Paint job nightmare!
- Thread starter Phil-E30
- Start date
To ensure you get an accurate match,without the aggro of painting the bumper,you can get a piece of paper with a hole in it, painted to the colour suggested by whomever. Place the paper on the bonnet and any diference in the colour will stand out. Paint shops used to sell this item,but a piece of A4 with a crisply cut 2 inch hole in will suffice. A good painter should be able to tint the paint to suit I would of thought
I have been looking at getting my bumper and bonnet sprayed both people I have spoke to have Sid they will need to blend it into the wings. As one of the wings needs paint any way. Mine is silver so different. But might be needed to done on yours as well?
One of the guys is a work college who restores old porches as a hobby and is very well respected. I would say maybe your car might have had paint before. That's why maybe so have been lucky and you haven't?
Just go and chat with the guy face to face. Always better than on the phone. I do work sometimes and it's not what someone wants? If you explain and he knows his onions you should get what you want.
Best of luck Phil
One of the guys is a work college who restores old porches as a hobby and is very well respected. I would say maybe your car might have had paint before. That's why maybe so have been lucky and you haven't?
Just go and chat with the guy face to face. Always better than on the phone. I do work sometimes and it's not what someone wants? If you explain and he knows his onions you should get what you want.
Best of luck Phil
Usa
mad4slalom
Senior member
silver , normally is one of the more forgiving colours to match, yes you can lighten or darken the colour bu adjusting air pressure etc, i once painted a 911 guards red and the paint supplier messed up the mix so it does happen, blending or blowing in and fading the colour into the next panel is really cheating as all it does is to take your eye off the bad colour match because the colour of the repainted panel is the same as the adjoining panel, but then the mismatch is just further along the adjoining panel . good luck, he will sort it as a paint shops worst advert is a bad colour match.
Haven't paid any money yet lads, would never pay for a job before it gets done. I think the paint provider is to blame, either their match isn't good enough or the paint quality is poor. Either way, this will be the third and final time I let him try it and then I will have to do the whole "I'm not happy and not paying for it thing" which given that he has done work for my dad and stuff I would rather not do. But I want this to be right.
:roll: Best say nothing 
Only seems to be one person with an issue on here
Just my 2p-worth, and none of this is to do with Sterling Grey per-se. All of this is on Sapphire Black metallic.
I am having my B3SBTfront and rear bumpers sprayed next week in my local trusted bodyshop to remove stone chips from the front, and an annoying supermarket trolley ding on the rear. The guys I use mix their own paint on site from the car code. They are also geniusses with car spraying, having part re-painted my Roadster S early last year :bow: . So, for the RS, they blended the paint through the adjacent panels (offside front wing and nearside door) as it was a full front end and bonnet refresh to rid her of road rash, and any slight colour differential at a panel joint on big, similarly shaped panels is very noticeable. However, I had the side skirts done too, and no blending was necessary between those and the panels above them as being plastic, a slight difference may have occurred anyway. As it is, everything matched perfectly, there are no paint edge lines, and the car looks as fantastic today as it did when new and there are no step colour changes. The guy who has bought the car cannot even tell it has been done, other than the car looks totally mint as a bit of a giveaway!
For my bumpers, they are not recommending any blending (they know my standards are VERY high, so if needed, they would say it). The bumpers will be removed from the car, stripped, smoothed and painted before being refitted. At no time will they compare the bumper colour to the rest of the car before they match it up...and I'm pretty sure I can say it WILL match 8)
The WORST colour cars to match are silver! I have experience of poor colour-match on 2 silver cars I owned, and every paintshop I ever spoke to about my silver E46 shuddered and told me how difficult it was to match silver paint without it being 'cloudy' at some point, effectively offering no guarantee that their re-work would be better than what I already had. My silver Astra estate workhorse has exactly this issue.....
I would guess you have either the wrong paint mix, or he's getting the metallic flake to angle the wrong way when applying the paint.
Only seems to be one person with an issue on here
Just my 2p-worth, and none of this is to do with Sterling Grey per-se. All of this is on Sapphire Black metallic.
I am having my B3SBTfront and rear bumpers sprayed next week in my local trusted bodyshop to remove stone chips from the front, and an annoying supermarket trolley ding on the rear. The guys I use mix their own paint on site from the car code. They are also geniusses with car spraying, having part re-painted my Roadster S early last year :bow: . So, for the RS, they blended the paint through the adjacent panels (offside front wing and nearside door) as it was a full front end and bonnet refresh to rid her of road rash, and any slight colour differential at a panel joint on big, similarly shaped panels is very noticeable. However, I had the side skirts done too, and no blending was necessary between those and the panels above them as being plastic, a slight difference may have occurred anyway. As it is, everything matched perfectly, there are no paint edge lines, and the car looks as fantastic today as it did when new and there are no step colour changes. The guy who has bought the car cannot even tell it has been done, other than the car looks totally mint as a bit of a giveaway!
For my bumpers, they are not recommending any blending (they know my standards are VERY high, so if needed, they would say it). The bumpers will be removed from the car, stripped, smoothed and painted before being refitted. At no time will they compare the bumper colour to the rest of the car before they match it up...and I'm pretty sure I can say it WILL match 8)
The WORST colour cars to match are silver! I have experience of poor colour-match on 2 silver cars I owned, and every paintshop I ever spoke to about my silver E46 shuddered and told me how difficult it was to match silver paint without it being 'cloudy' at some point, effectively offering no guarantee that their re-work would be better than what I already had. My silver Astra estate workhorse has exactly this issue.....
I would guess you have either the wrong paint mix, or he's getting the metallic flake to angle the wrong way when applying the paint.
Been told the bumper has been resprayed and lacquered, should be collecting it this afternoon. If it's a good match then happy days, if not I will take the car back, not pay and take it elsewhere. Hope it doesn't come to that though, would rather it was done right this time just.
Will keep you updated!
Will keep you updated!
gingertosser
Active member
i agree i have had a few bits and pieces done on my other cars over the years and all had to be blended in so you could not tellMachine monkey said:I have been looking at getting my bumper and bonnet sprayed both people I have spoke to have Sid they will need to blend it into the wings. As one of the wings needs paint any way. Mine is silver so different. But might be needed to done on yours as well?
One of the guys is a work college who restores old porches as a hobby and is very well respected. I would say maybe your car might have had paint before. That's why maybe so have been lucky and you haven't?
Just go and chat with the guy face to face. Always better than on the phone. I do work sometimes and it's not what someone wants? If you explain and he knows his onions you should get what you want.
Best of luck Phil
Carol M said:
+1
A
Anonymous
Guest
had a 13 year old sterling Z3 bumper touched up by Chips-away, perfect match.
I am always wary of bodyshops who use the faded paint argument, and go with the ones that say you wont be able to tell.
Cheap laquer is the biggest cause as they have more of a yellow tinge which alters the base colour
I am always wary of bodyshops who use the faded paint argument, and go with the ones that say you wont be able to tell.
Cheap laquer is the biggest cause as they have more of a yellow tinge which alters the base colour
Well, to put things simply, it's not right. Went down to collect the car and the new paint job is far too dark, the difference is like night and day. He tried to tell me it was to be expected as it was plastic and the other panels are metal. I know there is a discrepancy in paint colour on certain materials, but that isn't the reason for this. Needless to say, the car is now back with me and is being taken to a different bodywork place tomorrow, supposedly one of the best in Northern Ireland, so I expect this will resolve the issue, finally!
I am most disappointed with the paint job, but also massively disappointed with the guy who did it refusing to acknowledge what is clearly a terrible colour match. Asked would he be happy if it was his car, he simply said "yes". Bollocks.
Hopefully the new place can take it in and spray it soon. Will keep you posted
I am most disappointed with the paint job, but also massively disappointed with the guy who did it refusing to acknowledge what is clearly a terrible colour match. Asked would he be happy if it was his car, he simply said "yes". Bollocks.
Hopefully the new place can take it in and spray it soon. Will keep you posted
Just an update on this issue. Got the car back from the body shop today and it is top class. The finish is awesome, the colour match is awesome and it looks fantastic. Learnt a lesson the hard way, but so glad to have it all sorted now. Putting it all back together now. Can't wait to wash and polish the whole car now.
Have a mind to go back to the old place, show them the job done now and have a "conversation" with a few choice words. Not sure what this would achieve though, so maybe time to just move on!
Have a mind to go back to the old place, show them the job done now and have a "conversation" with a few choice words. Not sure what this would achieve though, so maybe time to just move on!
Great news Phil
