Colour matched paint (measured off car rather than made to MFR spec)

anewman

Does anyone know somewhere you can get someone to make up paint to a car's colour by reading the colour off the car with some sort of electronic measuring gizmo? I have heard this is possible but not been able to find anywhere that does it.

I ask as my red car appears to have faded, got a can of paint mixed up at halfords, but it looks darker - which wasn't unexpected but thought I'd try. The guy at halfords was accommodating and asked if it looked like the colour before putting it in the can but was difficult to tell without having them side by side, and said to bring it back if it didn't match and they'd try mix up another. Would rather get it right without trial and error though if I can

vansboy

You could try the local paint factors, if they've any colour samples, to try & hold up against the paintwork.

Red is a favourite for fading, as you mentioned, so worth polishing the car before you visit them, to get as good a match as you will.

But you'll need to clean the polish off, before painting the area to be repaired, else it'll spoil.

Other option is as near a colour as you can get & painting a larger area & blending in, but not a DIY job!!

VB

Premier_2

Any decent paintshop should be able to make the paint up that way nowadays ... but whether they'll sell it to you rather than wanting to apply it themselves is another matter.

The other thing to remember is that although the colour will match the existing, faded paintwork today, there is no guarantee it will fade in the same way the original already faded paintwork will continue to fade. Give it a year or two and you could have an horrendous mis-match!

Inactive

I recall sending the filler cap cover panel from an imported Mazda ( no colour chip available ) to a company in London, they matched it perfectly.;)

TiTheRev

I can't believe you went to Halfrauds and expected it to be right! :rolleyes: :rotfl: