Paint chip repair using toothpick to apply primer/paint

[oly]

I can't get this to work. Has anybody done it successfully?

I'm using the Car Care Online directions (similar to the Better Care Care directions) and can not get their toothpick paint application method to work. Specifically, the directions say to:
1. dip the toothpick in the primer/paint to get a thin coating on the first 2mm of the tip without getting a blob, then
2. place the tip on the center of the chip
3. allow capillary action to flow a *THIN* coat of primer/paint

When I do this, nothing flows off of the tip of the toothpick. I can keep the tip on for 10 seconds and nothing comes off. The air temperature is about 55 deg F and the primer consistency seems thin enough. The primer is from Paint Scratch .com and is about a year old but has never been opened until today. It seems like the problem may be that the primer is drying too quickly.

[Zeke]

The toothpick is absorbing your paint. Try a metal object or let the toothpick dry and become sealed. Remember that paint shrinks a lot, so you can almost fill the hole and it will be low when it's dry. Then add your color.

[Danny_Ocean]

Isn't 55deg a little cool for paint viscosity? C'mon down to FLA. The paint might flow a little better here.

[afterburn 549]

post a pic of your chipped area.
1 What I have done is to mask off around chip as close as possible
2 add primer in a couple different sessions or some glaze if really deep.
3 do not get the primer "proud" of color coat.
if paint color is put on so as to be standing proud or higher then color coat-- makes it ezer to to wet sand Down and buff or polish compound back to life.....you will never see where the chip was

[don911]

Try the torn end of a match.

[oly]

Thanks for the posts everybody!

The tip of a dental probe tool worked better than the toothpick. But it is still impossible for me to get a thin coat. I don't think the match idea is going to work either because the primer starts to get thick and form a skin within 10 seconds or so. The result is that I get globs of primer that stick out above the height of the surrounding paint (I assume that this is what "proud" means). I'm going to thin the primer with acrylic lacquer thinner then try again.

[Tigerrat]

Art, that was my experience. I found the touch up paint in the little bottles with the brush was just too thick. Got auto laquer thinner from auto parts store and thinned it a bit. Test it on some similar surface till it acts right. Of course thinner means more coats to build it up. Ken

[RWebb]

it has always worked for me - match stick puts more paint on than toothpic - maybe try when everything is warmer, if you don't want to thin the paint

be sure area is very very clean...

[oly]

Thinning helped; my mix is about 50% paint and 50% thinner. But it only works by dabbing paint off of the match tip; the paint will not flow off the end of the toothpick. Gravity must be in the wrong direction here in VT.

Maybe it is the temperature but Paint Scratch says to apply at lower temperatures if the paint is drying too fast.

[Early_S_Man]

oly,

Lower end of the scale is one thing, but 55°F is 10°F too cold to be applying automotive finishes! Unless you have special-application reducer, that is! Look at the label on your reducer can!

[oly]

Thanks Early_S_Man. Have you used the toothpick technique successfully? Also, is reducer = thinner? The thinner is acrylic lacquer thinner (per PaintScratches recommendation) from a local body shop.