A customer's question made me double check my own work

Last Friday, a guy getting his fender replaced asked me how I know the new paint will match after a few years of sun fade. I told him about my mixing process and the clear coat layers, but it got me thinking about how I never check the paint code on older cars twice. I started pulling the actual code from the door jamb and scanning it instead of eyeballing it from the computer screen. Sure enough, on a 2015 Silverado, the code was one shade off from what the system suggested. Now I take the extra minute to verify every time, even on cars I've seen before. Has anyone else caught a mismatch that way, or do you trust the computer readout most of the time?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt_mitchell261mo ago

Man I read a study a while back about how paint codes shift between production years even on the same model, like Ford went through three different shades of Race Red over a few years without changing the code. That Silverado thing you found is wild but honestly not shocking, those systems pull from a database that can be outdated. I always double check the jamb sticker now too, grabbed the code off a 2018 F150 last week and it was nothing like what the screen said.

hugoj121mo ago

Heard from an old timer at the shop years ago that even the same paint code can look different depending on the factory it came out of, something about the batch and the paint supplier changing mid-year. Makes you wonder how many cars are rolling around with a "perfect match" that's really just close enough. Good on you for catching that, beats trusting a screen that's never seen the sun.