Just got off the phone with Avalon, the guy said it was a pain in the *** to pain body kits in LeMans sunset. He said i should have the body shop blend the paint into the panels, which is ungodly expensive. Has anyone had experience painting parts in LeMans that can tell me if you had to blend into the car or not? I really dont want to do that, so if anyone else didnt have to let me know. thanks

 

Try calling a nissan dealership and ask if you can buy the actual paint (ask by paint code), and then ask another performance shop how much they will charge if you supply paint?

 

The three stage paints are a pain. I just went through this with Daytona Blue. The body shop had to have their paint rep come out twice trying custom mixes deviating from the formal formula. For the three parts, the base coat is a metallic, the second is a tint with pearlescent and the third is clear. For the Daytona blue the 1st step is a blue violet and the 2nd is actually tinted an aqua blue and green so small deviations in tint, intensity and number of coats can yeild wildly different colors. Added to this, the actual tints of the first 2 coats and the number of coats is a bit trial and error as the final color varies a bit from the factory. Skidazzle's shop did something like 24 test shots and his is still slightly darker. My job probably had 16 or so alternatives tried (on paint cards) before the rep got pretty close. The kit is slightly darker, but it's closer to the body than the plastic parts that came from the factory. But to pull this off without blending you need a patient, quality oriented body shop and lots of trial and error. And the best you are going to get is close. Otherwise blending is mandatory (the paint company formula would have missed the body color by a much larger margin and been unacceptable without blending if the rep had not done all of this work). The shop that did mine would probably never paint another Z for any price given the hassle factor on my job....

joe

 

Yikes, sanderman. That's not good news for me. I actually created another thread wondering about paint shops in LA that won't charge an arm and a leg for LeMans Sunset. I was gonna go by some recommended places today and get estimates for some tiny nicks I want refinished.

I think I'll try calling Nissan, as well, and asking about getting the paint. We'll see... I didn't realize, before I purchased, that I might have this problem with the Sunset color. Still, I love the color... never get tired of seeing the car beaming from far away when in a parking lot.

Cheers...

 

Nissan will not sell the paint. You will need you body ship to:

1: Get the 3 stage forumla correct.

2: Do test strips - The number of caots on a three stage paint is critical.

2: Non water based paint is brighter then the factory paint.

Regards

 

Is the Brickyard a 3 stage process? Real worried about the match. My car goes in on May 19th for wing, lip and skirts. I know its never going to match. I even went with a premier auto body shop.

Dan

 

Yes I beleive so

 

I don't know if black is 3 stage, but if it is, my bodyshop matched it 100%..cant even see the slightest difference.

 

No, black is a solid color with clear coat and is about the easiest color to match there is.

joe

 

http://www.paintscratch.com/

try this.. they sell paint up to a gallon sizes

 

i had a run of the mill body shop do mine. they wanted to keep the car there while they did it to make sure it worked out right, and i think they nailed it. they didn't seem to complain about it either.

there are some pics of my car with the new wing in the gallery, so you can judge for yourself.

sean

 

How difficult is Silverstone to match? I'm having some body work done tomorrow on my front bumper.

 

Damn...I know PPW is gonna be a pain in the Goat ***!!!
PPW has all types of Metallic in it as well!!!!

but good thing I'm only gettin lips and stuff,..big bumpers I would be scared to worry about it not matching!! I mix paint for a living and its HARD as HELL to make a touch up perfect,.but its do-able!

I'm picky as hell when it comes to color matches too,...guess thats why I do it for a living!! Go Figure!