rob rossitto

had a bad day - seems wrench that did brake upgrade also managed to get entire left side and rear bumper cover sprayed with some kind of chemical that ate through the paint down to the primer.... paint was new (oct 04) "down to the metal" complete repaint w/OEM platinium metallic... real bummer is that it's never been off the trailer (waiting for motor completion), so it was a ZERO mile paint job

wrench says he'll "take care of it", but IIRC you can't just repaint a fender,door, rear quarter and rear bumper and expect it to look new again...

true?

as always, thx!

sublimate

If you paint the whole fender, door, and quarter (basically the whole side) it should look like new.
Good luck.

bcdavis

What I was told by paint guys, is that the metallic flakes settle at different depths, depending on heat, humidity, etc. So even if you get the exact same mixture, and same paint, and same flake size, they will still settle differently, and have different looks, depending on the weather conditions, etc... So yes, I would say it is pretty hard to get a perfect match. Then again, I have heard some paint guys say they can match anything. If it was a front fender, I would go ahead and let them paint it. But since it is the whole side of the car, and rear bumper, it seems like there would be too much blending involved. It is almost easier to just repaint it.

BC

And when that bumper is stripped again, can you give us the info on who did it?

goliver

That stinks. I had a student a few years ago that hurt his back snowboarding and it became really difficult for him to do his job which was painting and was in need of some education to get into a new career.

I was interested in getting some paint work done on my 930 due to an inattentive driver that banged into my car in the schools parking lot. He invited me to his shop and showed me a bunch of pictures of things he has done and some cars at the shop that he had painted with the before pictures so I could see what type of work he was capable of.

I'm certainly no expert but in my opinion I couldn't tell where the blending was done. He told me there are lots of techniques to doing the blend and that temp., humidity etc. do affect the work. He also said that sometimes he would have to redo the job to get it right. The worst of all colors to match and blend in his opinion was pearlescent white that comes on Cadillacs.

He did the work on my car and I couldn't tell in any light or at any angle that it wasn't all stock. This on a car that had 10 year old paint and was dark grey metallic.

Regards,

rob rossitto

thx guys! I've heard stories both ways... since it's new paint, maybe it'll be easier to match...guess I'll let them decide how to "fix" it and go from there... qtips are fine w/me if it looks good again... seems like the project that never dies/gets completed though...

maybe I'll just wait till the motor is in and all the other stuff is done so I can just get it hit in a parking lot instead of never getting it done first! (lol, not that funny)

don't want to burn the wrench, as he's one of the best I've found for general 928 repair and overall integrity... he claims it came from next door neighbor's compressor, not that I really care how as long as it gets fixed right... I did kinda get a little sick at 1st though... guess it'll work out...

who knows, maybe it'll be std procedure to get a repaint every time I take it there! ha! could be better than the old car wash perk most shops offer, although I doubt somebody will stay in bus. for long with that kind of burn rate...

as always - thx again!

Jim bailey - 928 International

In my experience having sprayed more cars than I can remember metallic paints can be tough to match. I would bet that the painter sprayed all the body panels the SAME day just for that reason.

Jeff McVicar

If it was a coded color and not a custom.... and it was a zero mile paint job, you may even be able to just spray the fender and blend the cover then clear both entirely. Because your paint is new , you are a good candidate for a perfect match. IMO

Nicole

Mega-bummer! But I think that if you take it to the same shop, and they mix it with the same formula, it should be invisible or near invisible.

tekwaldo

You will have a better chance of matching if you or your or your painter still has some of the same paint left over from the shoot. If the same guy shoots it with the same paint you might get lucky.

rob rossitto

thx jim/jeff/et al... I'm thinking I'd like to have Sierra Auto Body (orig. painter) re-work it, but wrench claims his body guy is a body/paint god, and claimed it'll be better.... kinda wonder if he's just saying that to keep costs down... guess if it turns out to be earl schieb or 1 day, I'll know whats up pretty fast... since it's not the original paint, concour is out anyway, but there is something about knowing it's a totally sano job vs another repair...

docmirror

For paint matching, your mechanic is wrong. I don't care how good his painter is, he's working for the mechanic, not you. Take it back to the original painter and have the guy that did the car first, redo it and bill the mechanic. It's a lot more art than science, and if you get it screwed up, you may not see the effects for months. By that time, the mechanic is off the hook. If the car comes back from the origianl painter and goes bad, you can take it back and complain.

Paints age, in the can and on the car. Just sanding, blending and clearing isn't the whole job. Prep and finish are as important as shooting the color. There's NO WAY I would let anyone else but the original painter, with his brand of paint, in his shop, with his skill touch that car. Sorry, but the mechanic is wrong, wrong, wrong.

moon928

The same thing happened to me while my car was in the shop a few months ago. My 928's hood and fenders had to be repainted after it was inadvertently parked under a 911 that was leaking brake fluid.

I am happy with the results, but take a lesson from my experience- you will have very little control over the process if your mechanic is writing the check.

I think if my paint job was new at the time of the leak, I wouldn’t have even hesitated about where to have the car repainted -I would take the car back to the shop that did it the first time. They know the car and they already have the paint to match.

I understand your feelings about possibly losing a good mechanic over something like this but just think of yourself living with a paint job you are unhappy with. It is not worth it.

Good luck.

Nicole

THe mechanic's painter might use a different brand of paint that ages differently. Even if it matches now, it might not match after a few years in the sun. I would not take that risk - go back to the original painter. You deserve it!

rob rossitto

ah, good points doc/moon/nicole... guess it'll have to go back to sierra, just to be safe/sure.... if he can match it, no problem... at least I'll only have 1 guy to "visit" if it melts off in 6mos/don't want to open the door for anymore finger pointing... somehow, I suspect if I do anything less I'll be forever worrying/looking for the mismatch, even if it doesn't exist... guess mr wrench will just have to deal w/it...

I'm going to load her up on the trailer tomorrow and roll it by sierra, then back to wrench for verification w/est. in hand... guess we'll see what happens...

great thoughts everybody/as always - thx again!!