Help... Have to repaint part of panel but touch-up paint not matching

Alexk · 06-23-2014, 08:08 AM

Car was repainted red but have no history of the exact color code.

So I went to car place and they scanned color for me. They said it's exact match but when I applied it on test area not exact match.

I have to repaint defect the size of golf ball close to rear wheel. Too big for touch up with a brush, I tried and it looks horrible. I will be bringing it to body-shop but can they still do decent job with this paint, even if not exactly matching???

Thanks

scootermcrad · 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexk

Car was repainted red but have no history of the exact color code.

So I went to car place and they scanned color for me. They said it's exact match but when I applied it on test area not exact match.

I have to repaint defect the size of golf ball close to rear wheel. Too big for touch up with a brush, I tried and it looks horrible. I will be bringing it to body-shop but can they still do decent job with this paint, even if not exactly matching???

Thanks

Did they take the scan from the area where the repair is to be blended in? If they took it from another area of the car it probably has more/less sun fade.

I would check with the paint shop to see what they have to say about the color match. Some shops will guarantee the match some will fight you.

Out of curiosity, what type of paint did you buy for the touch-up?

962porsche · 06-23-2014, 08:46 AM

many sprayer have a hell of a time matching red how ever red is a ez color to match as there are only 3 to 5 tints used in it most of the time .

scanning colors is only a 70 % match with metallic and 60 % with solid colors . so if any one tells you its going to be a dead nuts match with a scan they are BSing you .

go find a BASF jobber (paint store ) they will have color max chips . ask to see them and match it to the car . flip the chip over and you will have a code to have the color mixed . you can also do things like remove the gas door and take that to a Basf jobber and leave it with them for a day or two and they can find a match for you .

scootermcrad · 06-23-2014, 08:54 AM

^^^I've heard working with red is a nightmare! Especially trying to blend.

I've owned a couple red cars, both of which had paint issues. One was in an accident and they had a hell of a time matching it. Repainted twice by a very reputable shop and the car just was never right.

Alexk · 06-23-2014, 09:56 AM

Great advice thanks guys

I will take it to a store with color max chips tomorrow.

Hopefully they will give me a better match.

962porsche · 06-23-2014, 10:08 AM

reds are very ez colors to match if 1st you have a eye for colors and 2nd now how to do color matching .
just because the shop is a so called good shop it in now way means the person behind the gun is good at painting ! he could lay down a great paint job but that is only 1/3 of being a painter .

most of the time when a person has to tint a color to match the 1st thing they try and do is add more of a tint . this has to do with lack of knowledge of what happens to a color as it gets age to it . with tinting a red you have to subtract color from the mix to bring the color around to what it has to be . the reason for this is as a color like red ages it will lose the straight of the red in the color . this makes the other colors of the tints in the red more dominant .
so lets take a color like guards red . 5 tints 2 reds ,yellow , black and white .
over time the 2 reds will fade out 1st then the black and then the yellow and white at about the same time with white being the last to fade .

as for being hard to blend red ? NO there never should be any trouble blending any color at all .
solid colors are the easiest to blend even for some one that is just a sprayer should be able to blend out a solid color . even if the color is miles off you should be able to blend it out so it can not be seen .

all there is to painting is a simple thing called knowledge . if you have non about what your doing then yes it will be a nightmare if any thing goes wrong .

the problem then becomes what a shop can pay it's workers .
even the top shops will have a limit as to what they can afford to pay there guys . this has to do with if it's a collision shop or a restoration shop . insurance CO. in my area will only pay a shop 55 dollars an hour at most . most insurance CO. will pay 50 an hour average .
this comes to what a shop can pay it's workers . you will never find a top painter in a production shop . NEVER!
the reason is once a painter become a top painter he is worth more then the production shop can afford to pay him . at best a shop will pay it's workers 1/2 the hourly rate the insurance co pays them . so what this is doing to the industry is losing all the true painters and craftsmen . you no longer have metal workers you have parts changers you no longer have painter but sprayers .
it's not that they are not good but they are far from what metal guy or painter should be .

this is why in my shop we would only do top end cars . I pay my guys more then the run of the mill insurance CO.s pay the shops . my metal guys could make a new panel out of a flat sheet of metal . so because of this they need to make a higher dollar per hour .
this is why you don't see 100K plus dollars cars at even the top collision shops out there .