Ok, I had someone hit me in the rear and now the shop that has replaced the bumper is having problems painting it. Something about a 3 step process. Said they've sprayed it twice and it doesn't match. Said they are going to blend it. WTH does that mean?

It's a 06 Daton blue and I dropped it off Monday!

 

It means you will have to find a shop that does it right instead of making excuses.

 

happened when I got my spoiler. had to go through a 2nd painter cause the first was a ****up.

 

You're sh!ting me! SOaB!!!

 

if they're just respraying the bumper, they shouldn't have to do a blend job. Have them mix a new batch of paint or go to another body shop.

 

That's what I would think but the rep said they sprayed twice. I just don't understand, three people recommended the shop to me too. The rep called me late Friday so I am SOL until Monday morning. I am going to ask to take it elsewhere to get it sprayed I think.

 

I see few if any paint jobs that are perfect. Move from one place to another and the angle of the light changes changing the color. Only you can decide if the work is acceptable.

 

100% match is always practically impossible but a quality shop will get it to 95%. Have them spray cards, varying the tint/tone/pressure until they find a combination that works. Again, a quality shop wouldn't even need to be told that.

BTW OP, blending means that they will paint the first few inches (generally 6-8 inches) of the surrounding panels on your car (rear quarters and hatch) the same color as the best match they could come up with for the bumper and gradually blend it "out" until it fades into the factory paint.

Again, with a paint like DB, that should be unnecessary if they paint the bumper like they're supposed to. Blending is more for the light paints, especially white and silver. My Redline has aftermarket front and rear bumpers and after spraying a few cards, the shop got it to about 98%. You can tell the match is off if you look closely enough, but then again, even the factory can never match the bumpers with the metal 100% because they are painted separately from each other in the assembly process and even the slightest variation in the surface, gun pressure etc. will change the tint.

 

usmanasif, thanks for the blending description. From searching that is kind of what I got but nothing said how far into the other panels.

Anyways, I went down to the shop Friday and they had sprayed some cards, one of the colors was dead on so that was the one used. I just got the car back today it it's perfect! Ins paid for a week of rental and the shop picked up the other two days so all in all it turned out peachy!