Just got my front bumper painted and it is a shade lighter than the rest of the body. My car is Silverstone. I was told that this is hard to match. The body shop wants to blend it into the hood and side fenders for $300 more. Should I go with the blending or have them repaint the bumper using a darker toner?

Thanks

 

No- don't let them repaint the hood and fenders- it will devalue your car. Repainted fenders and hood could scare off used car buyers cause they don't know how serious the accident was. Have them repaint the bumper- the paint can be matched. Good luck.

 

It shouldn't be hard, they probably didn't mix the paint properly. If anything the paint on the car should be lighter from the sun. Tell them to repaint it and do it correctly this time.

 

That is what I am worried about.

 

Tell them to get it right and don't pay a penny more. I would be enraged if they didn't get the color right.

 

to all of you guys out there who believe it is easy, sorry.

look at my side skirts, way wrong.

I took it back in and they spent three and a half days blending, mixing and trying to get the paint perfect and now it is better but not a perfect match.

I would say they did a 96% job (much better than below but still off abit)

 

Just got off the phone with the body shop. In all fairness, before they painted the bumper, they told me that it would be a difficult color to match.
I told them that I did not want to blend into the fenders and hood, unless it was a last resort. The shop will cut a piece from my old bumper, send it to a lab in California, and get a custom paint code. It will take a couple of weeks though. I would rather wait and try this first vs. the blending.

 

I put a Veilside body kit on my Silverstone Roadster and had it done at a local, reputable body shop that gaurantees its work. I knowthe owner and I trust his knowledge. He said that the color was difficult to match and took a lot longer than he thought and had quoted me.

He finally did get a really good match and didn't charge me the full amount of labor that actually went into the job.

My advice is anytime you're having body mods installed on your car is to go with a reputable shop that stands by its work. The old adage "You get what you pay for" was never more true than with color matching.

 

uh...why would you need another paint code if your car is stock color? All they need to do is mix the paint a little better and repaint it. The paint on the car is still fairly so it shouldn't be too hard to match. If your Z's paint was 10yrs old...then i can see how there will be a problem with matching it perfectly. That "send it into the lab" crap sounds like they don't want to redo it for free. I mean, by stalling you for a couple weeks, you probably won't care about the color as much anymore. And if you don't care as much then you're not going to bug them about a repaint.

 

Umm, Its not quite that easy. when the cars come off the assembly line the cars painted in the morning will be a slightly different color than the ones done in the afternoon. this is especially tru of the daytona blue. The paint is in a 500gallon hopper that is contantly being agitated, but there are still variances. Most any body shop will tell you if you want it done right you need to blend, and if done corectly no one will be able to tell.

 

Even if you blend it in with the car...the shop needs to match the color first. Why will a shop need a custom paint code when the car is stock color??

And the slight variations off of the assembly is not shades noticeable.

 

By no means am I a paint expert, which is why I posed the question to begin with. From what I have read up on the subject, silver and pearl white are 2 of the hardest colors to match. A lot of it has to do with the way the metal flakes lay as well as the density of the actual paint and primer. Not being able to match the paint doesn't make logical sense to me either. All I know is that people who have Silverstone and have had anything painted aftermarket have a hard time getting a very close match.

 

Silver-racer: I'm no paint expert myself...i just have some experience from having bodykits painted. hehe. Anyways, i agree that silver and pearl white are the hardest to match. But what i'm trying to tell you is...even tho its not perfect..you shouldn't be able to notice much difference. If they tried matching the paint it shouldn't be too many shades lighter or darker. The shop is pulling your leg about needing a custom paint code.

Can you post up some pics so i can see the shade variation?

 

Sorry, no pics right now. I did not leave my car for them to match it to though, as they said it was not needed. I just dropped off the bumper for them to paint and they said they would take care of it. They had the corrent paint code. It was not until it was put on that you could notice the difference. In the sunlight, it looks fine. When it is overcast or evening it is noticable.

Question... Doesn't the bumper material and primer used have an impact on the final color/hue of the finished bumper?Until the 1st coat is put on and compared, I guess you don't know if it will match up right?

I am being patient about it. I would much rather have them get a custom paint blend to my OEM bumper than do a quick blending into the hood and fenders. I know that will make it look good from the front, but from the side won't it look like half the car is light and half is dark?

 

They need to match the paint before they can blend it in. The point of blending it with the car is to make the very slight shade variation unnoticeable. Next time...when painting anything on the car. It's best to leave the car there so they can match. If you can't do that, at least take off the gas lid so they can have something to match with. I don't know why they said they can take care of it with only the paint code. The paint code is to identify what kind of color it is. It is up to the painter to match the color because depending on where you park and how much sun it gets, each car's color is different. For example...i don't own a Z but for my car, when i got my bodykit painted...i went to buy my own paint. Even tho i had the paint code...the store had three shades of the same color.

And to answer the question about the bumper material...yes, it has some impact. But the clear-coat is a bigger impact on the final color/hue of the finished bumper.

 

You 're right about the slight variation in color on the same assembly line. Nissan also has some body parts made and painted at onefactory and then shipped to another for assembly on a car. This too, can cause a slight difference. The mud guards in particular, can be slightly off.

 

I posted on your other thread about this topic. Under no circumstances should you blend anything because of this issue. It is not worth it to have your hood and fenders blended and have the rear half of the car be a different shade. Thats a no no. Ive worked in a bodyshop for 2 years and yea, Silverstone is a difficult color to match but it should be 95% close to the match. The way the paint comes out is all on how well and experienced the painter is. He goes off of a base formula that is supplied by whoever he is getting his refinishing prodcuts from. From there he adds whatever he needs to match the color or start over if necessary. My old painter had a really good eye and he had no problems matching any color. Hed do it over and over to make sure the paint would match before he sprayed anything. You might also want to find out what refinishing products theyre using because some product lines are easier to match than others. It makes no sense to me why theyre saying theyre going to send a smaple to a lab, I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS. Especially with a new year model car like the Z. My suggestion to you is find another shop, preferably a shop that uses any of these refinishing products, SpiesHeckler, PPG or DuPont.

 

Thanks for the info. The shop doing the work is also the dealer I purchased the car from, David McDavid Nissan in Houston. In bright sunlight it does not show. It will forever bug me that it is noticable when overcast. I will give them a chance to fix it though at no additional cost to me. Will leave the car next time. I WILL NOT ALLOW BLENDING!! If the second time does not work, I will let you know and hopefully get some suggesitons on where to go from there.

I think this has been a good thread and appreciate all your advice.

 

Silverstone is a fairly challenging color to match.

I remember bodyshops wanting a piece my gas door lid just to match it perfectly. They could get the correct code, but the amount of flakes in the paint can mean darker or lighter shades when the light reflects off of it.

Flooding light (e.g. the sun) it'll match but at low light you'll see a slight difference with minimal light coming off a few, or alot, of the flakes creating the illusion of it being darker or lighter.

One painter mentioned that EVEN an excessive amount of clearcoat on one piece, in comparison to another, may give it a slightly different shade. Very marginal but noticeable so they had to be careful.

That's what was barked into my ear so don't flame me if i'm wrong.

I ended up going to a shop that just used the code, no reference pieces, and they managed to get my Veilside lip close. It's kinda darker but I can live with it.

Good luck with the second trial.

 

I have a SS 03, had my front end re-painted and a Karminari hood with scoop added. I say take the advice of your body shop if you trust them.