Hey guys,

I recently had my front passenger's side repaired after a fender bender... since my car is pretty new ('08 Touring w/ 9k miles) I got all new OEM parts. The fitment is great and all, but the paint doesn't match up perfectly.

The repair guys told me that since it is a 3 stage paint job, it is very difficult to match perfectly, so I'm hard-pressed to expect it to be 100% perfect. However, when I got the car back, it is pretty visible (to me and a few others) that the quarter panel and bumper don't match the original paint head on (the difference disappears when viewed at a sharp angle, and I attribute that to the pearl coat and it's reflective properties).

The repair shop offered to re-paint the area, no Qs asked.

My question is, have any PPW owners had repairs done and had the paint not match? Is it that difficult to get a near perfect match?

My issue is that I'd like to hope they did their best job the first time, so what if I bring it back and is is still wrong, or even worse?

Anyone have any guidance, tips, stories to share, etc?

Thanks!

 

PPW is the hardest to match.......many threads on this subject, for me I just had to go to the best shop in town that did computer matching and had experience with 3 stage process and luckily for me it came out great..............

if this is an insurance paid shop due to the accident, if they dont get it to your liking i would call your insurance and arrange for another more qualified shop to do the painting.....

-J

 

Ok, thank you... I'll search around.

It is an insurance recommended shop, but they are very easy to work with and 1/4 mile from my office.

 

Even OEM paint does not match perfectly. It's because you're comparing metal (quarter petal) vs fiberglass/plastic (bumper). Some shops can do an amazing job blending it though. It's tough, find the best shop, pay the best price, shops that will guarantee to satisfy you.

 

The bumper and metal paints will not exactly match. I went out and looked at mine and can see a difference. Not sure how visible your non match is, but when I look at my car, I can tell the difference between the plastic and metal areas. Sorry.

 

I'll try to get some pics up for you guys to see. Plastic to metal, the original paint on my car is a pretty good match, except for the side skirts. I had the quarter panel and rear bumper replaced and repainted. They match each other exactly, but the quarter panel vs.hood, metal vs. metal, looks terrible, as well as the bumper vs. hood. The only thing that was blended was the door, and in the right lighting I cant actually see where the blend stops.

At first, I thought I could live with it. After a few days and noticing it every time I walk to my car, and shaking my head every time. Now it's bad enough that I want to ask the guys at the shop if their work was a joke. It's that bad IMO.

 

After I wrecked my front end tracking, I took it to a shop my friend used with his father's car-parts business. They did a fantastic job matching the paint, I'd say its about a 98% match. There are only certain times when you can see its a little bit different.

See if you can get them to redo it or find a shop confident they can do a better job. It is one of the hardest colors to match (I believe Brickyard Red may be the worst ).

 

Thanks Armitage.

Is your AVI the wreck?

 

Lol yeah.

 

when we fixed up my eclipse and it was painting time, we had to go back to the paint shop about 4 times to get the right match. eventually it was computer tested and matched very well. but its common to have a hard time matching paint. dont settle for mismatched colors, be persistent

 

Best thing I can say is to Blend the Rear quarter, we actually have a Z here were working on currently at DTM who got hit on the front driver fender and door. Basically with the door when we paint it we will also paint part of the rear quarter panel and blend the new paint with the existing so that you won't see a sharp difference in color change.

Like everyone has said, PPW is hard since it is 3 stage and the pearl etc. can never be dead on, but only close to it.

If your insurance is covering you could always tell them that you are not satisfied with the work that was done and they will have to fix the problems.

 

difficult. nuff said.