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Had to choose between a paint match or a full respray on a weird old van
This 80s Chevy van came in with a huge side scrape but the owner wanted to keep the original two-tone, which was this faded teal and cream. I mean, the paint was so old I knew blending would be a nightmare, but a full respray would cost him like three grand. I went for the match, spent two days mixing and testing on panels, and it looked perfect in the booth. Then we rolled it outside and in the sun, the new teal looked like a totally different color next to the old. Has anyone else had a color look right inside but totally wrong in daylight?
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hall.joel3mo ago
Wait, you tried to match paint that was THAT old and faded? That sounds like a total nightmare from the start. Sunlight shows every single tiny difference the booth lights hide. I would have been so mad after all that mixing work. Did the customer even notice how off it was outside?
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morgan.rose1mo ago
...and that's exactly why I stopped taking on old boat resto jobs, because every single time I'd get burned by that same trick. @hall.joel you're right, it is a nightmare, but there's this weird thing where old single stage paint changes color on a molecular level that clear coated stuff doesn't do, so you're basically fighting chemistry. I had a customer with a 70s Ford pickup, we matched the cream stripe in the booth under fluorescent lights, looked dead on, then we pushed it outside and it had this pinkish ghost to it that wasn't there before. The owner was cool about it though, said he kind of liked the faded look and the new paint made it pop like a highlight.
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charlescraig3mo ago
Man that's brutal. Did you end up having to redo it, or did the customer just live with it?
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