Matching OEM paint

[CamaroFred]

Originally Posted by gringo

I could. Why? Because no shop that does insurance repairs, especially a DRP, is going to take the time and effort to dial in the color properly.

Bullshit.Even Ace Hardware has a scanner that takes 2 seconds to analyze a color and print out the pigments needed to create an exact match.

[gringo]

Originally Posted by CamaroFred

Bullshit.Even Ace Hardware has a scanner that takes 2 seconds to analyze a color and print out the pigments needed to create an exact match.

You're talking about house paint, not automotive paint that has metallic particles with possibly up to 7-8 variations to it. Oh, and those fancy paint scanners you're describing don't do jack chit for perfect paint matching.

Sorry, again you can't take the easy way out on this. If you do, I'll be laughing at your car when I see it as a trade in at Carmax or something and think how crappy the paint match was.

You got to perform spray outs to dial in the color. Painting a bedroom? Who cares. That is, unless you're trying to match some antique shade of off-white made 80 years ago. But, I think we're talking about painting cars here, not home improvement.

[CamaroFred]

Here is my Camaro after the GFX were added.

[CamaroFred]

Originally Posted by gringo

You're talking about house paint, not automotive paint that has metallic particles with possibly up to 7-8 variations to it. Oh, and those fancy paint scanners you're describing don't do jack chit for perfect paint matching.

Sorry, again you can't take the easy way out on this. If you do, I'll be laughing at your car when I see it as a trade in at Carmax or something and think how crappy the paint match was.

You got to perform spray outs to dial in the color. Painting a bedroom? Who cares. That is, unless you're trying to match some antique shade of off-white made 80 years ago. But, I think we're talking about painting cars here, not home improvement.

Since you ask about the color of my bedroom walls they are Cocoa Butter. It drives the ole ladys crazy.

[Iron Lung Jimmy]

OP... go for it. You learn by trying and the price of failure here is low.

If it comes out poorly you scuff it up and try again... BFD. If it comes out nice you've learned a new skill and can take pride in that.

Worse case scenario is you try a few times, can't get it right, and send it to a shop. Not exactly the end of the world.

[Mr_Draco]

Originally Posted by go_go_gadget88

I'm just looking for some good brands so I don't have to worry about issues with it down the road.

The brand of paint doesn't mean jack squat except when it comes to matching the color. 9 of 10 issues that could arise later is caused by poor prep work. If you spend the time to do the prep work right, you will get just as good a result with one brand as you would with another.

[Wizard1183]

Originally Posted by Terryfied

I took my paint code to a autobody supply store and they mixed up a pint of PPG that was more than enough to paint my ground effects plus new rear spoiler. I can't tell any difference from the original paint, (6 yrs old). We used a reducer and finished with a heavy clear coat.

There is a difference in the pic. To most? They don’t notice. You have an eye? It’s noticeable. The plastic is a shade lighter than original paint. I can see it. Not saying it’s night and day difference. But plastic is different than car. But your car looks nice

[gringo]

Originally Posted by CamaroFred

Since you ask about the color of my bedroom walls they are Cocoa Butter. It drives the ole ladys crazy.

Actually, I have to find a good match for the off-white color on my window sill to fix a few chipped areas near the sash.

The problem is, I don't want to be hacking away to get an old paint chip off the sill. I used "white out" as a temp fix, but I know I will have to fix it properly someday. lol!

[Iron Lung Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Wizard1183

There is a difference in the pic. To most? They don’t notice. You have an eye? It’s noticeable. The plastic is a shade lighter than original paint. I can see it. Not saying it’s night and day difference. But plastic is different than car. But your car looks nice

I think that's the light playing off the angles. Look at the more horizontal surfaces of the car... they look the same shade as the splitter and GFX

[TheFlyingBananaSS]

Painting cars for over 25 years. PPG certified Gold level. Take off your gas door and bring it in to a quality shop or autobody supplier and have them tint a variant that's close to original. A quality shop will do a few different spray outs to dial it in just right. Simple things like air pressure, amount of reducer, and even distance you paint from can and will effect the color. That's why we get it really close and blend the color out into the adjacent panels.

[Welker2]

Originally Posted by gringo

I could. Why? Because no shop that does insurance repairs, especially a DRP, is going to take the time and effort to dial in the color properly.

Don't know what shops you've dealt with, but the two I've dealt with did an excellent job of color matching. One was on my wife's metallic silver Monte Carlo several years back. Was rear ended, bumper and one quarter panel had to be replaced, When they were done, you could not tell the new paint from the old. The other was on my Camaro when it was rear ended; although black, there are different shades, the shop did a great job of color matching. Again, you can't tell the car was ever in an accident and had paint work. Of course I picked the shops that did the work, took my time and found shops with great reputations for doing quality work

[Cyber10]

PPG supposedly has good color matches for GM, I use Spies-Hecker and there were about 14 variations in our system and they all looked bad, ending up using redder variant and tinted to kill some of the red off. Gray and white can tend to be a b**** to match though because the color can go any direction on the color wheel so you should have an easier time with blue. As others have said I would either go to the dealer and buy paint from them or if there is a PPG store around you have them make you color.

As far as prepping, GM parts come primed so if you are going OEM parts you "could" just spray it, I would put sealer over the factory primer though and then your base, that's what I've done on all of my parts. Aftermarket is the same way on pretty much every part I've seen and comes primed, you can sand out any imperfections and then seal, base, clear. In the rare occasion you get something that's raw plastic(the only raw plastic I ever see is OEM parts from foreign automakers) you'd spray an adhesion promoter before your sealant, then base and clear. I think we use Spies part # 3304 Transparent elastic primer.

Also make sure to check the edges of the parts, sometimes you'll get edges from the molds that can be shaved off easily with a razor blade, do that first thing when you get ready to prep it. Also you can scuff primed parts with a red scotchbrite, on a bumper I'd definitely stay off of the body lines with a DA if you're planning on using one. You don't want to get carried away and accidentally mess up a line by staying on it too long.

[Cyber10]

Also as far as others talking about color matching, it's not something to get too hung up on with gfx. You want it to be close but paint on metal will look different on plastic since you have a different substrate under it. Normally there will be a variation for plastic pieces with most paint codes(at least in my paint system). Also gfx are so low the sun is not going to hit it like it will on your doors/quarters/fenders/hood/bumpers.

Especially door to quarter panels, look at CamaroFred's picture of his car. Assuming it's never been painted, the quarter looks a lot lighter than the door, it's just because of how the quarter rolls outward while the door is flat. Pretty much any color on our camaros looks like this minus solids. Lots of angles on these cars which means lots of reflecting light in different directions giving you different effects whether you're looking at panels directly or at an angle.

Best to do things the right way, but if you're a hair off on color you're painting things that are in forgiving areas. As long as you have extra funds in case you mess something up, I say take a stab at it. More than likely if it's your first time spraying you'll probably either run the clear or spray it too dry and the color match wont even be an issue lol!

[Terryfied]

Originally Posted by Iron Lung Jimmy

I think that's the light playing off the angles. Look at the more horizontal surfaces of the car... they look the same shade as the splitter and GFX

I agree, the angles have everything to do with it.