The present invention provides a process for refinishing substrates by means of spot repair, wherein at least one color- and/or special effect-imparting coating layer of a color- and/or special effect-imparting coating composition is applied onto a damaged area of a substrate and wherein the process comprises the following steps: A) preparing a mixture 1 by mixing the color- and/or special effect-imparting coating composition with a diluent V containing organic solvents in a ratio by volume of color- and/or effect-imparting coating composition:diluent V of 2.0:1 to 1:1.3, wherein the diluent V comprises: a) 35-65 wt. % of at least one (cyclo)aliphatic ketone having 3-8 C atoms in the (cyclo)alkyl residue and c) 65-35 wt. % of at least one glycol ether ester having 3-8 C atoms in the glycol ether residue, whereby the sum of weight percentages of a) and b) is 100 wt-%, B) applying the mixture 1 produced in step A) onto the damaged area in a layer thickness such that an opaque coating layer is obtained, C) preparing a mixture 2 by mixing the color- and/or special effect-imparting coating composition with the diluent V in a ratio by volume of color- and/or effect-imparting coating composition:diluent V of 1:1 to 1:3, D) applying the mixture 2 produced in step C) onto the damaged area at reduced spray gun inlet pressure and E) curing the color- and/or special effect-imparting coating layer applied in this manner.