Got a Hit and Run .. need help with new paint

[Khaled]

Hello,

Few weeks ago my coupe got a hit and run and as a result, my door, 3 of my rims and 2 wheel hubs (right side) were damaged

Anyways, I got my coupe fixed and now the only thing that is bugging me is the difference between the old paint of the coupe and the new paint of the door. The door's paint is bright while the rest of the car is dark a bit. I know this is a result of oxidization of the old paint. I tired polishing the coupe, but still there was a noticeable difference.

Can anyone suggest something in order to make the new paint looks similar to the old one. Should i just leave it under the sun for sometime? or just wait and it will get dark a bit?

[Mr.Coupe]

Well I know for a fact that if you took it to a paint shop, any proffesional paint shop would paint the door, fender and whole quarter panel so that you will not have this problem. They blend the parts I just mentioned so that you will not be able to see the color difference. I know for a fact because I have a very good friend that owns a body shop. Only other thing I can think of is that they didn't get the OEM color code paint. Good luck with this problem and I hope you get it fixed dude.

Ricky C.

[mikegtr06]

That white is rediciouls hard to match... Even with the color code a few people on here have paint that doesn't match perfect from the factory.... Let alone a body shop...take it back to the shop

[BlackNWhite]

Seeing a white coupe like that makes me

[marlin29311]

If the place that repaired it didn't blend properly, take it back and make them do it again - my grandparents 2.5 sedan just got hit in the back, and the shop they took it to did an excellent job with blending the blue back in...

[AppleBonker]

I work in the auto paint industry as I've mentioned before, and this is why I don't like the white for our cars. I think the color is amazing looking, but it is nearly impossible to color match well.

There are three layers of paint (in the industry it's known as a tri-coat) on your car (past the primer that is). The first is a straight white. The second is a mica coat (which gives the color that yellow-ish reflection in the sun, almost like a metallic look). The third is a clearcoat layer.

You will not get the paint to change colors in the sun. At most, this will yellow the clearcoat slightly, but this takes thousands of hours to occur. The paint does not oxidize. UV can damage it, but other than that something would need to physically come in contact with the car to change the color.

It sounds like the body shop just did a poor job in matching color. They don't need to respray the whole side of the car. With a good color match, just the door is more than sufficient. The problem with matching this color is that it is very dependent on the thickness of the mica coat. The color difference between 0.4 mils and 0.6 mils (0.0004 and 0.0006 inches - not a lot by any means) is amazing. It sounds like the body shop put on a thicker mica layer than the car had from the factory. It almost sounds like they did a better job painting the car, but when compared to the poorer quality factory job you can see a color difference.

Unfortunately, you're only action is to take the car back to the body shop and complain to have them repaint it. It is a huge pain, but this is why I personally don't buy cars with tri-coat paint systems on them. Good luck!

Mr. Coupe - This isn't really an issue of having the correct OEM paint. For one thing, different batches of paint will always be slightly different in color. No production facility can actually duplicate their products 100% (at least not without significant cost). I could take the exact same paint and spray it 6 different ways and end up with 6 different colors (I have actually done this with a tri-coat for one of our customers before). This is just the nature of this beast.

[Khaled]

Damn it, I did the paint job at the dealership where I bought the car, I guess I have to take it back to them in order to redo the paint again. seeing my coupe like this makes me hate it ..

you can see the difference between the new paint and the old one ...

[dangeris]

Apple is right..

I'd take it back to the dealer, slap 'em and say try again bozo!

Good luck and let us know how you make out

[Khaled]

one thing I forgot to mention is that a year ago I applied a paint protection product on my coupe called "Jewelultra Diamondbrite" which is basically another coat on top of the original paint for protection ... maybe it is the reason why the colors does not match ..

[AppleBonker]

one thing I forgot to mention is that a year ago I applied a paint protection product on my coupe called "Jewelultra Diamondbrite" which is basically another coat on top of the original paint for protection ... maybe it is the reason why the colors does not match ..

Highly unlikely. Most of those products are basically just waxes. IMO, they're all pretty much a scam too. That particular product claims that companies are now painting with water-based paints (for environmental reasons) and that is degrading the performance of the paint. This is completely untrue. We are being forced to limit some of the more environmentally unfriendly solvents, but exteriors are nearly all waterborne. Interiors, on the other hand, are continuously becoming more and more water-based.

Main point: these products, as well as waxes/polishes/etc. will not alter the color of your car (other than keeping it clean looking longer and protecting ever so slightly).

[PHENOMenalVinyl]

Well I know for a fact that if you took it to a paint shop, any proffesional paint shop would paint the door, fender and whole quarter panel so that you will not have this problem. They blend the parts I just mentioned so that you will not be able to see the color difference. I know for a fact because I have a very good friend that owns a body shop. Only other thing I can think of is that they didn't get the OEM color code paint. Good luck with this problem and I hope you get it fixed dude.

Ricky C.

werd mite be wrong paint bc the white is extra expensive so they might have jipped u

and if it doesnt look right they gotta redo it anyway so go back and GET YOUR MONEYS WORTH

[Mr.Coupe]

I just saw that you did the paint job at the dealership were you bought the car. I know for a fact that dealers get a contract with body shops to paint cars for them. I have friends that work at the dealer were I got my car (One is a service manager. Another is a Sales/Finance manager and the other is a parts manager.) And the one that's a service manager told me that a customer was giving him crap because the car had been to the paint shop several times and they were doing a SIHTY job. I told him don't you guys have a Nissan Paint Shop that could color match the car CRAZY easy and he said no, most dealers contract body shops to do their body work. And if they are going a good job it might be the Jewelultra Diamondbrite you used. Otherwise AppleBonker might be right since he's in the auto paint industry. GL with the problem though dude.

Ricky C.

[Khaled]

Thanks everyone for contributing .. I will see what to do with my problem and keep you updated. Probably I will make the dealership redo the paint and hope that they do it right this time.

[AppleBonker]

Ricky has a good point. I can't think of any dealer I've ever been to that has the ability to spray paint. This stuff needs to be baked to cure (at least 180F, possibly 250F depending on the paint they use). Like most things, the dealer contracts it out to a nearby body shop.

From your pic, I highly doubt they used the wrong paint. I'm sure it was the correct OEM paint (though there may be numerous suppliers of OEM paint - BASF, PPG, DuPont, Nippon, etc). It all comes down to the application. You shouldn't have a hard time convincing the dealer that the match is less than stellar (they may argue at first, but they should cave eventually).

Also, from my experience, I doubt the white is the most expensive paint color on our cars. The red (sedan - the coupe uses a cheaper red color) is almost certainly the most expensive, then maybe the blue. The black is definitely the cheapest, FWIW.

[Khaled]

It's different here in my country (UAE). The dealership does almost everything regarding the car. I went to their workshop and they got everything you need to paint a car and I've seen them painting other cars. They also got several huge ovens for painting (I don't know what it is called)

Anyways, the point is, here in the UAE, the dealership is not using any contractor to do their job. They just have almost everything they need in their huge workshop.

[mcheddadi]

UAE rocks! don't you have any tuning companies there? Like Stillen here in USA. we want new Bodykits lol

[Khaled]

UAE rocks! don't you have any tuning companies there? Like Stillen here in USA. we want new Bodykits lol

nah we don't have any tuning companies here ... not that I'm aware of