Apparently I am not the first person to have experienced a catastrophic lid failure while shaking a tube of Chrysler touchup paint. At least that's what I figured when I dropped by our local dealership to pick up another bottle of the stuff.

My first bottle was purchased a year ago and has been kept on a shelf in our kitchen away from the extremes of Northeast Ohio temperature. When I went to use the paint to touchup my son's PT Cruiser (which just happens to be the same Blaze Red as my Crossfire), the lid disintegrated while I was shaking it to ensure a good mix. My left hand, tshirt, shorts, and a fairly large section of my garage floor were suddenly blood red. Fortunately I missed the Crossfire (which I had moved outside) and the PT Cruiser. I ran in the house to ask my wife for an old toothbrush so that I could try to get the paint out of my wedding band before it had a chance to setup. She took one look at me and thought "oh my God, he's cut off his hand - why the heck does he need a toothbrush". In retrospect, it is rather funny. She still doesn't see it that way.

Apparently the action of the part of the paint bottle that mixes the paint created enough hydraulic pressure to blow the lid off the bottle. There was a clean crack all the way around the top. There was just enough paint left in the remains of the bottle for me to touchup my son's car.

Since the parts guy at the Chrysler dealership was not the least bit surprised by my exploding paint bottle story, I suggest that each and every one of you inspect the lid of your touchup paint next time before you use it.