The step the groups say needs a booth.
Every argument in a detailing group about touch-up ends the same way: "you can't level it without sanding and buffing, so leave it to a body shop." That was true when the only tool was a brush and a rag.
The leveling kits that came after have rules, and a lot of worry about pulling the paint back out of the chip. Here is the truth about that: paint does not just pull out of a chip. If it does, the chip was not clean. That is why cleaning is step one.
Monkey Milk is fast and it is easy. Put the paint on however you want, smear it or precision touch it, wait until it is dry to the touch, and level it. The excess comes off the clear coat, the paint in a clean chip stays, and it takes seconds. Seriously, anyone can do it. When I show people how it works, I hand them the cloth and have them do it. That is the whole reason the method works on a dealer lot in minutes and the whole reason a first-timer can do it.
That is the only timing rule there is. No window, no stopwatch, no panic. Dry to the touch.
A few drops, not a soak. The cloth carries the solvent to the surface.
The high spot and anything on the clear coat come off onto the cloth. The fill stays down in the chip. A few seconds and it is level.
If there is a halo, a touch more Monkey Milk and go again. Stop when the panel reads as one color.
I cannot stress enough how user friendly this is. Missed a spot three months ago and the dome has been sitting there fully cured? No problem. Monkey Milk on the cloth, it levels right on down. There is no version of this step you can mess up.
Sold to working automotive professionals for practice and service work. Not a consumer product.