Touch-up paint fail

[Towncivilian]

One night a buddy and I were painting my roof rack crossbars, and while waiting for the paint to dry I decided to touch up some scrapes on my bumpers. Armed with only a flashlight, outside in the dark, the fact that the body and the bumpers were two different shades escaped me and the next day I realized what a dumb mistake I made:



Now it just looks like I scraped another Pathfinder, or forgot to wash off some mud and it caked on. Feel free to laugh at me.

Anyways, my question is: where can I find some matching paint? I doubt Nissan sells any, and even then it's way overpriced unless I purchase touch-up paint from Courtesy Parts. $18 for a tiny little bottle of paint locally, pfft! Also, is it just me or is my front bumper not completely flush? I know my back sure as hell ain't.

No pictures of the roof rack crossbars, but if anybody would like to see them I'd be happy to post a couple pics.

[01silvapathy]

Im going to guess that alcohol was involved. Did you color match your roof crossbars?

Check for the paint code on your plate in your engine bay, most autopart stores sell "perfect match" spray paint but then again the color code is probably for the body and not bumpers.

[Towncivilian]

I bought KX0 touch-up paint from Nissan intending to use it to fix some rust spots on the body, and you're right that the color code is not for the bumpers.

The crossbars were painted flat black after sanding and primering. The original paint was flaking off. Since the crossbars are aluminum, they won't rust, but it looked pretty crappy, so $17 later I have some freshly painted crossbars.

And we're too young to drink. We're just stupid.

[Innovazn]

Yourbumper is not flush. You can see he clip that holds it in.

as for your front. well.... start taking it off and sanding cuz youre not going to be able to fix that without spraying.

[AZhitman]

Actually, if that bumper is urethane, you'll do more harm than good if you go sanding on it the wrong way.

Get some wet/dry sandpaper and a bucket of water. Start with maybe 400 - 600 grit and gently start working the excess touchup paint off the bumper... You want to basically get rid of all the "wrong color" paint and blend it in better. Work the 600 grit and move to 800 or 1000 grit, follow with rubbing compound.

[fueler]

hahaha

[devonianwalk]

I've got that stupid "arctic pearl white" on mine. I purchased a touch up kit that cost twice as much as regular white because it came with three bottles (white base, pearl clear, clear top coat). Can't really remember where I got it from but it looked okay. The fenders that I "touched up" stand out to me but, most people don't really notice it.

[fueler]

i love black paint. I just use a sharpie marker for all my body work!!

[GRNMACHINE]

Town,
Do what AZ recommends. As far as touch up paint for the bumpers I havent found any at Autozone, O'Reillys, Advance, Pep Boys etc. There is a company out there that supposedly sells exact paint match I believe in cans. They usually advertise in the back of automotive magazines. Will look for the advertisement.

[Towncivilian]

So I got some CR0 "Sahara Beige" touch-up paint which was listed as the trim color at the local auto paint shop. Well, it's not.



Maybe I'll just paint both bumpers black, along with the fender flares. My new rear bumper isn't painted yet:

[SBK03SE]

Well, my bumpers definitely need touch ups, hell, fondle ups. Previous owner must have attacked other cars for a living!

Didn't have time to upload a better pic but look in the lower left corner... it's like that all throughout the center of the front and rear bumpers!

[Towncivilian]

Yeah, mine are pretty bad, which is why I'm seriously thinking of repainting the bumpers, fender flares, and mudflaps flat back to mimic the earlier styling of the R50 and so it's easier to maintain.

[SBK03SE]

I'm one person that hates hates hates two tones on suvs. I can't do the diff color bumper but I'm thinking of plasi-dipping the front area.

[Densetsu]

I was lucky enough that my last Pathy and this one are both the one-colour ones. Finding paint was pretty easy, because there's only one trim colour. With the two-tone setup, it's easy to get confused and lots of lookup charts/tables and even stores will sell you the wrong colour.

My current Pathy was sold to me with a ton of small chips on the hood, front doorframes, and above the windshield -- like he was driving behind someone who kept spinning out on a gravel road. After a winter of driving, the rust spots are really starting to show. It's finally been warm enough for me to try out the touchup paint; I tested it with a few of the chips and it's decent. Like a lot of touchup jobs with pearlescent paint, it's noticeable if you know there used to be a chip there.

[SBK03SE]

With the touch up paint, Im fearful of it being a blatant stand out sore on my bumpers. I don't want to pay to have it resprayed either, can I order our paint in a spray can?

[Towncivilian]

I don't think anybody sells our paint colors in a spray can.

Anybody want to buy the Sahara Beige (CR0) touch-up paint, 0.5 fl oz for $8 + shipping? Barely a drop used.

[Densetsu]

There's a limited number of colours at Canadian Tire and Partsource in Canada. Roberts Paint, based out of Quebec, will mix any colour for you and ship out an aeresol can or a small jar of paint. Here's the colours they have for the '03 Pathfinder.

Edit: Right at the top of the colour chart, there are orange links to types of paint. I think "Exterior" is selected by default, but there is also a "Bumper/Fascia" section. The AG64/Grey colour in the bumper section looks like it'd match Towncivilian's bumper.

Not sure what the shipping costs are to the US; I think it's $10-$15 in Canada.

[Towncivilian]

Looks like "Grayish Brown Met" would be my trim color possibly. Not gonna blow any money on it, though. I'll probably just paint things black now.

[SBK03SE]

Ordered a 12oz can from automotivetouchup dot com. Came out to 28 bucks after shipping. Might as well get both bumpers done

[shelby500krz]

I painted my fender flares, bumpers, and lower half of the door panels with black flat spray paint. Only thing is after putting two coats I decided it was best to get some clear coat to make it last longer, so no longer the flat black. Anyways did it back at the beginning of winter and my rear bumper is already starting to peel. Also just a heads up, I had a hell of a time pulling my fender flares off; a year after we bought the vehicle we hydroplaned and flipped it... bumpers were replaced and so were the fender flares, but to save a few bucks someone glued my flares back on, rather than using the clips. In the end, I ended up puling off some of the body paint to get the flares off. Just my experience with trying to spray paint.

[Towncivilian]

A guy on NPORA recommended lightly sanding with some high-grit sand paper, applying several coats of primer, then several coats of paint, and then clear coat if desired. Someone else recommended Duplicolor Trim paint... I'm wondering if that would last any better than generic black spray paint.

Your experience with the flares is not very inspiring, hah. To remove, I'd just need to pull them off (presumably with a lot of force)? What if I break a clip or ten?

[shelby500krz]

A guy on NPORA recommended lightly sanding with some high-grit sand paper, applying several coats of primer, then several coats of paint, and then clear coat if desired. Someone else recommended Duplicolor Trim paint... I'm wondering if that would last any better than generic black spray paint.

Your experience with the flares is not very inspiring, hah. To remove, I'd just need to pull them off (presumably with a lot of force)? What if I break a clip or ten?

Yah I did the rustoleum at Home Depot. Sanded beforehand with scotch pads (found in the cleaning department) and filled a scratch with some flexible epoxy stuff. But you do need the clips to keep them from falling off. I think they come off if you take out the screws and slide them to the rear. Also I ordered new clips to reattach them and it was over $30 from my local dealership.

[fueler]

Cool truck, i like the way it looks.

[shelby500krz]

Thanks!

[Towncivilian]

Yeah, looking great!

I take it you wouldn't recommend using Rustoleum spray paint? What about one of the more expensive sprays like the high-heat one? I'm not sure I'd like the shininess of a clear coat for the bumpers/flares.

I'll need to take a look for the flares' screws. Do you have a part # for the clips?

[shelby500krz]

Yah I wouldn't recommend the rustoleum I guess because it is already peeling. I would recommend picking up some brake cleaner that way if you make a mistake or the spray can nozzle gets clogged, then you can spray some brake clean on a towel and wipe off the paint wet or dry. It came in very handy because I made several mistakes and had a few drips that had to be fixed. Also use the brake clean after you clean/ rough up the pieces to remove any oil your fingers left, because it is also a degreaser.

For shininess I wasn't sure if I would like it either, but I've always heard you do 3 coats of the color and another 2 coats of clear to insure it lasts for a while.

PO numbers for the clips I don't have because I threw the bags away unfortunately.

[Towncivilian]

I always have brake cleaner on hand for cleaning purposes, good suggestion. I might try the Duplicolor trim paint stuff, perhaps it'll last better... if it doesn't, hell, respraying isn't too big of a deal, and if I have to respray I'd probably clear coat it to help protect it. I think I'll knock out the two bumpers soon then get the flares done some other time.

[shelby500krz]

Also for the flares I went to pepboys and got some generic black stripping because the fender flare gasket/stripping crumbled in my hand.

[Towncivilian]

Yeah, I was wondering about that, mine is starting to look awful. I'll take a closer look on Courtesy Parts to see if I can track down a part number, hope it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive.

[shelby500krz]

Came upon this not sure if you have seen it... a post about the fender flare clips
http://npora.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=30415