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I'm thinking of buying an aftermarket part and having it painted and shipped from an online place.
Even if I buy the part online and have it painted locally, some shops have told me they don't match paint, just take the manufacturers paint code and go to town.
Others have told me it's a process to match the age of my original paint job and in some cases, multiple panels.
In all honesty, it's a Honda Accord that is 4 years old and silver. Shouldn't be too bad of a mismatch, right?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jobaba
I have a car that's almost exactly 4 years old.
I'm thinking of buying an aftermarket part and having it painted and shipped from an online place.
Even if I buy the part online and have it painted locally, some shops have told me they don't match paint, just take the manufacturers paint code and go to town.
Others have told me it's a process to match the age of my original paint job and in some cases, multiple panels.
In all honesty, it's a Honda Accord that is 4 years old and silver. Shouldn't be too bad of a mismatch, right?
I knew someone who managed a body shop during the day and (with the owner's permission) painted motorcycle parts at night. His shop had a color matching system that allowed him to match virtually any color, no paint code required, including older, faded paint if he was painting a new part to match the rest of the existing bodywork. I'd look for a shop with that capability.
Nothing matches factory paint.
Yes, they can come close. Sometimes.
I can tell any car that has had paint work.
Now to matching colors.
I had the hood of my vehicle painted.
The body shop guy took the paint code color and came out with about 8 painted metal strips on a ring. All the same color code but each slightly different. To match up with mine.
Oxidation, UV rays and all sorts of things affect the color of paint. One year old or four years old.
I'm thinking of buying an aftermarket part and having it painted and shipped from an online place.
Even if I buy the part online and have it painted locally, some shops have told me they don't match paint, just take the manufacturers paint code and go to town.
Others have told me it's a process to match the age of my original paint job and in some cases, multiple panels.
In all honesty, it's a Honda Accord that is 4 years old and silver. Shouldn't be too bad of a mismatch, right?
Paint has different variances and formulas, depending on the manufacturer. That's why some colors can have multiple formulas.
For example, PPG may have a different formula than Dupont because the toners and bases are specific to the manufacturer. There is no "standard" that puts all paint makers on even level with regard to chemicals used.
And whatever the car manufacturer has on hand to make a particular batch of that color can change. It's not unusual for a color to have 10 different variances, some "bluer than prime", "richer than prime", etc.
Some of these colors are very complex. It's amazing how much technology goes into a plain color like white. There are rich whites with a lot of red and yellow hue, and there are bright and plain whites with a good amount of "flop". Flop is the effect of the color changing in appearance as you look at it from different angles. It can make a very simple color like white/red/blue look deep and three-dimensional.
Matching a panel often requires blending the color into existing panels. A replacement door may need to have the entire side painted to get all this stuff working together to get a "match".
Application of the paint can even affect the look of the paint. Air pressure at the gun, amount of reducers and other solvents used, even temperature can all play a part.
On the practical side of things a lot can depend on the panel you're replacing. For example a hood or trunk-lid might be forgiving if the color is "off" a little, because your eye won't pick it up as easy as it will a panel on the side of the car, like a fender or door. Bumper covers are also pretty forgiving because they tend to have a lot of round/curve shape and the "flop" built into the color can disguise a variation in color.
At least where I live I can have any automobile paint color matched if the original sticker with the paint color is not on the car's door column. The technician cleans a couple of areas on the hood, or fender, and then uses a portable electronic analyzer, which is then connected to a computer. The computer calculates a paint color formula. This formula is used by the local automotive paint shops to paint one's car. What it does not do is to match the metallic chips used at the factory. However, when it matches the paint color, it will display the automobile models and years the paint was used on those. In this case all the painter has to do is to download the type of paint (metallic and so on) used at the factory on the specific automobile that year. He still has to follow the formula gathered by the electronic analyzer for paint jobs where the paint has faded (for example). Lets say that all you want is the hood painted, but not the rest of the car: in this case the paint formula gathered by the electronic analyzer also gathers any fading that has taken place in the paint. The painter then has the paint made by the independent shop using the factory ingredients used in the paint, and to combine these with the new color. If the car is fairly new, then the factory color formula is used because no fading has taken place.
Alaska is sort of a remote place, but I imagine that if we have such technology available locally, so do you. And no, wax and all that junk make no difference to the electronic analyzer, since the technician clears any substance that has adhere to the pain surface.
If the shops you called said they do not match, go to more shops. Someone will. Or, have it installed and then have it panted with surrounding panels to blend in. It will be more costly, but will also be unnoticeable.
I knew someone who managed a body shop during the day and (with the owner's permission) painted motorcycle parts at night. His shop had a color matching system that allowed him to match virtually any color, no paint code required, including older, faded paint if he was painting a new part to match the rest of the existing bodywork. I'd look for a shop with that capability.
this. there are shops that have the necessary equipment to color match any shade of paint you can come up with, even those that have been faded for years.
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