My car was hit and repaired. Outside it looks great, can't tell anything. However inside the garage under flouresent lights it looks lousy. Body shop said they will repair it but i'm wondering if it's just the flouresent lights making it look bad. Can someone confirm it's just the crappy lighting, or bad color match?
Thanks
Bob

Here is a garage shot. Note the drivers side coloring. Repair was whole passenger side, nose, hood, headlight cover.


Here it is outside, in the sunlight and shade.

 

maybe I cant see what you are talking about but I think it looks great...

 

I can see the difference when under the garage lighting, but not when in natural daylight. Not sure what to tell you, looks great with natural light.

 

it's too hard to tell any difference from the pics!

 

It's a terrible match. Florescent lights will bring out the flaws but it will be noticeable in certain other light conditions too. I can't believe they left the headlight cover and didn't blend into the fender. I'd be really pissed off! Hope it gets resolved for you.

 

Thanks, I knew I was only crazy not nuts. They said it's painted under lights but finalized based off sunlight. Like it shows, cannot be seen in sun or shade, just in man made lighting. They will make it right, i'm just debating whether or not to have them paint it more.

 

If they were going to paint that much of the front, they should have at least blended into the top of the drivers fender and painted the headlight cover also.

 

just to let you know metallic paint will never match perfect, no matter where you bring it, its the metal flakes in the paint never fall exactly the same, its up to you.... good luck

 

I would paint the whole car...see if they will give you a break on the price of that..

 

I totally see the difference I am not shocked that others cannot. As a veteren of several total re-sprays I can tell you that your vision will be ultra sensitive to change like this. So it is probably worse in your mind than anywhere else. If you are like me you have spent hours in the garage and outside trying to convince yourself that it is ok. You can see it and the average person may not. I know all about garage light vs natural light. I would say they need to fix the problem and that may be a re-spray of the doors forward with a lot of buffing to go along with it.

I totally understand that it is driving you nuts. I have been there before. One thing I can tell you that it is driving you nuts now but most likely the nuts feeling will fade with time. At least until the next guy says something about it.

 

I would be unhappy with that as well. I would definitely make them paint AT LEAST the entire nose, and quite possibly blend it into the doors. When my car was hit (the hood) the insurance company paid for the entire nose & 1/2 the doors to be TAKEN OFF and painted, because they know how tough it is to blend the paint.

 

my car with fresh paint

 

There is no "color" without "light". The color temperature of the light combined with the reflective properties of a pigment generate combinations of energy frequencies which the eyes of human beings convert into the "sensation" of color. No light - no color. Different color light - different color sensation. That is the quick explaination as to why colors appear different under different lighting conditions. With auto paint, the only way to "guarantee" the same color properties are to paint an entire vehicle from the same "batch" of well agitated paint under controlled conditions.

Many colors are also Metameric and by their nature appear radically different under different light sources. In your case it is hard to say if it is the old paint or the new paint that is really undergoing the most change causing the perceived mismatch in the garage. Bottom line is - especially with a metallic paint - if a patch ever perceptually matches - you are fortunate (and somewhat lucky). To their credit, they probably made the best choice they could, but "daylight" is the easiest to match because the sunlight is as close to white light as it gets, but you will also probably start to notice variations throughout the day and under various weather conditions as sunlight changes from yellow to blue, etc. throughout the day.

To complicate matters, let's say your original paint is a year old - it has probably undergone some degradation. The paint shop orders a new batch of paint to the same "original" specs, but they no longer apply to you - your car color has aged. Therefore, the paint shop mixes in various pigments that were not present in the original formula in order to match the color - unfortunately going this route only addresses the match under one color of light. Therefore a partial repaint - even with the best control and technology is a crap shoot at best.

 

Looks like some mismatch there. I'd take it back and let them look at it again.

 

You can definitely see the difference. I can see it in the sunlight also. They did no blending. As stated above, different paint batch and applied at different angle. There was no way to get it right the way they did it. I would have them paint the whole nose and blend into doors as suggested or you will never be happy because you will have to look at it every time you see your car and it will just upset you more and more. Good Luck!!

 

I agree with all the above, I think you can get a better match. It's difficult to get it absolutely "perfect", especially with the silver. Some of the silver 'vettes didn't even come with "pefect" matches out of the factory, especially the rear facias. I also have a silver C5 and mine matches, but others have posted that their matches were a little off when they bought the car new. Good luck with the adjustments.