Purdue

My roof delaminated two weeks ago and I got a call from the dealership today advising that the body shop will need my car to finish painting the roof!

I dropped the roof off to be painted on Saturday, but now they need the entire car as Monterey Red is hard to match! I called and spoke to the body shop guy and he explained the process and how hard it will be to match the paint without seeing the car…then he went on to say they will need to blend the adjacent panel to ensure color match. I firmly told him I have a problem with them painting the car and told him I don’t feel comfortable with this option. He said if they paint the roof and it doesn’t match and I do not allow them to blend then they could not repaint as it would not be covered by warranty a second time??

I know it’s a small panel behind the roof, but should I roll the dice with just the roof being painted and hope it turns out OK or should I let them blend for 100% match?

I still have time to ponder taking them the car as I cannot drop it off until 7/25.

Ok guys what would you do??

Duallyvette

My top doesn't match at all...I have a transparent top. I would rather that the paint didn't match, than have panels repainted.

Oh what the hell....Its only the targa band.

StanNH

Blending is pretty much SOP for painting cars. You can ask them not to, it can be done, but it's going to be much harder to get a perfect match that way.

BigJoe

They even blended my white car when I had a fender replaced. White is probably the easiest to match, but just to be absolutely sure they did the blend on the door and hood anyway. There is no way you will ever see that it was blended if its a good shop...

Mel 2001

I just had a new trunk lid put on my Monterey Vert. I told them not to blend the paint. It turned out a tiny shade darker, but no one would know unless I told them to stare at the paint at a certain angle.I am glad they did not blend the paint.
It will even be less noticeable on the targa top since it is on top of the car.

need-for-speed

Why can't they "blend" the paint on the roof panel to match the existing paint on the car?

I wouldn't let them do it. I'd tell them to paint the roof panel to match the car.

piva242

Straight from the factory, depending on the angle, different panels right next to each other can look like a different shade. I have noticed this several times looking at the car from various vantage points. Maybe it's the metallic paint that has this effect (mine is a 2007 Monty Red coupe).

So if someone notices that your top doesn't match just tell them to look again at a different angle.....

0corvette pilot

If they are a professional shop, I wouldn't sweat it. They do this day in and day out, and I'm sure you won't be able to notice the transition if its slightly different. All they are doing is putting a thin coat of the new paint on your roll hoop and then clear coating it.

Zymurgy

My dealer painted my Monterey Red replacement roof without having to blend the paint on the targa band. In fact, they never had the car, only the old roof. Nobody can tell the difference.

jschindler

Blending is for painters who don't know what they are doing.

Think about it, if they blend the colors because they can't make the two panels match - then how the hell can they tell you that you won't see where it's blended? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

Purdue

Thanks for all the replies .

My only concern is if I don't take them the car to blend the paint and the roof is noticeably a different shade of color they will NOT repaint for FREE I will have to pay out of pocket :o .

jschindler

If they can paint it so you can't tell it's blended, then why can't they match the panels?

The whole point is this - if they "blend" the door - the top half will be one shade, the bottom half will be another shade, and the blending will be the transistion. How can you tell me that would not be noticable? The only way it would not be noticable is if the top, bottom and middle are all the same color - in which case they would not have needed to blend it.

jschindler

I would not accept that answer. Total crap.

shopdog

Blending is the crutch of the incompetent painter. Tell them that if they have to do any blending, they can only do it on the panel they're being paid to paint. If they can't match the top to the car, then how in hell are they going to match the car to the top?

The reason they want to "blend" is because they got the paint mix wrong for the top, so they want to put some of that wrong paint on other parts of your car too. Don't let them. Tell them they have to mix the paint so it does match the rest of the car.

Wayne O

Back when I had my roof panel replaced, repaired and re-painted I left my car so they could paint-to-match (magnetic red metallic II). They did not blend-paint and I was told they repainted the roof panel three times before they were satisfied the color matched. This was the dealership body shop and they did an excellent job.

I might be inclined to argue the point about their responsibility is only to paint the roof panel once. The defective part is the roof panel. They (GM through their representatives) are responsible for making the roof panel whole. If it needs to be painted...it should match your car to a reasonable level of perfection. There is nothing I'm aware of that says it's acceptable or allowable for them to 'degrade' the paint on other portions of the car. If they have trouble matching the color...that is not your problem. They should be responsible for matching the paint in a satisfactory manner irregardless of how many times it takes until the warrantied and recalled part is whole again. IMO they're trying to take the easy way out.

That being said, I feel you would not be disappointed if the blend painting was done. Most body shops are quite adept at doing this.

torquetube

The idea is that an abrupt transition is far more noticable than a gradual one. Which is true.

I agree that blending is a cop-out, though. The whole point of it is to get away with a bad color match.

dbooth

I have sprayed automotive paint for many years and I would not blend the paint in this situation. Here's what I would do if I was painting the top.

You have to first understand that all paints have multiple variations of the same color. Doesn't matter if it's Dupont, PPG, or whoever. I have seen as many as 14 shades of a maroon before. On the scale it would go from negative 7 (-7) to positive 7 (+7) with zero being the standard base shade. The paint manufacture has color samples to use for matching the paint perfectly. I would get all variations of your paint code and then have you bring your car by to match it up. I would rather spend the time doing this than masking off your whole car just to paint the small area needed for blending. Plus, you still have your car to drive and I don't have a whole car to clean up when finished. All cars get dirty from being in a bodyshop!

This would get your top painted to match without having to paint on your car. Monterey Red is no harder to match than most other colors if you have the color matching samples and mix the paint from them.

cargeek

If you are going to Blend paint...it should be Black..no problem....White has different Whites...be careful...I bought black for this exact reason..they can't mess it up..
Doug

jimmie jam

NEVER ON MY CAR!

C6roadster

I had an RK Hood put on my car earlier this year and I left the gas door for the body shop to match the color of the hood to the color of the car(mag red II-2005 vette) and the color was was almost perfect. And this was the hood on the car where people look DOWNWARD vs. a roofpanel that is eyelevel or slightly lower to people. I personally would not have them paint over the original paint UNLESS IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AND BEYOND NECESSARY TO DO SO! They should be able to match the roof panel up to the gas door panel paint so you dont have to leave your car in the shop while the roof is being painted either. Food for thought!
Good luck.