Well, like I posted before, my mav was backed into a while back, and my pass. door was badly mangled. Well, I got my estimates, and put it in the body shop last friday. The shop went to the store where I had originally been sold my paint, and where I had benn guarenteed a match should the need ever arise. Well guess what....... IT DOESN'T MATCH!!!!!! It's way two orangy campared to my red. Just needed to vent. Preston
paint colors it's so so hard to match paint and it is never going to be the same no matter what even if you use the same batch, the rest of the paint will be slightly different.
Just for future reference. Anytime your going to paint your car or even have it painted, always have them mix at least 2 quarts more than you will need, just for reasons like this. If the body shop just painted the door, it will stick out like a sore thumb. A good painter will blend the paint into the surrounding panels so even a slight color difference will be harder to see. Another option would be to sue the insurance company of the guy who hit you for a whole paint job if they cant match it.
As Dennis said....blend the paint into the surrounding panels. Also, "red" paints (like red, orange, etc) are the hardest to match.
Red is a royal pain to match and blending it into the neighboring panels is the best way to go. Nearly all automotive paint today is mixed and matched by computer. We use PPG paint and the store we get it from puts the paint formula under the label just in case we need more paint later. Another thing that can alter the color match is how much air pressure the painter uses and how far away he or she is holding the gun. Here is an example. My husband painted the front cab of a 1954 Ford pickup one week and the following week I painted the bed and tailgate. We use the same red paint from the same can. We both use a different painting style and guess what? The bed is slightly redder than the cab. I used a different air pressure and applied one more coat of paint than he did. He applied three and I applied four. All these things and affect the final outcome when painting cars. And the absolute WORST color to try to match is white. Don,t even get me started!
all this is because red's and similar colours are the easyest part of the reflected light spectrum to see
Colors Actually, green is the easiet to see, red is the hardest. That is why they have changed red instrument lighting to green in fighter planes and why tactical lighting is changing to green. The amount of light needed to see by red light is double that needed of green. Have you ever seen a red chemlight? They are in many colors, but started in green because that is the most useful color.
I was aircrew in the Navy & I was told that red has the shortest wave length in the color spectrum. There for it is easiest on the eyes, less fatigue. That is why it is used. We used to fly 10-12 hour missions so fatigue can be a factor.
Mavaholic, etc. As a pilot, I'm not aware of any heavy use of green in any aircraft instruments. Red is used because it is closer to "black" in wavelength and does not interfere with night vision (which can take 30 minutes or more to get back after exposure to a bright light). As an interesting note, you'll never see pilots mark anything with a red pen since the red lens on a pilots flashlight will cause it to "disappear". I found this out the hard way as a student pilot when I marked my entire 384 mile night route in red! Being a student ignorant in these things, I simply removed the red lens on my flashlight so I could see the course line... ... and promptly blinded myself for about 20 minutes! I must have been the only student flying on "instruments", at night, with a full moon, and no clouds that night! Well, they say God protects drunks, fools and, at least for that night, foolish student pilots! Pegasus
matching paint is all what everyone has stated above. Like Jean said, her and hubby painted out of the same can, but both had different techniques. What they are dealing with is atomization and depth. The closer the gun is to the surface will result in less atomization. Some painters will attempt to react by applying more air pressure. Depending if they speed up, that will directly affect how the paint lays, which takes us back to depth. All the while the paint now on the car is moving with the catalysts doing their act. It can get quite technical. And yes Jean, I agree that white is the absolute hardest color to match, I restored a 80 Trans Am about 12 years ago, its white. Dude hits a deer with it a couple years later. I had to paint it 3 times and had the pope there with me in the paint booth while I blended it. Finally turned out fantastic, but I never knew white could be so HARD to match. Dan
