# Paints 4u colour issues



## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Has anyone had any issues with colour match from Paints 4u recently? I painted a bumper and the colour match is really not great. It was sepang blue metallic and admittedly it's on a 12 year old car. The bumper had to be painted edge to edge so there was no option to fade out and I couldn't blend to the wings as the car wasn't present to do so. 

The paint seems darker and has more of a purple hue than the original. The metallic seems to be about the same level as original. Now it was painted over scuffed paint and not a fully primed part. However the colour seems to be the off on areas that were spot primed also. (The bumper is all one shade (unfortunately the wrong one). Now there is a bit if orange peel which needs flatted back but I can't see it affecting the colour match severely. 

So has anyone suffered a similar issue and best way to rectify? Repaint the bumper or blend to wings and clear coat the whole wing?


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

not uncommon 

better if you can find a local paint place that offer up colour swatches to the car or use a scanner to pick the colour


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Yeah I used to do that but the place closed down and the other place won't put it in aerosols. I've had stuff from Paints 4u in the past and it was really good colour wise, even stuff like silvers which are usually difficult to match. I think I'm either going to have to paint the bumper again or blend it to the wings. Which I'd rather not do.


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

yeah try another seller i guess ...pretty lucky to get it to match when ordering online

non of the stuff ive had is much of a match , add to that the cars fade over time


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## SamD (Oct 24, 2015)

Problem ordering colours online is that you probably get sent the standard shade. When mixing paints professionally you may have to chose different shades to find a decent match or a colour that’s blend able .

If you have a local paint supplier I would recommend taking your car to them to match the colour for you

Also it sounds like you haven’t got enough coverage over the primer areas.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

The colour is even so the coverage is fine. It's that it's a different shade that's the problem. I'll need to see about either redoing it or blending the wings.


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## SamD (Oct 24, 2015)

Dave Spalding said:


> The colour is even so the coverage is fine. It's that it's a different shade that's the problem. I'll need to see about either redoing it or blending the wings.


If the colour is off blending the wings could lead to you chasing the colour around the car I would highly suggest getting a better match and starting again it may save you the hassle.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

That is exactly my worry. I'm wondering if the original paint has faded. It is a 12 year old car as mentioned. However the colour appears to be off when compared to areas of paint that see little sunlight, for example inside door shuts. I think I might just have the full front area resprayed professionally as I don't have a space big enough to take the car in to paint.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Is it worth machine polishing the rest if the car to see if it deepens the colour?


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## Barbel330 (May 3, 2016)

Polishing won’t change the colour. There’s only 1 option I’m afraid and that’s to paint it again in the correct shade. As SamD said, you’ll have been sent the prime shade and that’s not always the closest match hence why there are lots of different shades available. 

I have just looked on my paint scheme (Spies Hecker) and mine is showing 4 shades for Sepang Blue. Other paint brands will have lots more, or less, they’re all different.

Best bet for you is to visit a paint supply shop, take the fuel flap or mirror cover from the car you’re working on and ask them to match it. You could just blindly buy some more paint from another online supplier but that may also not match.

A big part of a painters job is colour matching. We don’t ever just use the prime shade (without previous experience of that colour) so anyone buying paint online or aerosols from Halfords etc shouldn’t expect them to match. Sometimes you’ll get lucky, sometimes you won’t.


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

add to the variants comments, when mixing small amounts its often not that accurate

if youre 0.1gram off on 2 ltrs it doesnt show , 0.1g off on 100ml or whatever goes in the aerosol can make a huge problem

could amount to having double the amount of a tinter in there


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Barbel330 said:


> Polishing won't change the colour. There's only 1 option I'm afraid and that's to paint it again in the correct shade. As SamD said, you'll have been sent the prime shade and that's not always the closest match hence why there are lots of different shades available.
> 
> I have just looked on my paint scheme (Spies Hecker) and mine is showing 4 shades for Sepang Blue. Other paint brands will have lots more, or less, they're all different.
> 
> ...


Can you tell from the VIN which variation it is?


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## SamD (Oct 24, 2015)

Dave Spalding said:


> Can you tell from the VIN which variation it is?


Only way to tell is by spray out cards normally going of the prime shade either tinting it by eye or going through the shades either darker/lighter etc.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Ok thanks. I'll do that then, most likely have to get it done as I don't have access to the different variants to match them up. I wanted to post a picture to show people and see if it was worth blending but I can't host it anywhere.


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## Barbel330 (May 3, 2016)

Tapatalk app is the easiest way to post pictures


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

This is the towing eye compared to various areas which aren't exposed to harsh sunlight, inside door shuts. In one picture it actually looks like a good match. However in the rest and the picture compared to the wing it's obvious that it is way off. Too much to blend?

I've emailed paints 4u and they seem to be listening but I don't know if they will refund as yet. Fingers crossed particularly as they said it would be a match and never mentioned any variations.






























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## Barbel330 (May 3, 2016)

Yeah It’s too dark. So if this was a job I was doing I’d now be mixing up the lighter shade from my scheme. Then doing a spray out card to see if it matched the wings well enough to only paint the bumper again. If it wasn’t, then it’d be a case of tinting the mix by eye until I got a match that I was happy with.

Alternatively I’d mix the lighter shade, see if it was a close enough match to get away with blending the wings. It’d need to be close enough so that the bits around the grill that sit next to the bonnet match because you don’t want to be blending the bonnet.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Thanks,

The only strange one is the picture that appears to match. I agree though that it is simply too dark. Do you know the variations available? 

For example "lighter" or "more purple" 

If I had a list I could possibly find them. I know in the past with a Toyota Silver I had to try a few variants but at that time I had access to colour chips. 

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## Barbel330 (May 3, 2016)

This is my Spies Hecker Permahyd Hi-Tec 480 system. As you can see it has the prime shade at the top, then bluer, then greener, then greener/lighter.

Other paint brands will have different shades available.










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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Thanks for this, I see that the second colour has "Audi" next to it whereas the top has "VW", telling that the paint supplied to me says VW - Audi









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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Barbel330 said:


> This is my Spies Hecker Permahyd Hi-Tec 480 system. As you can see it has the prime shade at the top, then bluer, then greener, then greener/lighter.
> 
> Other paint brands will have different shades available.
> 
> ...


Looking at my paint I'm thinking mine would be closer to lighter and maybe greener. I'm not going to order based on a guess like that. But that's what I'm seeing.

I think one of the paint suppliers near me uses a spectrum analyzer. Would this be a good option?

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## Barbel330 (May 3, 2016)

Yes it definitely would be.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

I'll try them tomorrow. Just hope they will put in an aerosol. I'd rather just edge to edge the bumper than blend onto other panels. I'm not expecting 100% but I think 90% isnt asking too much. In your experience would you re prime this bumper or scuff and paint?

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## Barbel330 (May 3, 2016)

Sand and paint mate.


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## Dave Spalding (Apr 16, 2008)

Apparently Dingbro don't have a spectrometer anymore or at least that's what they are saying. Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can get correctly matched paint near Edinburgh? Either using colour chips or a spectrometer. Also needs to be in aerosol.

Thanks 

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