kaizmauka

Soo I recently got a 3600 dollar claim for front end damage...this includes new front bumper, left headlight, and left front side panel.
My car is a 2001 LS430 with the Parchment Crystal paint...I REALLY love this paint so much, so I am just really worried the autobody shop won't be able to match the color.....but should I be worried? Not sure what these guys are capable of, but I feel like my color is very unique..especially the way it changes colors so much depending on lighting.

Johnhav430

I've always thought that paint color is easily matched, but not the texture....my uncle who is in the business said it's not that it can't be done, but in everyday life it's insurance claims, body shops are not working on $200k restorations like you see on TV, and so they usually don't bother to get everything perfectly done, just close enough...

my car is moonlight pearl and I cringe at the thought of any paintwork, I doubt it would be done such that the owner cannot tell...it has a cool I think blue tinge at a certain angle in the sunlight. Other times it has the metallic specks...

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I'd say yes. Getting the base coat color is much easier than it was years ago but what you won't beleive is temperature, humidity, pressure, and even static charge in the air change how the paint lays down. Now add in the top clear coat and where and transitions are made and it is an art that those who are skilled have a knack for adapting on the fly to achieve a match.

Don't accept it and drive off until you have seen it inside out of the sunlight. Get in under florescent lights and look at all angles. The sun hides so much.

Good luck!

Bocatrip

Three stage paint has always been the most difficult to match. Even with the original factory paint the paint might appear off when viewing from different angles especially in direct sunlight and in shade. To understand this in more detail do a search on “paint flop’”.

kaizmauka

So do you think most paint shops will have access to original factory paints or will they have to try and match the color in house? I want to give them as much information as possible so that they don't **** up...but from what I have read in the forums it seems that this 'parchment crystal' and the newer 'moonlight pearl' have little bits of greens and silver metallic specks.
Anyhow...does anyone know if it is OK to nag the shop if it isn't up to a high standard? Like how far will/should they go to please me lol?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

High volume shops buy an inhouse system from a major supplier. On occasion, they'll find some they can't match and have to buy from their supplier.

That said, smaller shops have it mixed for them but both may hand actual painted components from your car to aid in paint matching for age and discoloration.
Modern technology has done both a huge favor but texture, flow, evenness, orangepeel, and all that goes with tints, perals, and metalics often lands in the painters hands as far are how it looks when viewed from different angles.

Think of handing 7 cooks the same ingredients. Will all look and taste the same once prepared? I would go have talk with their painter and see what they have to say.

Bocatrip

With paint shops, one color paint is not an exact color but a number of variations of that color to get it right. Even though there is a paint code, I have found there are various shades of the same paint code. In addition even if only the front end of your car is being repainted, feathering into the doors or the next body panel will be necessary to deceive your eye into seeing a better match.

Jabberwock

Best policy is to be polite but upfront about your concerns and expectation. Tell them before the job that you are a very picky customer and that you expect the paint to be 100% right or you will require re-paint until it is right. Tell them if they aren't very confident they can do the paint perfectly then please take a pass on the job, and let you take it to someone who is very confident they can get it right.

Having said that don't expect the paint to match on the bumper (it doesn't match on brand new cars) - paint on plastic will never perfectly match even the exact same paint on metal - the different substrates produce a different look. But a good paint shop should be able to get the paint on metal surface to be very close to existing other paint on metal. Repaint on an older car will never be perfect but should easily pass inspection from 10 feet away.

jpv7774

Nice points Jabberwalk..........I had my front end of my 04 LS430 run over in a parking lot by a school bus. That was a bad day! My color is Cypress Pearl and I had the same concerns. I explained as Jabberwalk said.......that I am an extremely picky customer....I asked for a perfect match.....I INSISTED ON AN OEM HEADLIGHT ......and I insisted my car was locked at night and no door dings while at their shop. Note the shop I took my car to works on primarily Lexus....so they had the correct paint. The shop told me the paint would match but I should note the new clear coat will give a slightly different effect next to the old scratched clear coat. In the end.....the paint job satisfied my OCD. They made a couple other mistakes that I called them out on.......missing clips.....over spray under the hood and on windshield wipers........and they backed it into a car behind it leaving two dots on my plastic bumper where the license plate bolts hit my bumper. I just figured i had better get it out of the shop before they screw something else up........

Just communicate very clearly....even get it on paper

Scootymad

I'm a car painter by trade and it is difficult to get a colour exactly right. Which is why we allow for blend panels to fade the colour out. Unless you have eagle eyes and know exactly what we have done, no one will notice a colour fade out, unless the colour is wrong as anything. Most Toyota colours have fairly good match ratings but some are downright terrible, and if you have a pleb for a painter that can't colour match (or even a good painter with a terrible colour, like my instance when I painted my LS; the colour was that far out it was beyond my abilities to bring it back to an 80% match that we aim for), then you're going to see blends as a big halo through the middle of the panel. Blending is an industry standard and is very effective. Sometimes (actually a lot of the time) colours (like my colour, 6S5 Green) have only a single formula, while others like 040 Super White 2, 070 Blizzard White Pearl, or 1F7 Classic Silver, have at least 20 different variants to suit different markets and models. 1F7 on a Corolla hatchback is different to 1F7 on a Corolla sedan, is different to 1F7 on a Camry out of Australia. Do your research on the workshop, check what paint they use (I'm biased but I prefer PPG) as it can make a massive difference, and lay out to the shop as to what you expect from them.

jpv7774, that effect they spoke of with the clear to the adjacent panel is called Clear Magnification. The painted panel will always appear marginally darker to the other panel, and there's nothing a painter or detailer can do about it sadly. Lighter colours are prone to it, like whites and silvers, while dark colours aren't really affected by it. Blacks are immune to it, just give the next panel a polish up and no one is any the wiser. The effect is exaggerated when that panel has been blended before. If that's the case we usually try and take it up with the insurance company to get another panel to blend through, as it will be obvious if we paint over clear mag.

Johnhav430

Since you're a painter, just wondering if you would agree with my uncle.....I ALWAYS notice when relatively new cars have had body work, under these conditions....slightly ahead of me on the road at a stoplight, and bright sunlight. When I see the reflection, it is blurry, whereas the original body is like a mirror. The color usually matches, but the texture is totally obvious. And I'm talking about new BMWs, MB (I always thought it a shame to see a 0-2 y.o. 7 series like this). I think there's a tendency to notice on dark colors in traffic, but I would imagine a pearl paint would be even more difficult. My uncle states that anything is possible, it can be done perfectly, just that it's not practical. Reason being that in the typical body shop, work is stacked and backed. Insurance is paying. And they're not restoring 200k cars like reality TV programs. i.e. the work is just good enough, not same as original....

net net is if you were given unlimited time to paint a car, you could make it original...but usually you just have to crank them out....even brand new 7 series etc....

Bocatrip

Matching paint is an art on any car used or new. New has challenges as well and for the good eye even more so. It's amazing how as I drive down the road I see late model cars that have mismatched fenders and doors. I wonder...does the owner have any idea how bad their repaint is? Answer most likely is...NO. I have owned cars of which have had a fender retouched, but so well that mostly to the novice, I only knew because of the demands I placed on the paint shop. Any car that is repainted will always be discovered so there should never be any deception there. Whether it's a quality job or not is another story.