Paint job nightmare!

Phil-E30

Active member
In the process of making the Zed exactly how I want it, I decided to tidy up the front bumper, it had a plethora of stone chips and scrapes from previous, less careful, owners. Today I went down to collect the car, for the second time. The colour match is still not even close. The guy insists that it is the best quality paint and from his usual supplier. He is trying to blame it on the fact that the paint is going on to plastic. He looks for patches where the colour is close, but tries to ignore the fact that when you stand back and look at the car the front bumper looks silver as opposed to Sterling Grey! In the engine bay it says 472/7 as the paint code, I know he is using 472 to source the paint, does the /7 matter on the end? Could that be the problem?

What advice would you give guys? I have told him I'm not happy and to try again, but I am sceptical as to how good his match will ever be. Should it be this difficult for him to match it? He has done bodywork on previous cars and motorbikes for my family before and his work has always been good. The finish on the bumper is lovely, it's just not even close to the right colour! :headbang: I don't want a situation whereby I have to take the car away and refuse to pay for the work because I am unhappy.
 
I know a few Sterling grey paint job successes. Sounds like he's not getting the colour right :?


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That's what I assumed Adamski, didn't want to seem rude so hinted at this rather than said it out right, but the colour simply isn't right.

If I thought the difference between 472/7 and 472 paint codes was important I would phone him to point him in this direction!
 
I've sprayed my 525 mirrors sterling grey out of a rattle can and the colour match was spot on and that was on my drive :grin:
can't see why he isn't able to match your paint if he knows what he's doing must be the paint he's using :?:
Si-forks is tapatalking
 
i know with sapphire black my paint shop had about 20 different varieties of it... with the same paint code!

He used his colour card against the bodywork to get an exact match...
 
Does the grey on the car change due to sunlight? Surely over time the grey is not the grey on the original coat?

Hence when he applied the original colour its not the same?
 
Sterling grey, I dropped the bumper off without the car, he took the code from me over the phone. Colour is identical. Yes plastic and metal will look slightly different, but it should be nearly impossible to tell!
 
My Sterling bumper has been sprayed to an identical match twice.
Clearly the wrong paint, application or the bonnet and wings have been done the 'wrong' colour before.

One solution is to belnd it into the wings and bonnet, but wouldn't do that at this stage. Had to have it done on my Jag where the rear bumper on plastic and differening angles would not look right.
 
aquazi said:
i know with sapphire black my paint shop had about 20 different varieties of it... with the same paint code!

He used his colour card against the bodywork to get an exact match...

I was about to say exactly this... I have heard before of them bringing out a swatch of samples of the colour which they use to match it... frustrating as hell for both of you no doubt though if he's spraying it in the colour gained from the code on your car.

The bare in mind that the colour has probably discoloured slightly I guess that's why it should also be blended so that it doesn't become so obvious.
 
Cheers for the input guys, I am equally as baffled by his struggle to match the colour as you all are! The car has only done 40k miles and lived a large proportion of its life in a garage, so I think the likelihood of any massive change of paint colour caused by natural light etc is very small.

The car has also never been painted before and is the original factory paint, it seems very simply that the colour he is spraying on to the car isn't right. Don't know what to do, it's not like I can do much about where or how he sources his paint?
 
Your inputs are ridiculous Marius. I am talking about hundreds of pounds of work and you come out with remarks like that. Arrogant, self absorbed remarks, really helpful. You were the same on the TT forums, only people on here don't seem to have picked up on what a prat you are yet. It is a professional body shop, it's not some guy with spray tins in the back of his van.
 
Phil-E30 said:
Your inputs are ridiculous Marius. I am talking about hundreds of pounds of work and you come out with remarks like that. Arrogant, self absorbed remarks, really helpful. You were the same on the TT forums, only people on here don't seem to have picked up on what a prat you are yet. It is a professional body shop, it's not some guy with spray tins in the back of his van.
:popcorn:
 
I suggest you insist on him doing it again mate.

You don't have to walk away unhappy.

The whole different material talk is rubbish as it would't stand out that much.

Get him to do it, until it's done right or get your money back and take it elsewhere but exhaust all options first.
Hope you haven't paid all the money if any yet but if you have, tell him to fix it, and even supply the paint yourself.
 
Phil-E30 said:
Cheers for the input guys, I am equally as baffled by his struggle to match the colour as you all are! The car has only done 40k miles and lived a large proportion of its life in a garage, so I think the likelihood of any massive change of paint colour caused by natural light etc is very small.

The car has also never been painted before and is the original factory paint, it seems very simply that the colour he is spraying on to the car isn't right. Don't know what to do, it's not like I can do much about where or how he sources his paint?

Take it back.. tell him to forget the paint code and match it using his colour card. Heck if you can get dulux paint to match random items wont be hard for them to colour match a whole car!
 
Don't know if this helps but on my 525 which is sterling grey the paint code is just 472 no /7
The paint i used was from a professional paint supplier and it says on the paint can basecoat 0.400L :)


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Metallic paints can sometimes be difficult to match well because the metallic bits lay differently than the original paint. They reflect light differently so the colour looks off, even though the pigments are an exact match. It's more work, but blending the paint into the adjacent panels usually solves the problem. The only other possible alternative is to try paint of a different manufacture, but there's a chance it will be just as bad or even worse.
 
Phil-E30 said:
Your inputs are ridiculous Marius. I am talking about hundreds of pounds of work and you come out with remarks like that. Arrogant, self absorbed remarks, really helpful. You were the same on the TT forums, only people on here don't seem to have picked up on what a prat you are yet. It is a professional body shop, it's not some guy with spray tins in the back of his van.

Only think you good at is crying :lol: :lol: :lol: Still want refund for your red sticker :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Again, top class response. You're a moron Marius, a grade A moron. All you do is slag other people off, dismiss other people's ideas as stupid. Have a bit of decency and learn proper English too. If you don't like what I post or ask, don't read it.

Also, those stickers were a con, cheap crap. Yeh, I paid £3.50 for it, not a lot of money at all, it faded in a week, worth no more than 10p. When anyone brought this up you were blunt and rude, very intelligent. You are a proper prat, I hope being rude to people you don't know over a forum and thinking you're smart keeps you happy.
 
Thanks for the other inputs guys, hopefully have this issue resolved one way or another in the next couple of days. Will keep you up to speed.

As for Marius, all you would have to do is ask someone from the TT forums what he is like. Sometimes helpful(ish) and sound, the majority of the time an ignorant git. Got in to countless arguments on there. Some of which led to other members leaving the forums altogether. Surely not the point in forums! Pity one always has to ruin things.
 
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