Timothy Potter

99 c5. Had my hood replaced with another c5 stock hood and hood painted along with nose of car. Inside the garage in lower light I noticed the paint is darker on the headlight lids and the nose of the car while the hood is much lighter. I took it to a reputable place and they guy told me all parts were painted at one time from the same batch of paint. My question is....could the material the lids and nose are made be of different materials so that they take paint differently ?

Vetteman Jack

Don't see why the various panels do not match if painted all at the same time. A good shop should be able to make all the panels match perfectly IMO.

The factory is able to match all the panels.

dmarkshark

Maybe they didn't paint the hood, and found one the same color?

Yello95

Good lord...that's terrible and what a bs lie they told you...you could have matched the paint better by yourself with a rattle can...I had my hood painted and it matched everything else...sorry but yours looks like crap...take it to a real paint shop and get it done right...best of luck....

ZEEZERO-6

Just had my hood / front fascia / head light covers painted on my 2004 Torch Red C5 and it looks perfect. The shop told me that even though they can buy the stock color it has to be mixed in the shop to correctly match. He said to date he probably has 13 different shades of Torch Red that he has blended over the years and keeps this info on file for future use.

Your painter did not properly match your paint.

bc6152

The shop, and whoever you complained to, is blowing smoke at you. The same paint mix produces matching colors. That's simply how its done... Betcha they didn't mix enough and needed a second batch.

deejbee

That is really odd. Several things could have happened...

- did they really spray the bumper and headlight covers?
- was the hood painted separate from the car?
- if they only sealed the hood, and not the bumper and headlight covers this could affect the color match
- did they paint the headlight covers and bumper, or just paint the hood and clear the headlight covers and bumper?

'Tis a mystery. If it were me, it would be going back and the whole front end would be getting re-sprayed on their dime. That is pretty bad.

Also, what is underneath that paint does not affect color "assuming" they sprayed everything at that same time. The factory paint on that front cover will not affect what they put on top of it color wise assuming they painted the hood on the car, and also used sealer on everything.

My first instinct is that they sprayed the hood off the car but I would probably be wrong as a good shop would spray it all together to avoid any possibility of a mismatch.

dbgoodwin

Out of curiousity, which is the better match for the car? The good looks like the same color as the fenders but it's hard to say from the angle

Forcedvert

If you haven't already done it I would show them that particular pic.....

I have a friend who has a shop, they painted my wife's diamond white caddi front cover and not the hood and you can't tell at all. The darker the car the easier the match from what I've been told.

FYI.... I have also been told that bumper covers do show slightly different (darker slightly) from the same shop, but that is way too far off to accept IMO.....

They should honor your request for a repaint.

Hood does seem to match fenders much better.

zachaeous

I repainted my front bumper with paint mixed at a S/Williams paint store and it matched as good as could be expected. Did not need any tinting for a match.

I would definitely take it back and make them make it right.

dmarkshark

Back to the original question, I doubt that anything would affect the color on a basic torch red color ( including the undercoat), other colors, sure, but a basic color , no.???

Velocity_Vette

There are a lot of underlying factors that can affect resultant paint work but do know that modern good paint work, when done properly, should not have any visual discrepancies. Paint on the car can be computer-measured which includes it depth and most all quality paint shops used computer mixed paints. They do an extraordinary job when presented with a shop that knows what they are doing and with a painter that has the experience to back it up with quality blend work. Those days of "looking for OEM paint" are gone the way of the dinosaur.

Again it's very difficult to give any sort of guess as to what exactly occurred but at this point I would take the car back and demand the car be painted properly. There are different materials used on the panels on the front end, but if they were properly painted there should not be any issues. My absolute best guess is you getting a different OEM hood likely did not have a color change properly performed on it which after the painting process began and the paint set it resulted in this discrepancy.

Shaolin Crane

The bumper on my car was resprayed by the PO and looks almost the same, it doesn't bother me enough to repaint it yet, but I find it funny it looks exactly the same. I'm wondering if the catalog color for torch red is different than what GM used.

Either way a shop should do spray tests first before just shooting the color. Make them fix it.

knewblewkorvette

No way would I accept that, take it back and have them do it right. If they refuse, take them to small claims.

SG Lou

Flash Back.....I had some damage done to my C4's bumper many moons ago and after repaint it looked great in the sunlight...matched perfectly. But in the shadows and as it got darker out it mis-matched like yours...
I too wondered if the color of the primer they used caused the issue ?

Forcedvert

Funny how the people who think that good body shops charge rediculas prices never seem to see these threads. This is exactly why good shops and painters are worth what they charge. They are professionals and know how to correct this kind of stuff. Hopefully this shop has a clue, will admit that is not acceptable and will fix it.


To op....is this a high end collision shop?

66dts-v

They should match. They are painting my nose, hood, and both headlights after they replace the nose. When they fixed my drivers door they did the front fender to blend.

loufernh

I had a similar problem with another car. I refused to accept the car. The body shop claimed the problem was with the clear coat they used. They redid the clear coat and it came out a lot better.

DaleInColorado

I just had my 2004 Magnetic Red Metallic II hood, headlight lids, and bumper repainted. Too many bugs and chips after 14 years. AutoSonic in Casa Grande did a great job. He said that someone had previously used the wrong primer color - too dark. I am happy..

shaggyvette

The magnetic red color must be a bear to match. That and the fact that there are 3 maybe 4 years with that color and there a difference in each one. I know, mine is a little off in color between the nose and the tail sections. Oh well, almost time for a C6..

Dave