Stop-Gap Valence Paint Fix

[OsoMoore]

My front Valence has seen better days. It is heavily scarred from a hundred thousand pebbles, and even a little bent from a PO's indiscretion. Eventually I will remove it, straighten it out, and prep and paint it along with the rest of the car. I have a black chin spoiler, which I have removed for these pictures.

Right now, however, I just want to protect it and make it less of an eyesore.


My initial thought was to spray it close to body color, but I haven't been able to find a decent paint that is a match. My current plan is to clean it carefully, and spray it black. I am hopeful that it will not look unnatural, and will also make the dent less obvious.

Here are a couple of "photoshopped" before and after pics. What do you think? Is painting this black an acceptable stop-gap until I get the whole car repainted properly? Keep in mind that I will be putting the chin spoiler back on after painting.

[blucille]

I would think if you paint the lower half of the bumper and the valence, even if you were off by quite a bit, it would be far less noticeable than with the black

plus there are plenty of paint shops that will mix you up an aerosol can of your paint code, or even match it to the paint on your gas filler door.

[megerian]

Hmm, if you're looking for opinions, I don't think the black looks right at all

[yel911]

there are plenty of paint shops that will mix

I would get paint, then strip, prime, chip guard and paint. It's on the bottom, so even if it's off a little, would be a whole lot better than black.

[Jerome74911S]

I have to agree that if the color is a bit off, nobody will notice this down there. You'd have to be 50% off before it became more noticeable than the black. While the black is different and unexpected, it isn't weird to me.

[OsoMoore]

I will call around locally to see if someone here can color match. Maybe Sherwin Williams?

[OsoMoore]

Amazon has a purported Burnt Sienna Metallic: Amazon.com: Liquitex Professional Spray Paint 12-oz, Vivid Lime Green: Arts, Crafts & Sewing
It seems pretty close from the picture.

[Jerome74911S]

Maybe that color is close, but finding a color-matching place isn't that hard. Milwaukee has a nice thick Yellow Pages - I would start there.

Computerized color-matching is quite good, and even the guys who do it by eye (for cars) can get excellent results if they are experienced. Check out shops that supply paint to auto body repair places. They have to be good at this.