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By mickemoose, October 10, 2011



It's that time of year again - touching up rock chips on my '05 Corolla before the snow begins to fly. I have plenty of "Silver Streak Mica" Toyota touch-up paint left, but my tube of Toyota brand clearcoat is dried up. The nearest tube of clearcoat to me is at a Ford dealer which is a LOT closer to me than than nearest Toyota dealer is, so...would it be okay to use the Ford clearcoat over the Toyota touch up paint? I think all the automotive paints and clearcoats are probably made by the same vendors anyway (DuPont or PPG).

Thanks for the advice!

As long as it is the same type (solvent type) of clearcoat - brands don't really mean too much. Example, if it is a urethane or acrylic clear paint. Acrylic ones are inexpensive, quick drying, and simpler to apply - urethane based ones are single or two component paints, so may or may not be reuseable after mixed - but trades that for superior durability and gloss.

For "most" paint systems, the lacquer (acrylic) paint "should" be OK. It is quick drying so its solvent won't be too aggressive with the base paint. Doesn't mean it is perfectly safe - even in a small chip, it could cause the bottom layer to craze or turn cloudy. Best way to check is to try in an some scrap material (put some touch-up on some metal, then apply the unknown clear on it) or inside the door jam (put ontop of the existing clear to see if it eats the paint). If it works - great, if it doesn't - you're only out the cost of trying out the clear.

Myself, on chips on my Silverstream Corolla - I don't use clear touchup at all, just the Toyota silver touchup. As long as you match the height of the existing paint, you can hardly tell there is a chip there. IF the chip is bigger than my thumbnail, then I could see having to use clear on-top. For those that are the size of a grain of rice - just overfill the chip, let it dry, then polish down - chip repair basically blends into the existing paint finish.

Try here:

http://www.brandsport.com/toy-00258-0000c.html

Btw fish did you get a chance to get your car's Rock Auto feed. If not you can go to your model and hit the RSS button, then pick the one that you use.



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