Love/hate Grand Prix White

[kapt]

I'm trying to fix a bad paint repair from the PO on the rear quarter panel. The rest of the paint is excellent, especially after a good wet sand and buff. But I'm going crazy trying to get a good match. White is one of the hardest colors to match.

Apparently there are 3 variations to Grand Prix white. They all have different ratios of blue and yellow and the third one has a little black as well. I checked another paint manufacturer and they add a little red in addition to the colors above. I can't understand why different paint manufacturers would have different colors added.

I painted the panel without checking the color match after I bought my first BASF can of paint. The paint supplier gave me the standard GPW and didn't tell me there were two other factory variations. After I removed the masking paper from the car, it looked like a checker taxi cab. OK, maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but it was way off. I learned my lesson and sanded it all off.

I'm back to square one experimenting with different color ratios. Any ideas?

I wasn't planning on blending the paint into the door and engine lid, but it looks like I have no choice. I really don't want to paint the whole car.

[fat cab]

feel for ya brother, I think i have all 3 variations of GPW on my car. The only person who will notice is you..

[dicklague]

I have taken the gas door off and given it to a good paint dealer and let them play with it for a few days. They matched perfectly. We painted everything but the roof and it is a perfect match.....and it is Grand Prix white at that.

[Wil Ferch]

There are electronic gadget ways to "capture" the paint color of the nearby panels...and from that info, make a slightly custom blend of the "Grand Prix" white you need....to avoid the blending step.

I think you were a bit too optimistic to expect a good match...as even longer-term weathering of existing adjacent panels of "proper" color match paint will often require such a custom blending step. I can't think of one instance where you buy paint mixed to a factory color code....and paint a portion of the car expecting a perfect match to the rest of the car. Maybe Porsche black.....but IMHO.....this was an unrealistic expectation, unfortunately.

[axl911]

Do you have the paint code for the 3 variation?

[Peter Zimmermann]

kapt; are you in SoCal? If yes, I know a body shop with the electronic camera who can help you.

My '77 Turbo was GP white, and when I needed a little road rash fixed (many, many years ago) we discovered that the original GPW was mixed with gray, but the paint on my car was mixed with red. It's a much brighter version of GPW, and we didn't know at that time there was even a third version!

pm me if SoCal is convenient to you...