Very Difficult Paint Match
 

So, after all the small bs issues with paint and splash guards that I have experienced, I finally was going to get the front bumper (the same spot where many of the Z owners reported chipping) fixed at a very reputable body shop.

The first repair was spotted and blended, and came out terrible. The color was so mismatched (Brilliant Silver).

The owner told me the only way to properly repair the bumper's paint would be to remove the bumper and respray the whole thing. I agreed to his suggestion.

Well, they had my car the past 2 days and have now resprayed the bumper 2 seperate times because the Brilliant Silver is not matching properly. I won't let them blend the fenders and the paint is like an 80% match. They actually called Nissan and paint manufacturer to check the code and they are doing it correctly.

Why is this silver so difficult to match?

If you wont let them blend it chances are you wont be any better than this. Paint is just hard to match in general because you have to take about a dozen different things into consideration. Number of coates, humidity, temperature, viscosity, spray pattern, clear coat, mixture of paint to thinner ratio, etc. Not even Nissan them selves can match the same color twice if they wanted to. Its a game of chance with nissan. At least with a shop they can try to get it perfect.

Not only that silver is just all out a hard color to match and paint. It covers very poorley. The easiest is red.

As I recall it is impossible to match the bumper to the body because it is plastic. If you look at brand new cars you will be able to see the differences in shade from the plastic bumper with the body of the car.

New hood, New Bumper, Paint blended...A good painter can work wonders. That is the key. You would never know this car was done (other than the higher quality clearcoat from the doors forward....;)) I have seen this same shop do a Perfect job on my friends Silver 350, but blending was necessary. There is no reason to be afraid of this as long as the color is a VERY close match. Sounds like your guys are having problems there..

http://images50.fotki.com/v1525/phot...MG_1927-vi.jpg

http://images32.fotki.com/v1102/phot...MG_1820-vi.jpg

^ That is a good paint job. Most refinished panels often look better then the car itself. All factories try to cut costs when it comes to painting the panels. But a shop cant. I mean a shop can but then you can see it. Thats why a good shop doesnt.

silver is especially tough because it is the most reflective. Often a job that looks perfect in one lighting condition will look terrible in another, due to the spray pattern or thickness of the application. Having owned a couple of silver cars (and loving them, by the way) I only recommend silver to people who are absolutely certain they will never need a repaint.