Touch Up Paint For 97 Es300

[muscmp]

how difficult is it to find touch up pain for my 97 es300? i have the c/tr code of 4m7/lf01 from the door panel. it is the fairly standard champagne color, but i don't know the real color name.

any recommendations?

thanks,

mikeB.

[gbhrps]

muscmp,

The dealerships sell the touchup pens in the colours required and under the paint codes. Yours being 17 years old may or may not be a problem, depending on whether they still have stock for the code. Try there first.

Then go online for automotive touchup paints. You'll find many companies that sell the same type of paint pens in the code colours you require. You'll just have to do some searching.

Be aware that silver is the worst colour to do a touch up on. I took my wife's 04 es330 to the shop I work at occasionally for a repaint of the hood and front bumper cover, just because of paint chips. I asked if he could just blow in the areas where the chips were.

The painter said the only result that would be pleasing would be to repaint the entire panels, because silver blowins and chip repairs just don't colour correctly due to the metal flake and how it lays down. Repairs inside a panel would stick out like a sore thumb, whereas an entire panel would not.

Now, if you only have 2 or 3 small chips to do, go for the paint pencil route. In my case the entire fronts of the hood and bumper cover had taken years of abuse. Good Luck!