. The nice thing about dealing locally is that you can get an exact match to your car instead of going off what color your car should be.
Here are my experiences with touch up paint. A few years ago I ordered some from automotivetouchup.com and it was a great match. A little pricey but the color was spot on. When I needed some paint for my van this year I decided to follow the standard internet advice and try local places. What I discovered is that in my corner of the world the paint supply places do not seem all that interested in selling paint to a dude off the street. They have their body shop accounts and don't need me. One place was willing to mix me up a spray can. The color was good, but it was a smaller can that cost just as much as the one I previously ordered online. Online 12 oz $36.32 (24.95 plus 11.37 shipping) local paint store 7.5 oz was 38.99. Then I tried a different local store. Said they could mix me up a qt for about 80 bucks. I figure that will be good because I was covering some rust repair until I could do the whole car and that will be plenty. I stop in, get the "oh you're not a body shop" treatment, multiple warnings that its buyer beware because they don't guarantee color, but I roll the dice. I get home and it looks like they threw a gallon worth of metallic in it. Beautiful color, but several shades off and waaay too metallic.
I still needed some paint so I ordered from the web again. I ordered 2 cans for the van and one for the mustang since shipping would be the same. It should be here tomorrow.
TLDR- If you go local hopefully you have better luck than me.
The first time I ordered from automotivetouchup.com the match was perfect. I ordered a bunch more cans when I sprayed my front fenders and the match was not quite as good the second time. I'd still order from them again but I'd be wary if the areas you want to paint are high visibility.
Trent
PowerDork
5/18/21 2:41 p.m.
For a long time http://www.paintscratch.com was the leader in this, I have never tried them though.
I used https://touchupdirect.com/ a while back. The paint they provided was a perfect match for the Audi Titanium Edition wheels I was working on.
NAPA will make custom factory matched colors in aerosol cans. I redid a set of Porsche phone dials with it and they came out great. It was pricey though at about $20 per can.
I have also used automotivetouchup.com once and the color matched up great.
I've heard good things about Auto Touch Up. I manage a local paint supply house here in PA but looks like you are a little aways from me.
JThw8
UltimaDork
5/18/21 8:23 p.m.
Trent said:
For a long time http://www.paintscratch.com was the leader in this, I have never tried them though.
Ive used them a few times. Dang near spot on color matching from the factory color code.
My local NAPA store mixes up paint by VIN or by hitting the car with a device (don't know what it's called) and puts it in rattle cans.
Call around.
ddavidv
UltimaDork
5/19/21 6:27 a.m.
I bought a can of silver metallic BMW M3 color from automotivetouchup.com to paint a fender. I just wanted the fender to not be green anymore but shelled out the extra for the 'proper' color as an experiment. Color match was dead on. For silver! That's not easy to achieve. The paint itself was of a good quality also, including the clear.
Seems expensive at first but I think this is a "you get what you pay for" moment.
I will also show my happiness for automotivetouchup.com

Thanks - sounds like I should have a word with my local NAPA and otherwise mosey over to automotivetouchup.com