Joe Flanagan Posted October 29, 2009 Report Posted October 29, 2009 As most of you know, I ran out of a custom, mixed-purely-by-eye paint I was using on my car. I had a local paint shop try to match it (the guy who mixed it originally claims he couldn't reproduce it) and they came close. When I went to get it, it looked almost exact under the lights in the shop. Close enough that I would use it. When I got it home, things were different. In the natural light, it's not a great match. I tried mixing some black into a sample of it to see if I could get it closer but haven't had any luck. Don't know what to do at this point. I've already bought the stuff. I'm hoping I can tinker with it and get it right. I do have a few ounces of the original left and I thought about mixing it in with the new but I'd like to keep it for touch up and repairs and I don't know if it would just make matters worse. This one's giving me a headache. Quote
dezeldoc Posted October 29, 2009 Report Posted October 29, 2009 Paint the rest of the car with it, sand the stuff you already painted and when you are ready for clear mix about 60/40 clear and color and spray the whole thing. i know it is a lot of work but it will blend the new into the old and it will also add depth to the paint when you color sand and buff it. Quote
Joe Flanagan Posted October 30, 2009 Author Report Posted October 30, 2009 Clear and color mixed together? I've never heard of that. What kind of a finish will that give? I guess that would make it all a uniform color. As it happens, after I started this thread, I toyed with the paint a little and I've figured out that by adding just a little black, I can get the new paint almost dead on with the original. I won't know until I can spray a panel and sit it next to the original color. I can't do that until my compressor gets fixed. The switch went bad and it's now being repaired (under warranty). So in the meantime I get a break from paint-related stuff. Might see if I can get my engine installed. Quote
55 Fargo Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 That sucks Joe, sorry to hear your having a tough time with this paint. Dezeldoc is right, his correction method sure sounds like a good plan. Don't suppose if you tooka sample of the color you need and have it scanned by a Body Supply Shop Jobber, could they reporduce it that way, or is this what you have done already without success. I would lean toward Dezeldoc's method.....Fred Quote
Joe Flanagan Posted October 30, 2009 Author Report Posted October 30, 2009 Fred, Yes, they scanned the color and still didn't come up with a close match. That's the second time a jobber was unable to get it with a scan. But since I posted this thread, I've played with the color and it is now very, very close. It's dark here now and I've been checking the samples under fluorescent and halogen lights both. The real test will be when I get it outside tomorrow in daylight. It's amazing the difference daylight makes when you're trying to judge color. The funny thing about this is when the guy finished mixing it, he decided to give the color a name. What did he choose? "Bastard Green" Quote
dezeldoc Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 All my solid color 2 stage paint i always mix in about 20-40% color with the clear. it does a few things, it will give a little extra coverage so if you missed or had a thin spot it will be less noticeable, when color sand and buffing it is easy to see if you bust through to the base, when buffing it will pick up some depth because the color kinda floats in the clear, it will not take as much to get the swirls out. i will post some pics tomorrow when i finish shooting the 57 fenders. Quote
JIPJOBXX Posted October 30, 2009 Report Posted October 30, 2009 At the paint shop I deal with they have books with holes in them that have paint around the holes. All I had to do was just keep on match those paint samples with the holes till I match up what I have. I used that system when I bought my rattle can spray paint to spray up part of the rocker that was rust bleeding through. It match almost perfect, I was surprised. Quote
dezeldoc Posted October 31, 2009 Report Posted October 31, 2009 Joe here are a couple pics of the parts with color in the clear, kinda hard to see much through the glare. their is about 20% in these. Quote
BobT-47P15 Posted October 31, 2009 Report Posted October 31, 2009 Jon, I asked the paint guy at our O'Reilly store about the holes in the page, and he has some of those. He doesn't feel they are 100 percent accurate, but thinks you can get close with them. Glad your color match turned out good. I had taken a spray can they mixed for my car a while back back to the store as the paint wasn't an exact match like previous cans. He told me they are now using a different brand of paint since Centauri is being phased out. They are now using the Nason brand. However, he made up a new spray can using some Centauri they still had. So, we shall see. I may have to take in some item next time for them to analyze. Quote
Joe Flanagan Posted October 31, 2009 Author Report Posted October 31, 2009 Joe here are a couple pics of the parts with color in the clear, kinda hard to see much through the glare. their is about 20% in these. Boy, if my stuff looked that good, Doc, I'd be happy. I'll give it a try with a rear fender that I have to reshoot. Thanks for the pictures. Quote
Rodney Bullock Posted October 31, 2009 Report Posted October 31, 2009 All my solid color 2 stage paint i always mix in about 20-40% color with the clear. it does a few things, it will give a little extra coverage so if you missed or had a thin spot it will be less noticeable, when color sand and buffing it is easy to see if you bust through to the base, when buffing it will pick up some depth because the color kinda floats in the clear, it will not take as much to get the swirls out. i will post some pics tomorrow when i finish shooting the 57 fenders. I have seen this process many times by some of my more experienced paint friends. It was done on one of my cars a long time ago. Your right when by some unknown reason the base just did not cover well they would mix color into the clear and it would "fix" it. dezeldoc I have seen some real nice work on your end. You must be very experienced:) Quote
dezeldoc Posted October 31, 2009 Report Posted October 31, 2009 Thanks Rodney! been doing this since i was 14, started out helping my neighbor who worked at the van nuys gm plant, he always had a side job going on so i would go and hang out with him, then when i was 18 got a job at a body shop and got taught by all the old timers, nothing like wisdom and skill to learn from! saved me from a lot of mistakes on the learning curve. Quote
Joe Flanagan Posted October 31, 2009 Author Report Posted October 31, 2009 That's the way to learn it. You qualify as our resident paint and body expert. Quote
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