Touch up paint pen - help!

[yzhng117]

Got my first dose of rock chips the other day on the freeway. Suspect the car next to me kicked up some rocks and heard something hit the side of my car, and not surprisingly, found 3 rock chips (deep) on the side of my door.

The largest chip is the size of an ant, and the smaller ones are the size of a poppy seed. I suspect they have penetrated the primer layer since I can feel a dip and the color is silver (my car is machine grey). See attached photos.

I purchased the OEM touch up pen in the machine grey color (46G). The color is a match when I tested it on paper, but when I tried applying to the chips, they look silver.... and made the chips even more noticeable.

Any suggestions on how to touch these up? Do I need some primer paint first before applying the Mazda paint? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[wlong01]

No on the primer paint idea. Just try to touch-up the spots best you can. It will never look like the factory paint, they're just designed to make the blemish look less noticeable.
To eliminate them you need a detailing shop or body shop.

Maybe the color will match closer once the paint dries.

 

[paris1]

The silver you see IS the primer. Be sure the T/U paint is thoroughly mixed. Apply a few thin coats (not a single blob) preferably using a small, model airplane paintbrush for better control. You may want to put a separate coat of clear over the finished result. It's definitely an art; not a science. And it gets tougher and tougher with the exotic finishes manufacturers are using these days!

 

[Seminole]

Dr. colorchip works great in my machine grey and is a very close match

 

[shadonoz]

Some people prefer to use a toothpick to apply the paint.

 

[lowincash]

I use dr. colorchip as well, matches much better than oem touch up paint. At least for snowflake white.

 

[yzhng117]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I thoroughly mixed the OEM touch up pen for 1 minute according to the directions and was very carefully in applying the paint, but both times they become much more noticeable. They may get a bit darker when it's dry but I'm afraid to try it to avoid any permanent marks so I wiped them off both times. Guess the OEM pen is not worth it...

I looked into dr. colorchips, initially thought it was just an aftermarket pen, but looks like it's much more "advanced" and got great reviews. Guess i'll try that kit first before taking to a local shop (got a quote between $75-$100 just for touch ups, a bit high IMO).