Painter's bullshit or truth?

[speed]

So, I'm having some issues with my painter. I got the car painted a couple weeks ago right before i left on vacation. I got it assembled, and when all the peices are together, the color is slightly off, but only when you look at it from the side. Well, I went by the painter today to see about getting it fixed, and he said it was odd, that the "side tones" or something were off, but it all came from the same batch of paint. He didn't say for sure he would repaint it, but he referenced some other jobs he did where it took them 3 times to get the paint to come out correctly.

Basically it came down to: He said the paint needs a couple more weeks to finish curing before they can do anything to it. It was painted 17 days ago. I know that the paint does need several weeks to fully cure - but when respraying it and that stuff, do they need to wait that long or are they just yanking my chain?

 

[Mr.PFloyd]

did they clear it?

 

[speed]

did they clear it?

Yea

 

[suprabad]

Modern polyester urethane 2 stage color/clear paints require 90 days or more to cure (some painters will tell you 120 days), so that sounds right.

What color did you paint?

Something sounds wrong, it shouldn't vary at all.

Did he paint the car in pieces or all at once?

 

[speed]

Modern polyester urethane 2 stage color/clear paints require 90 days or more to cure (some painters will tell you 120 days), so that sounds right.

What color did you paint?

Something sounds wrong, it shouldn't vary at all.

Did he paint the car in pieces or all at once.

In pieces, and a few days between batches. The fenders, headlights, trim, was all done first, then the body, bumpers, and hood were done once bodywork was completed a few days later.

I was hoping to save the color choice until it was all done and i could do some really nice photos with the car, but this is getting under my skin too much...

And it was a poly paint.... primed, painted, cleared. The Grey'er fenders is the right color, Smokey Granite Mica.

 

[pb92supraturbo]

I went round and round with the body shop when I had my car painted and we didn't wait two weeks when I made them repaint areas I wasn't happy with. Not sure what difference it makes, but my car is clear coated also. I never had issues with the color being off though. The body shop matched the color each and every time. The brand new exterior trim from Toyota was another story however.....quality control is definitely lacking.

 

[speed]

If its reasonable and accurate that the paint needs to fully cure and set before respraying, I'm fine with that. I just want to know if it makes THAT much of a difference, or if they're just jerking me around trying to get me to piss off. If they are, what would be the best way to go about handling it? They're probably going to say some lame shit like "well parts were paitned off car, we can't guarantee bla bla bla" but shit, for three grand, it better at least match. Is there any certain trick to winning the argument if needed?

 

[SilverSupraT]

Sick sick color. From the pictures you can't really see any difference though. Hopefully your painter will be willing to help with the issue!

Side note: I've been wanting to paint my car a similar color since I got it but now it seems like everyone has it :\

 

[Poodles]

It's a metallic paint, and it's common to have issues like that with it.

I've seen cars that looked like they had stripes in the pain from the metallic, it takes skill to apply it consistently, looks like they're lacking...

 

[buckshotglass]

They're probably going to say some lame shit like "well parts were paitned off car, we can't guarantee bla bl

They painted the whole car, right? It should all be one color.

Is there any certain trick to winning the argument if needed?

Be painfully nice, never lose your cool. Also, be sure you want to win. If they took everything apart to change the color, they may not do that again for the respray. Over spray will be tough to avoid.
I hate this kind of stuff.

 

[speed]

Yes, the whole car. But in 2 separate batches. All the removable bits... fenders, moldings, gas cap, targa, headlights... all done first, and they're the correct color. They sprayed the rest of the car... doors, hatch, rear fenders, hood, bumpers... a few days later when they had finished the body work. The owner came out, looked over the car for a few minutes, and said it was odd... directly straight on, the parts look the same. But then when you get direct light on them, and look at them from the side, they're different. He thought that maybe a reaction happened while the rest of the paint sat in the can waiting for the body to be finished. He didn't make it seem like there was no way they weren't going to fix it, but he didn't seem too enthusiastic to do it (which is understandable).

my big thing is I don't want to go back in a few weeks and have them be like "uh what? we can't do anything, sorry." So, I'm kinda freakin out a little. Ha.

 

[suprabad]

Here's what I can tell you for sure:

1. To get a true match from panel to panel, you have to paint it all at once.

2. I can definitely see what you are saying as far as the color difference.

3. I also see a difference in the metallic properties.

It looks like the painter didn't shoot a "dryer" final color coat to insure even metallic dispersion before clearing. Shooting a "dry" final color coat is a common practice and done by every painter (who knows what he's doing) with metallic base color coat, otherwise you get what you got there.

I hate to tell you this, but it's unlikely to get any better as the paint cures. If you can't live with the color/metallic variance, you have to completely re-shoot the paint and re-clearcoat it, period.

 

[Zach]

I can understand him wanting to wait for the paint to cure, I'd just roll by some day and get him to affirm that he will repaint the car to the correct color. Any wise person would've painted it all at once, metallic paints are finicky no matter what. His shop took the risk and lost the gamble, now it's up to them to make it what you paid $3k for.

 

[IJ.]

ditto on SB's post Speed.

Needs to be done in a single final coat to be consistent, relative humidity/temp plays a HUGE part in all of this.

 

[speed]

Alrighty, so I guess I'll play ball in his game, and go back in a few weeks and see. Arg, I hate waiting. Thanks for all the input guys

 

[IJ.]

Speed: To give you an idea how inportant this all is I'll relate a story from when I was painting my old Z car way back.

I was using 2 pack eurathane paint in 113 Datsun Green metallic, I was on my final pass when a bud that lived a few doors down popped in to see how it was going.

This paint is quite lethal over time if you're exposed to it, what we didn't know at the time was Rob only had 1 lung so he took a breath and hit the floor.

Luckily another friend was outside saw this and dragged him out into the fresh air, point of the story is I couldn't stop without ruining the paint job.

Heartless yes but the prospect of waiting for it to cure then colour sanding down 2 coats and starting again didn't appeal.

 

[speed]

Ouch.

So given that, and for a consistent color, that it needs to be painted in one pass... realistically what are my chances that they'll bite and repaint? Is my best bet to be as nice as humanly possible, or prepare to get a little nasty?

 

[IJ.]

Try nice first

 

[suprarx7nut]

The paint looks off. when I worked at the dealership this summer, a few cars came through the body shop like that and it just sucks. Either tone would look fine by themselves, but put them next to each other and it's just bad.

The greyer tone looks really good though, lol.

 

[Rennat]

walk in with a positive attitude, but if they start spewing bullshit towards you, then get nasty.

i painted my car... with ultra cheap $8 quart rustoleum... i painted it out front of my house too, it wasnt a show car, but you could tell that the color was off between the blacks. part of my hood i did 'good' and the back half was bad... even though i had just painted it 10mins earlier... so if you want a GOOD even job it needs to all be done at the same time. espeically when your adding a thinning agent.

how much did you spend on the paint? looks like a really nice color on the car.