Dr. ColorChip's proprietary three-step paint chip repair process is the easiest and most effective way to touch-up minor automotive paint chips and road rash. Effective paint chip repair keeps your car looking like new and protects it from rust and other long-term damage. Dr. ColorChip is easier to use than traditional touch-up paint or paint pens, you'll get professional results and a guaranteed exact OEM match to the finish on your vehicle. Deep, narrow scratches (1/16" or less) down to the metal will usually hold paint. As our paint is instantly malleable (in this case, tacky, yet removable), there is some flexibility in finessing the paint into place. The various brushes in the kit also allow for more precise painting of scratches that can't effectively be repaired by our standard process.Wide scratches (1/16" or greater), gashes or other large defects will likely need to have the paint applied and left as is. Filling and spraying these types of damage is the only way to get a 'like new' repair.Surface scratches can generally be buffed out. If you can feel them with your fingernail, they might come out completely with some wet-sanding and buffing. Otherwise, our precision brush can be used to lightly apply the paint over the scratch and left as is.Tri-Coat Some vehicles have a tri-coat / 3-stage color, meaning it was painted with a base coat, pearl coat and a tinted clear coat. Our paint is a single stage formula and there is not a single stage formula that matches exactly. However, the paint your receive should allow for a close color match and yield far better results than using regular touch-up paint.