Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post - Mis-matching color

v8zracer260z · 09-20-2010, 07:11 PM

OK guys hope I can help out again. I've managed very good body shops for over 20 years and you have some concerns to be addressed. When you select a shop always look over jobs they have completed first to check out their quality. If they can't repair an Altima correctly do not trust them with your Z! A quality shop will do a great job no matter what they are working on, do not settle for the "oh it's just a daily driver we will do better with your sports car" line. Always make sure the shop offers a full lifetime guarantee of their workmanship, as well as your complete satisfaction with the repairs too. Unless it is a shop you know and trust Never take your car to where the insurance company sends you. These shop are DRP (Direct Repair Program) shops and they give concessions (Discounts on parts, labor, and materials) to the insurance companies for them to get their work. This is not in your benifit as they will try harder to keep the insurance company happy by saving money for them. This does not get you the Best repair for your car. Usually the best shops will not give discounts as they let their work get business for them. If you do good quality work people will bring their cars to you again and again negating and need for insurance companies sending you their work.
As for your issue providing you have a guarantee from the shop or the insurance company then take it back to them. As for color matching Pearl White or any other color that is where the painters skill and talent come in. Tri stage colors such as pearl whites require a few extra steps in the painting process. You MUST do a let down panel for them. You spray the test card with enough base coat to cover the black and white checked pattern on them. After this has flashed then tape off all but 1.5" strip then apply one coat of the mid coat. then mask off leaving another 1.5" strip below the first one. This will give you a strip of one coat and a strip of two coats. Repeat this as needed to achieve the needed colors. Now clear the card and let it dry. Now pull the car out in the sun and hold the card to the car at different angles this will give you a starting point to work with. Once you have the starting point of say 3 coats of mid then do more cards as needed to match the orientation of the metallics by varing the air pressure and possibly the flow rate. Now you can paint the car! These paints are very time consuming and most production shops cheat the process and try to hide a bad match by blending out the paint to adjacent panels. You will need to blend any panels closer than 36" from the repair anyway but only after you have the closest match you can get. From the photos the door would definately have needed to be blended and possibly the liftgate depending on how close the color matched. You only want the paint as much of the car as needed to complete the repair. When for instance blending the liftgate you would have to remove the glass as it is not possible to tape it up without leaving an edge to peel later. Also any nameplate will have to be replaced as well as it is not possible to retape individual letters correctly. As for the bumpers and plastic parts the reason they have a lighter or darker appearance is the paint solvents evaporate at different rate than with a metal base. This allows the metalics and pearls to lay down or stand up slightly different and the light hitting these different angled metalics gives off a slightly lighter or darker appearing color. So it is generally the practice of not blending these panels unless absolutly needed by a very difficult color to match.
As for the rear wheel this should be sent to a reconditioner to check for any runout and structural damage, then refurbished and balanced. Since your car has less than 12,000 mile insist on a new rim not a recondituioned one. Also a 4 wheel alignment should be done to verify there was no additional suspension damage.

Hope all of this helps and as always don't hessitate to contact me for any Body shop questions I handle these situations on a daily basis.
Rick

PS As for the electocharging, this is not nearly as important as properly grounding the vehicle to remove any static charge that could affect the orientation of the metallics and pearls

09-20-2010, 07:11 PM	#16 (permalink)
v8zracer260z Base Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Micanopy Posts: 124 Drives: 09 370Z blk touring Rep Power: 15	OK guys hope I can help out again. I've managed very good body shops for over 20 years and you have some concerns to be addressed. When you select a shop always look over jobs they have completed first to check out their quality. If they can't repair an Altima correctly do not trust them with your Z! A quality shop will do a great job no matter what they are working on, do not settle for the "oh it's just a daily driver we will do better with your sports car" line. Always make sure the shop offers a full lifetime guarantee of their workmanship, as well as your complete satisfaction with the repairs too. Unless it is a shop you know and trust Never take your car to where the insurance company sends you. These shop are DRP (Direct Repair Program) shops and they give concessions (Discounts on parts, labor, and materials) to the insurance companies for them to get their work. This is not in your benifit as they will try harder to keep the insurance company happy by saving money for them. This does not get you the Best repair for your car. Usually the best shops will not give discounts as they let their work get business for them. If you do good quality work people will bring their cars to you again and again negating and need for insurance companies sending you their work. As for your issue providing you have a guarantee from the shop or the insurance company then take it back to them. As for color matching Pearl White or any other color that is where the painters skill and talent come in. Tri stage colors such as pearl whites require a few extra steps in the painting process. You MUST do a let down panel for them. You spray the test card with enough base coat to cover the black and white checked pattern on them. After this has flashed then tape off all but 1.5" strip then apply one coat of the mid coat. then mask off leaving another 1.5" strip below the first one. This will give you a strip of one coat and a strip of two coats. Repeat this as needed to achieve the needed colors. Now clear the card and let it dry. Now pull the car out in the sun and hold the card to the car at different angles this will give you a starting point to work with. Once you have the starting point of say 3 coats of mid then do more cards as needed to match the orientation of the metallics by varing the air pressure and possibly the flow rate. Now you can paint the car! These paints are very time consuming and most production shops cheat the process and try to hide a bad match by blending out the paint to adjacent panels. You will need to blend any panels closer than 36" from the repair anyway but only after you have the closest match you can get. From the photos the door would definately have needed to be blended and possibly the liftgate depending on how close the color matched. You only want the paint as much of the car as needed to complete the repair. When for instance blending the liftgate you would have to remove the glass as it is not possible to tape it up without leaving an edge to peel later. Also any nameplate will have to be replaced as well as it is not possible to retape individual letters correctly. As for the bumpers and plastic parts the reason they have a lighter or darker appearance is the paint solvents evaporate at different rate than with a metal base. This allows the metalics and pearls to lay down or stand up slightly different and the light hitting these different angled metalics gives off a slightly lighter or darker appearing color. So it is generally the practice of not blending these panels unless absolutly needed by a very difficult color to match. As for the rear wheel this should be sent to a reconditioner to check for any runout and structural damage, then refurbished and balanced. Since your car has less than 12,000 mile insist on a new rim not a recondituioned one. Also a 4 wheel alignment should be done to verify there was no additional suspension damage. Hope all of this helps and as always don't hessitate to contact me for any Body shop questions I handle these situations on a daily basis. Rick PS As for the electocharging, this is not nearly as important as properly grounding the vehicle to remove any static charge that could affect the orientation of the metallics and pearls __________________ Sport Package rims, tires and spoiler, Factory Nismo Suspension, more to come Last edited by v8zracer260z; 09-20-2010 at 07:14 PM.