Touch Up Tape

[uk_driver]

Hello!

Someone very kindly scratched my new Auris today! Quite a deep scratch - through to the white underneath!

My question is has anyone used the Touch Up Tape that comes with the car. If so, is it any good, and how do you use it?

Phoned a mobile repair bloke, and he was asking for £160 - like I've got that going spare at the moment...!!

Any responses very gratefully received.

Thank you.

[Passedit]

Hi.

I am another one who has no idea how you use the touch up tape. There are a scratches caused by a cat doing a dance on the bonnet, bless.

My previous attempts with T. Cut and paint make it look worse. No doubt it would cost an arm and a leg to have somebody to fix them.

Probably the instructions on the tape fully explain, but not being fluent in Japanese does make it a tad difficult.

Anybody out there read Japanese?.

[Juler]

I've used it previously on my Silver Steel Corolla, and it does a fairly decent job. As you say though, with the instruction in Japanese, it was very much guess work. Mine was more for stone chips than a scratch, so I just cleaned up the area and cut out a tiny section of tape just big enough to fit the hole in the paintwork. I initially tried using one of the pre-cut circles, but I found these were too big and stood out a mile.

[uk_driver]

Thanks for replies so far.

One of the things that I'm afraid of is using one of the pre-cut circles and it sticking out a mile! It may look like a car wearing a plaster!

I came across a website called carpaintrepair.co.uk yesterday who are offering a touch-up kit which costs just under £12 including p&p. I think that this may be a bit more 'precise' than sticking a label over the scratch!

Will let you know how I get on.

Keep those comments coming in please...!!

[Boro Sera]

Chipsaway guy is worth getting a quote from.

Mobile paintwork repairers. Plenty of people on here have used them in the past with good results.

I've never heard of this 'touch up tape' before - is it a fairly new thing??

[Passedit]

The touch up tape is not a new idea. I was given a pack some six years ago when I purchased a new Toyoto, and another pack when I purchased my present car. Perhaps its only for U.K buyers as we are more likely to scratch our cars!

There must be thousands of packs lying about with nobody having a clue how to use them.

Touch up kits are O.K if the colour is an exact match and applied with a precision that is beyond me.

Gone are the days when you could polish out scratches.

[GregP]

When I bought the car I was told that touch up tape is only temporary fix. You can use it to mask the scratch and then Toyota fix it during the next visit. I had scratch on a rear bumper and asked for quote mobile guy: £160. Toyota told me to use the tape and then they will repaint the bumper for about £350.

[Toscane]

I used a tiny one on my hood, for a tiny stone chip.

If you cut it right and apply it right, it looks great... For a FREE fix.

Other than that, it's useless and looks terrible.

[Cablechap]

I tried the tape on my T-Sport for small stone chips but it just fell off - needed to be a larger area for adhesive to work and then, as said, looks like a plaster.

I've found to get best results it is better to just fill with touch up paint, wait a week to harden off , then t-cut back, and lacquer touch up if required. If the scratch is too shallow this method doesn't work very well though.