Thanks for the interesting post and breakdown of the work. It seems even a minor fender repair involves the car’s computers. The paint job seems esp challenging trying to match the color of new paint to existing paint, both now and 12 months from now.
Did you read that on the invoice?
Was it mentioned on the invoice?
More of your nonsense. Good Collision repair shops match paint all the time. We had a 6 year old vehicle repaired and even 7 years later you could not see where the damage had been.
2 Likes
Just to clarify the color match, the car is a 2019 (5-years old…) and I tried to see if there was any color mis-match in both the sun and in the shade and I would not know there had been any repair and repainting done, the job is that good (I am just a layman and I am sure a professional could tell…) but I could not see any variation of the color, shading, etc…
$50 an hour is pretty low for body professionals. But yeah blending the new paint into existing panels is part of it.
That $50 an hour rate also surprised me and the person who disconnected the battery has their work billed at $95… WTF…
And if you look at item 22, that “Double sided tape residue” was from a Rubber Bumper Protector that is an optional add-on that is held on with the type of double sided tape that hold body molding… I pealed it off before I dropped the car off, I did not want it lost or damaged and I will stop by Autozone for a fresh roll of body molding tape to reapply it…
They charged 2.0 hours to remove the residue, I am glad I was not paying their salary to do that… I rolled off a couple of inches using just my thumb…
A new paint job on plastic materials, such as a car’s bumper ) won’t match the factory paint on metal pieces 100%, which is what I think George has noticed.
This was the case with my previous Camry. The repainted bumper slightly mismatched despite being professionally painted.
Still, the job was done so good that you’d have to be really looking for the difference to notice it.
You are right that the paint will not match 100%, I guess I will have to be satisfied with it only matching 99.99%… L 
L . . .
Look at the Photo I posted in the posting with the bill, You will not notice and real difference and as I wrote, I examined it in the sun and in the shade and I do not see any deviation in the color match… If you have had this issue in the past, perhaps you should find a different body shop… I am completely satisfied with the work.
I had bumper, hood, and left fender damage. The guys did a great job blending the hood and left fender. Since there was no damage to the right fender, they did not blend it. If I look close I can see a very slight difference in the paint. Not noticeable unless you really look so I’m fine with it. Just illustrates the importance of feathering into the adjacent panels. But it’s a heck of a lot more work to feather it out, color sand, and polish again.
I didn’t notice any paint mismatch in your photo at all I was just making a observation that it must be technically challenging for the car-painter to know how to match the paint color now, and formulate the chemistry so it will stay color- matched a year from now. When I’ve painted panels for my truck, I’ve run into that problem, the new paint tends to change color in the sun faster than 10 year old paint. Darker colors seem more prone to this effect. Lighter shades like your car, not as much.
Easier now to gradually shade the paint so there is no dividing line. Doesn’t matter how old the it original paint is. The suppliers guarantee a “blendable” mix, not a perfect match. In the old days with enamels that couldn’t be polished was a lot harder. My bil tried to show me how with low low pressure to melt the paint into the panel on enamel but never did get the hang of it. Your eye detects sharp differences but not gradual changes in shades.
I know that and my reference was to Clueless who implied that the paint between the rubber bumper and the metal fender would not match. As I wrote, I am perfectly happy with the results and I cannot tell it was ever damaged…
Your comment that it is especially challenging to match is spot on… It takes a knowledgeable painter with good lighting, good equipment and good judgement to match the color on a vehicle…
They may know the Factory Color Database, but as a vehicle ages, the color changes and in most cases fades a bit…
The painter reviews the original color and then has to choose a color variant from the database to compensate for any weathering.
And they might still have to use a special camera to decipher the pigment content of the vehicle panel. The painter then uses the camera derived formula to spray a test panel.
If this test panel is not suitable, the painter uses his visual acuity to adjust the ratio of pigments in the formula to match the vehicle. The Painter’s experience determines how quickly and closely, if at all, the original vehicle formula will be matched.
I cannot say how much weathering this car has experienced, but it is not garaged and sits outside and has done so for the last 5-years.
1 Like
Years ago, when painting select panels on an aging vehicle the painter would send the fuel door or a piece of the vehicle that would be discarded to the local paint supplier for computerized color match. Today the painter can use their own spectrophotometer for color analysis.
There is a crew that visits the car dealer once each week to repair/paint bumpers on used vehicles. They manage to match paint color while working in the parking lot.
1 Like
I would have buffed it out and
used touch up paint.
My mom was a terrible driver in her day.
Brand new car, within the first month, every panel on the car was a different shade of white.
1 Like
Even my Grand Marquis, which she hated.
First week I had it, she drove it under a chain link in a parking lot.
Fortunately, the bent antenna, saved the hood, the canvas top had stripes for a few years and it missed the trunk !
I used the computer matching before but the local DuPont dealer seemed to always still get the shade a little too dark. So I started using a place 30 miles away with better results. Maybe their scales or something were off.