How to get rid off nicks, scrapes on car body?

[diamente]

I don't know if this is intentional subotage but today while I was driving behind this 16 wheeler, a good size pebble flew out and hit on my car roof. It chipped away the paint on the roof and now it is just bare metal. What should I do? get the touch up paint and spray over it and cover it up with clear coat spray paint?

lately I have had bad luck with driving behind 16 wheeler or big commerical trucks. Everytime I drive behind in my brand new camry le 04, I got rocks, dusts, flying at my car but it doesn't happen when I driver older cars. I think what had happened today was probably the driver threw out a rock out the window. There was no way I could get a pebble that big.

On the other hand, should I spray the clear coat on the front of my brand new car? That is where it takes the most damage to the paint and clear coat should help protect paint.

[grapefury]

well first, the touch up paint from Toyota (dealer) isn't spray. It's a small (actually very small) container with a brush.

I would dab it on, and just keep it like that, because it's not uncommon for rocks and stuff to come onto the car on highways.

And to do a lot of work for one chip.. who knows when the next one would come

since it's a 2004, the paint hasn't faded, so the touch up should match exactly with the current car

welcome to TN btw

[Dawgz]

I NEVER drive behind any big trucks, cause when a bump comes, or somthing their back tires jump up and down thus freeing debree from the road, i hate trucks !

[LiLItalian]

i HATE TRUCKS, thats why i got my whooooole front end repainted. ANyone who saw my car before thought they were looking at craters on the moon

[Your Uncle Moe]

Touch up the paint quick. Because eventually it turns into rust. Oh but wait, you live in L.A. I bet you park your car in a garage too.

If that happened to me, since I park in the street and the car is exposed to all of NY's elements, it rusts up and gets nasty.

[SmokingTires]

There is a rubbing compound you can use. It oxidises the paint (yes I know this is normally bad) and it allows the paint to smooth over the scratches. You should be able to pick it up at any auto parts store. Otherwise a lot of shops have it. I used it on my trunk. Worked great

[LiLItalian]

rub too hard and you take off the paint! Like me!

[mcv30]

if you're really picky and if you want to spend more $$ into serious investment...

ClubLexus recommends:

langka:
http://www.langka.com/index2.htm

and
autovisuals:
http://www.autovisuals.com

in my opinion it's quite a bit, however, the members in CL have been pleased with the results. other than that, to save money the dealer's touch up paint, and use a very fine paint brush like tip instead of using the dealer's brush that comes with the bottle. other than that, langka is similar to mother's paint chip repair and 1/2 the price. though, i just use the dealer's touch up. save $ cause eventually in the future more chips occur. if i have the money i would purchase the clear bra; heard a lot of good results but it all depends on the person if they like the thin layer cover on the car with a little line showing... however they're just too much money for me since bills payments are stacking.