Car scratch-remover pens

[Timothy Murphy]

Are these any good? Can anyone recommend a good variety? Does one have to match the car colour?

[Andy Cap]

I've used a couple, the latest is called 'Smart pen' and it works well on small scratches. They're clear, so no colour doesn't come into it.

Andy Cap

[alan]

I was given one of the JML pens and tested it on a very small scratch. On a dark red car the "fluid" dried leaving a semi transparent (90% transparent/10% white residue) layer making the scratch more noticeable. The repair was mainly red but too light a shade of red.

It may work better on a lighter colour.

As with most of these pens/kits the hard felt nib of the pen is too large for fine scratches or precision application. Perhaps if the fluid only goes into the scratch rather than over the surrounding paint work the results may look better.

Having seen the actual results of using this pen I'm sure the video in the advert is run backwards. Start with a perfect paint finish, run over it with a pen with the nib replaced with a nail and reverse the video.

On the JML one - one size fits all - it is a "clear" liquid.

If you are referring to other repair kits then colour matching is important. If it comes with a brush - throw it away, buy some fine artists brushes (10 for a £1 and pound shops) and spend some time making sure the paint only goes in the scratch and not over the existing sound paintwork. Multiple coats in short time is probably better than attempting to fill the scratch with one application of paint. Leave paint to dry for days then, if required, lightly T cut over the area.