Touch-up paint and clearcoat

[QuinnHarlech]

I need a bit of touch-up paint for my Sentra, but ran into a problem at the dealership. I asked for a dual-tip pen that I'd seen online with paint on one end and clear coat the other. They said they'd never heard of that and only had the standard half ounce touch-up paint pens with brushes but that lack a clear coat. While the dual-tip pen is advertised by Courtesy Nissan of Texas, I suppose it could an outdated product.

Although the paint the dealership offered says to apply a clear coat after using it, they said that wasn't needed and that it, in fact, had the clear coat embedded in it. So, I turn to the knowledgeable people here to sort this out. Are the people at the dealer making stuff up, or are the instructions on every bottle of Nissan touch-up paint incorrect? While I can certainly buy some clear coat, I need to know if it's included in the paint they have. And if it isn't, then I sure know to avoid that dealership in the future. Of course, if it is, and every bottle of paint has incorrect instructions, that certainly doesn't make me confident about the quality of Nissan parts.

The product they have is 999PP-VSZ33 in case that makes any difference.

Thanks!

[MaximA32]

I'm relatively sure that Nissan offers a seperate part number for the clear coat. i would try a few other dealers and see if they can assist you.

[gotak]

What year's your Sentra? I have one of the two side pens and they are a bit of a pain in the rear to use. So it might be best to get the traditional one with the brush. If you do get the two sided pen get some thinner it gunks up really easily.

[QuinnHarlech]

I've got a 2004 Sentra with the "Envy" paint (kind of a dark metallic green).

What gets me upset is that the paint they sold me says to use a clear coat, but the dealership says that the product is wrong in that regard. To me, saying that your products have the wrong instructions is something you really shouldn't be doing. Either you should work to get the product corrected or know how they should work.

Presumably Nissan thinks that adding the clearcoat is a good thing since they've come out with a new product that includes it. Does it actually improve the look of the paint? I understand that you can't really ever replicate the professional paint job it came with, but I'd like to get somewhat close on a limited budget. Thanks!

[gotak]

Is the car new to you? I wanted to cover everything nice and like original after my first ding. After couple of weeks I realise at some point in the future I hope to be driving in something nicer and that chips happens. Also found some factory paint faults so I really stopped caring too much. Now I put it on to prevent rusting that's it.

The clear coat does make it looks a bit better but it'll never be like original.

[calvarymike]

I found this article when I wanted to fix a paint chip on my Max:

http://www.carcareonline.com/v...art=8

The question was also asked if clear touchup should be used as a final coat to repair chips on clear coat paint. There are two viewpoints to this question. The purist will say yes, the paint has a clear coat and thus, the repair should also. The process is the same as previously described, except the clear coat is substituted for the last 2-3 coats or paint. The practical world says no. The touchup paint is different from the original paint and is formulated only as a touchup paint. Once it is applied it should, according to the manufacturer, match well enough to be all but invisible. I have found this to be the case with the numerous repairs on the many cars/colors, I have completed. If you are using the original paint as a touchup (I have not done this with a clear coated car), then my understanding is that you should use the clear as a topcoat. The color coat of some paints will many times be relatively dull in appearance. These paints rely on the clear coat to provide the "shine." Try one chip in an area that is not that visible. If the process works, then continue with the rest. If not try the clear coat top layer.