Paint code: matching original paint? (UPDATE)

[RodneyA]

well i went past a panel beater earlier to get them to check out a bad scratch on my front bumper, side door dent and various surface scratches around the car.

they commented that they shall press out the dent, polish out most of the scratches and respray a small part of the bumper to fix up the bad scratch.

now my question is that with the paint code that they will acquire from my handbook, will it be an exact match to my red Mk2 Leon FR with no colour differentiation at all?
will i notice any major colour difference after it is done?
and i have heard that colours can only be matched perfectly if done in Europe, eg. my brother's orange Focus ST, (bearing in mind that i am from South Africa) how true is that?
i'm just afraid that my car will have different shades of red after its done.

can anybody that has been through this process PLEASE comment on your experience.

thanx,
RodneyA

 

[Poverty]

SEAT paintwork from the factory can leave alot to be desired. Chances are the resprayed bits will be of higher quality, but will not be noticeable unless you look for it, if they do indeed do a good job.

 

[ianltd]

well i went past a panel beater earlier to get them to check out a bad scratch on my front bumper, side door dent and various surface scratches around the car.

they commented that they shall press out the dent, polish out most of the scratches and respray a small part of the bumper to fix up the bad scratch.

now my question is that with the paint code that they will acquire from my handbook, will it be an exact match to my red Mk2 Leon FR with no colour differentiation at all?
will i notice any major colour difference after it is done?
and i have heard that colours can only be matched perfectly if done in Europe, eg. my brother's orange Focus ST, (bearing in mind that i am from South Africa) how true is that?
i'm just afraid that my car will have different shades of red after its done.

can anybody that has been through this process PLEASE comment on your experience.

thanx,
RodneyA

Hi RodneyA and all who read this

This is in answer to Rodney's last line!

Around three years ago, I bought a brand new bright red (solid colour, as is the Leon) Mercedes Vito 150CDi, the paint was OK, bit of orange peel in the panels, but, it was a commercial vehicle after all

Anyhow, some very kind numpty decided to cave in the a**e end on the M5, new tailgate, bumper ...............the lot.

When I brought it out of the bodshop, the guys there had effectively 'matched-up' the paint, both in terms of colour (they can tint to match) and finish..............sort of 'copied' the right amount of orange peel/depth!!

It was bl**dy amazing.

Than another even kinder individual decided to put a very attractive deep score on the upper side panel with a section of shop fitting shelving.

Back I went to the body shop and yet again, centre panel, right in eye line, deep score........they matched colour and finish.

I figure, if you get a decent enough body painter, they can do what ever is necessary to produce high quality or should I say 'matching' repair jobs.

I have now got a two month old emocion red Stylance, and (I'm only talking about mine, the panel fit and paint (lack of peel and even finish) is far better quality than a lot of cars today, I think maybe we all tend to think 'SEAT', oh, a little less quality than most, but so far, in comparison I can't see very much to moan over in general.

I know a little about it as I have a custom painted mixed pearl 24 year old Mini and I have had my Harley metal flaked and flamed - fussy git and all!

I reckon their slogan should be LOOK BEYOND THE BADGE, 'cause thats what I did

Bet you wished you'd never asked for experiences now Rodney !!

Sorry for going on a bit.

Ian

 

[RodneyA]

@ Ian - much appreciated for sharing your experience as that has made me feel more confident in taking my car in this coming Monday.

i've always been sceptical with regards to matters of similarity due to the fact that once a panel beater pointed out to me that the bottom part of my right door was green compared to the rest on my ex silver Megane Sport.
before that scenario, purchased the car only a month or so back and all seemed fine till my trip to the panel shop and the fairy tale told.
the dealer had the bottom part of the door sprayed due to scratches and such.
u can imagine when it was pointed out to me that it was green...how good of a job it was actually.
nonetheless...all was fixed after some serious shouting and screaming...never wish to go through that ever again.

luckily through that, i made a friend who shall assist me with my FR on Monday.

thanx,
RodneyA

 

[GazM]

There is never any guarantee that new paint will be an exact match to your car.

The paint code tells them what the colour is called, but how closely it matches depends on the skill of the person matching the paint (if they do match it instead of just mix the standard colour!).
If the paint is metallic (or pearlescent) it can also depend on the skill of the painter, as different spraying techniques can produce vastly different colours from the same tin of paint.

Solid reds can suffer quite badly sometimes from looking different under artificial lighting. If the new paint is the same brand as the factory paint then there shouldn't be a problem, but if SEAT use brand A at the factory, and your painter uses brand X, it's possible to get the colour absolutely spot on under daylight, but might be chalk and cheese under streetlights.
I don't know the why's and wherefore's of it, but if you want to know more try googling metamerism.

I don't want to be all doom and gloom, but another possible problem could occur because you are having metal panels and plastic bumpers done. The reason being that they might not match each other even coming off the production line, as most of the time they aren't painted in the same factory as each other, sometimes not even in the same country!
I used to have a yellow mk1 Leon, and it was so apparent how the paint on the bumpers and spoiler had aged very differently to the paint on the metal panels.

The same colour can even vary over time as different batches are mixed. Anyone who's ever seen variant colour chips will know what I mean. Once you've identified the colour, there might be a standard shade, a clean shade, a blue shade, a red shade etc etc.

It's not all bad news though, because if you get a decent painter they will make it look like the colour is spot on even if it isn't, by fading the new colour into the existing colour.

Sorry about the long post... I think that was 20 years frustration of selling car paint to idiots (and lots of good guys too!!)

 

[ianltd]

Good points GazM,

A lot of useful info in there, and well put together.

Realistically, if you look at yours/mine/anyones Leon or any other standard production car under fluorescent lighting, there is always a differentiation between the steel and plastic painted parts - as you point out.

But I'm a real fussy git and when I had my van done, I talked all this over with the painter for a long time and learned quite a few things.
Then I asked him (in a nice way) if he was up to doing what I wanted
The van had cost me £23000 and was three months old and it had to look the bo**ocks

He pointed out (as you have) that it was non pearl, non metallic which was easier, but red is not the best colour to match due to the very thin/strong pigments and almost transparent base/green base/blue base etc.

Again dependent on how experienced your painter is and whether you are willing to pay him enough to fart about, it is possible to get the match, or at least a match that, to the most part, you (the owner) will not notice and another person (who doesn't know where it is) will never find it

Cheers Gaz.

Rodney, I hope Gaz and me have helped in some way, as I was as sick as a pig when the van 'copped for it,' but after then owning it for two years, I almost forgot where the scratch was - although I did spend a least six months trying to find where he had blended it, in all kinds of light - sad git or what

Let us all know how you get on with it, hope it's all OK

Kind regards,

Ian

 

[RodneyA]

thanx to Gaz and Ian for your input...i now know a little bit more than i did.

through that whole ordeal i made a friend from the panel shop i visited when i still had my Megane Sport.
they are actually a Renault approved body repairer and are well known for their workmanship...so i have faith lol
the owner drives an S3 and takes care of it, so he knows where i'm comin from as we have discussed the beauty of cars numerous amount of times.
i sure hope all goes well.
will post an update when i get it back on Monday evening...thanx once again for everyone's input.
i feel much better now knowing i'm taking it to a good painter that will go that extra mile for myself.

thanx,
RodneyA

 

[RodneyA]

Update

first of all i'd like to thank the members that brought peace to my mind and assuring me of the things that could or could not happen by having a re-spray!...you know who your are

so i dropped off my car yesterday morning and said i'll pick it up on Tuesday, (today is a public holiday for us) as they have many jobs and i wouldn't want to rush them.

anyways, got their this afternoon and their premises was closed as it should be on a public holiday...although my car was in their parking lot waiting for me to collect.
Paul, the owner, was inside spraying other cars as they had many jobs to finish up before they close for the festive season.

so he opened the gate to let myself in, took a quick glance at my car and still said to myself, 'is that my car?' as it looked so stunning that seemed like a brand new car.

we exchanged a few words, then took a look at the spray job.
if anybody could tell that it has been re-sprayed...that person had to be a pro panel beater.
i couldn't tell the difference whatsoever...it was blended, (explained to me the blending process) so nicely that it seemed like nothing occurred in that area.
i am most pleased with their workmanship!!

to top it off, he didn't charge me a single cent.
polished out a few scratches, took out a dent and glazed the vehicle...all for nothing.
you guys might think what did i do deserve this, well i'm a nutritionist by trade and i've been giving him sport supplements at times without asking anything back.

nonetheless, my car looks so fantastic and i just hope i can keep it that way.

thanx,
RodneyA

 

[ianltd]

Hi Rodney,

Thanks for the up date!

I so pleased that you are pleased with the work

Taking your 'pride & joy' in for bodywork repairs is nearly as worrying as being with your Wife when she gives birth to your first

Anyhow, panic over eh?, now you just gotta worry when you park it somewhere

So glad it turned out fine and I hope we reduced the concern a bit for you in the process!

Cheers,

Kind regards,

Ian

 

[RodneyA]

Hi Rodney,

Thanks for the up date!

I so pleased that you are pleased with the work

Taking your 'pride & joy' in for bodywork repairs is nearly as worrying as being with your Wife when she gives birth to your first

Anyhow, panic over eh?, now you just gotta worry when you park it somewhere

So glad it turned out fine and I hope we reduced the concern a bit for you in the process!

Cheers,

Kind regards,

Ian

well the panic is over although there's still one more thing that needs to be done before i am done.
when i dropped off the car yesterday, Paul pointed out that my left rear tail light, (indicator side) is broken. i didn't even know.
it must of been that time when there were other people from the same office park that moved a fridge around my car... can you believe it. now i can put 2 and 2 together... as i HAD 2 white scratches around that area.

yeah ey... does it ever end?

however thank you very much Ian!


thanx,
RodneyA

 

[webhype]

Hey

I took mine in recently for a wheel arch scratch, look perfect, cannot tell at all where the scratch was.

Also, the car came back so freaking clean and shiny, i keep meaning to call up the bodyshop and ask what they used to clean it/polish it...it really really was fantasticly clean and shiny lol.

 

[RodneyA]

Hey

I took mine in recently for a wheel arch scratch, look perfect, cannot tell at all where the scratch was.

Also, the car came back so freaking clean and shiny, i keep meaning to call up the bodyshop and ask what they used to clean it/polish it...it really really was fantasticly clean and shiny lol.

totally agree that the car looks fantastic since i got it back...i wouldn't doubt the quality of the work as its their job.

thanx,
FR