Is this a car paint mismatch??

[The Basket]

Had a rear end shunt and had the plastic bumper of the car painted.

It is a colour match of sorts but looks very different from the metallic body of the car...but is same colour as the rear boot hatch.

Any paint experts on here? The bumper is plastic...

I am trying to get opinion whether the paint job is correct or a botch job.

The car is almost 3 years old and I am aware that paint ages. Maybe the new paint job is factory spec and my car colour is no longer.

I also understand the difficulties of matching plastic and metallic panels.

[Holdup]

Unfortuantly because its plastic its always going to look a slightly different colour, the front bumber on my car looks much darker than the bonnet and wings

[Wideboy]

Unfortuantly because its plastic its always going to look a slightly different colour, the front bumber on my car looks much darker than the bonnet and wings

not necessarily, a good sprayer should colour match to the existing paint not the body code that's registered to the car. they do this by scanning the existing paint and it should give the right colours to mix ect.. chances our they've bought a new bumper in and sprayed it straight away with the code rather than trying to match it to the car

if your not happy then make them do it again...... its not being picky i would do the same, i didnt even click the thumbnail and i can see it doesn't match and im colour blind :lol:

[metalangel]

Don't settle for that, ask them to fix it as you (or your ins) are paying for it.

If you don't now you'll come to kick yourself for not doing it.

[2hys]

im an ex panel beater and know we wouldnt let the car leave our garage looking like that, thats apaulling:smt078

[Jabba]

not necessarily, a good sprayer should colour match to the existing paint not the body code that's registered to the car. they do this by scanning the existing paint and it should give the right colours to mix ect.

Yep - agreed.

I've come across problems matching pearlescent paint finishes and those paints with mica particles in - the sort that look different depending upon the angle the car os looked at in relation to the incident sunlight. One case in particular was causing headaches until it was realises that the bodyshop was putting the paint on too thickly (it was a warranty job on a Mercedes) and this caused the colours to invert.

[Bibio]

looks like the apprentice done that. or a blind chimp.

[Lozzo]

Unfortunately a lot of cars come with mismatched plastic bumpers from the factory. My sister's old MR2 was like that, and I know because I sold her the car from new and every MR2 I ever saw was the same. It took a bodyshop three attempts to get the paint match right when someone hit her and the bumper needed replacing.

[The Basket]

Thank you for your input.

The next question is what do I do next?

Am I in the right to say this bang out of order and get it re-painted chop chop?

I can imagine them saying this is the colour we were given...

The next problem is that the colout match is good with the boot/hatch lid..as seen in the photo but not with the rest of the car...boot lid is plastic as well.

[Specialone]

That does look p1ss poor tbh, have you tried polishing the old paint next to it just to see comparison?
I wouldnt be happy with that nor should you, tell them straight, they cant really argue tbh unless stevie wonder is their head painter and they dont wanna upset him.

[haggis]

So the boot hasnt been done and it matches the bumper.
I can't see how the original bumper could have been a good colour match to both panels???

Maybe your original bumper was pretty close to the colour it is now but you han't noticed.

Wulfie is a sprayer, I'll direct him this way to give comment.

[wulfie]

Hi

Haggis sent me a message about your colour match prob.

And Im sorry to say that by the photo that its not a botch job it is the plastic surface being put right up agenst the metal of the quater, compared to it being put agenst the plastic trim of the boot lid the match is fine - plastic on plastic

9/10 times resprays on plastic items will be lighter or darker than on metal I dont know why but it just is, Even if you reprayed the metal it is next to witht he same batch of mixed paint it will prob not match.

I have try'd myself at work with darker primers ...ect to stop this happaning and there is no way around it! Also it depends on the colour of your car aka- some colours match better than other's like non metallic's and well ....black heh.

Now if you all think im just talkin a loada crap:smt078 lol
Im a fully trained volkswagen paint technician and have been working for about 5 years now.

hope this helps you in deciding what to do but all i can see is the car would go back and you'd prob get the same results again.... sorry.

good luck!!

wulfie.

[Captain Nemo]

shouldnt matter whether the codes match or not, the final colour is different and the sprayer should match the finished plastics to the car, if that means he has to spray the bumper a lighter darker colour than the code then thats what he has to do.

"thats how the code comes out" is garage speak for "we couldnt be bothered to make it match, and this is our get out"

most bodyshops that give a 5hit wouldnt let a car go out like that

[The Basket]

Hi

Haggis sent me a message about your colour match prob.

And Im sorry to say that by the photo that its not a botch job it is the plastic surface being put right up agenst the metal of the quater, compared to it being put agenst the plastic trim of the boot lid the match is fine - plastic on plastic

9/10 times resprays on plastic items will be lighter or darker than on metal I dont know why but it just is, Even if you reprayed the metal it is next to witht he same batch of mixed paint it will prob not match.

I have try'd myself at work with darker primers ...ect to stop this happaning and there is no way around it! Also it depends on the colour of your car aka- some colours match better than other's like non metallic's and well ....black heh.

Now if you all think im just talkin a loada crap:smt078 lol
Im a fully trained volkswagen paint technician and have been working for about 5 years now.

hope this helps you in deciding what to do but all i can see is the car would go back and you'd prob get the same results again.... sorry.

good luck!!

wulfie.

Thank you for your reply, Wulfie.

I do appreciate that you have taken time out to answer the. Question.

I spoke to a Citroen paint tech who has done a quick visual check. His opinion is similiar to yours.

However...he has said that a better colour match is possible although 100% colour match ain't happening.

Should one argue the toss?

[Captain Nemo]

yes , its not a match, all theyve done is match the codes, the codes are to get them in the right ball park,

[wulfie]

shouldnt matter whether the codes match or not, the final colour is different and the sprayer should match the finished plastics to the car, if that means he has to spray the bumper a lighter darker colour than the code then thats what he has to do.

"thats how the code comes out" is garage speak for "we couldnt be bothered to make it match, and this is our get out"

most bodyshops that give a 5hit wouldnt let a car go out like that

Thank you very mutch for pointing out that myself and most my work coulleges are a buntch of spanner weilding A*se twits? im sorry but can you respray a car?

I take my job really seriousley and I do all my work with care and pride just to come on and read this drivil......what a put down.

nways.......................

Yes most paint code's have various shade's of that code E.g - la7w is reflex silver for vw/audi

la7w is the code and for that code there are about 7 different shades of that silver to chose from.

Even if the piant guy pick a totally different shade there is no guarantee that it will come out right.

I would say take the car back get them to find the closest shade to the colour of the paintwork on the quarter and see how it turns out.

[kwak zzr]

my beemer plastic bumpers look diff to the bodywork, normally noticeable after a polish in good sunlight.

[caz650s]

I agree with wulfie ...

I had a nearly new audi a few years ago in silver & the front & rear plastic bumpers looked a different shade to the rest of the car.

I took it back thinking it had had a poorly matched paint job on the bumpers ...
and they showed me several other Audis on the forecourt [ main dealer] in different colours and to be fair none of the painted bumpers looked quite the same shade as the rest of the car on any of them ... but I would take it back and say is this really as good as you can get it ?

[The Basket]

Interesting to point out that the respray happened at a general repair centre.

Not a Citroën only garage....although its Citroen approved.

So the tech would have had no everyday experience with the colour...unlike a one type only engineer.

Just a thought.

[Wideboy]

a point that hasn't been mentioned yet... just because the code is known and that paint is said to have been mixed to it, doesnt mean its right. it comon for codes to be mixed incorrectly and i myself had had this problem twice. On two occasions i've have a tin mixed up by one place, sprayed it and the colour was way out, i went elsewhere and they've got the match bang on even tho i gave the same codes. you'll find that spray shops that mix the colours themselves get better matches than those that buy the mixes in

[Captain Nemo]

Thank you very mutch for pointing out that myself and most my work coulleges are a buntch of spanner weilding A*se twits? im sorry but can you respray a car?

I take my job really seriousley and I do all my work with care and pride just to come on and read this drivil......what a put down.

nways.......................

Yes most paint code's have various shade's of that code E.g - la7w is reflex silver for vw/audi

la7w is the code and for that code there are about 7 different shades of that silver to chose from.

Even if the piant guy pick a totally different shade there is no guarantee that it will come out right.

I would say take the car back get them to find the closest shade to the colour of the paintwork on the quarter and see how it turns out.

thanks for your thanks, but im not "pointing out that myself and most my work coulleges are a buntch of spanner weilding A*se twits?"

and the fact that i cant spray a car isnt the issue, i cant carry out breast augmentation surgery but i can tell a pair of wonky tits.

we arent arguing about it being a close match, that isnt a match in any sense of the word, and as you say "I would say take the car back get them to find the closest shade to the colour of the paintwork on the quarter and see how it turns out", thats because you as a trained tradesman can see that its not right,

the place that cars been taken to is an insurance approved (read hammered on the rates) garage, that even if the originall sprayer wanted to, the workshop manager wouldnt allow him to respray it, there just wouldnt be the money in the job.

as you say, most paint codes have several different sub codes, and as you know thats because no 2 batches of paint are not the same, no 2 cars will take the paint in the same way, no 2 cars will go off in the same way, theres 2 many variables, humidity, paint temp , panel temp, different batches of paint, different batches of laquer, skill of the sprayer.

but i stand by by comment that a decent paint shop wouldnt let that work out, wheras one whos bound by time and cost restraints put on them by an insurance assessor that wont sign off a respray and a workshop manager trying to clear his jobs will.

[metalangel]

Just to add, my Skoda needed an entirely new bumper, it was that funny bluish-grey colour. The new bumper matched PERFECTLY. And when my Celica got pranged recently, where it's been resprayed you can't tell.

So while a perfect match isn't possible, they certainly can and should do better than that.

[Captain Nemo]

Just to add, my Skoda needed an entirely new bumper, it was that funny bluish-grey colour. The new bumper matched PERFECTLY. And when my Celica got pranged recently, where it's been resprayed you can't tell.

So while a perfect match isn't possible, they certainly can and should do better than that.


yup we just had a front 3/4 repair done on a 9yr old Passat, youd have to really know what youre looking for to know its had a new front end, matching is where the skill is.