Order for clay / touch up paint / polishing?

[LateFan]

If you plan to touch up some spots or scratches with something like paintscratch.com products, what order are you working in?

You want to clean and clay bar of course. Do you touch up paint before doing any compounding and polishing? You don't want any material down in the scratches before you fill in paint.

Thanks -

[AWDBOB]

I always wash/dry, then wetsand with 1500-2500 depending how hard/soft the paint is to even out the depth of the chip/scratches. Then clean with isopropyl to clean it out and apply touch up. I typically polish after! Give it a few days to harden first, though.

Edit: only clay if your paint is rough to the touch.

[LateFan]

So you're wet sanding the clear to level out the lips and edges of the scratches?

Does the touch-up paint sometimes dome over and leave a high spot that needs to be sanded flat?

[AWDBOB]

So you're wet sanding the clear to level out the lips and edges of the scratches?

Does the touch-up paint sometimes dome over and leave a high spot that needs to be sanded flat?

Yessir, most chips leave a rough edge that needs to be lightly sanded out in the clear. If you run a microfiber towel over it and it catches it's worth leveling. And yes, the paint requires leveling most of the time. Some paint kits actually come with a "leveler" (like Applied Colors). http://appliedcolors.com/shop/paint-leveler-16-oz/

I usually wetsand the high spot afterwords.

Also this is a huuge help in applying touch up paint in smaller paint chips:

https://www.amazon.com/Loew-Cornell-.../dp/B004YZXV8U

[LateFan]

Good advice, thank you.