boris_gti

Hi guys,
Would anyone know if Basalt Black Metallic paint (code “Z4”) is a tri-colour paint?

Had someone paint my wing and the colour is way off. It’s so off that it’s embarrassing. I had to take the wing off.

Guy that painted it said that the colour is a regular paint and not a tri-colour. So that’s how he painted it (like a regular paint). I’m just thinking that’s the reason paint does not match.

I would appriciate to hear if anyone here would know anything about this paint colour.

Thanks,
Boris

saabin

Not sure about tri-colour, but my Basalt black 997 turbo is paint code C9Z. Did you check the fuel door?

boris_gti

Hi saabin,
Thanks for the reply.
The fuel door unfortunatelly does not have it.
But I do have the bulid sheet with all the car options from factory and so on. The paint code along with the description is listed as “Z4” on there. Mine is metallic, so maybe that’s the difference between your car and mine....?

Boris

jeebus31

Basalt black and standard black are totally different Porsche colors. My guess is your wing was painted the regular black.

boris_gti

I think so too jeebus31,
Collision shop said that they bought the paint from a supplier and that it was not a multi step colour.

However.....first shop I went to (Porsche certified) wanted $3,900 US to paint it. I took me a while to realize that they weren’t joking. After getting the estimate I told them that I already had the wing and only wanted them to paint it (bad joke). This leads me to believe that they wanted that much because it indeed is a multi step process paint.

I am hoping to find someone on here that might have had something painted with this colour and that might be able to provide some insight.

Boris

sandwedge

Hate to say it but it sounds like you're dealing with a second (or maybe third) rate body shop. My Basalt Black GTS was rear ended a while back and both the front and rear bumpers were resprayed. I used the best shop in town and they use the exact same paint as Porsche uses in Stuttgart Germany. In other words, matching the paint of the bumpers with the rest of the car was never an issue. Wasn't even brought up and the end result was an undetectable match.

boris_gti

Thanks for the input sandwedge,
I am not sure which rate shop I am dealing with any more, but they are both good shops (one being Porsche certified and the other not certified but works on high end cars). However, it's definitely getting old real fast.

boris_gti

UPDATE:
So, the first initial paint is clearly off....see image below. This was painted using the factory paint code ("Z4") thinking it will be no issue.


SECOND STEP:
Since I couldn't leave the spoiler painted with a different shade, I had car scanned by the paint scanner to get the paint code that way. Scanner recognized the paint as the one on the car and gave its own paint code mix. Paint was mixed, and I had a sample card painted and compared it to the car. Unfortunately, it's too dark and still easily noticeable.


THIRD STEP:
I just went to a independent paint shop that only supplies the paint to the collision services and they mixed me a PPG paint this time. Once I got the paint, I went to the collision service so they can paint me another card....I will wait until tomorrow to go and get it.


So far, this Basalt Black Metallic paint is proving to be a nightmare for paint matching.

Marine Blue

Basalt may be a bimetallic but it shouldn’t be that difficult to duplicate. Find out who the best body shops are in your area and use them. Getting a metallic to match takes not only a paint that matches but also a shop that knows how to lay it down properly so the flakes reflect the same way.

boris_gti

It seems easier said than done.
From my understanding, Porsche publishes the paint code which represents the paint mixture. However, that mixture is based on the paint type that only Porsche can get (OEM paint). North American laws dictate different type of paint, and given the code provided, it cannot be the exact same match. It needs to be a “bit different” to match the same shade.
I looked to buy OEM paint directly from Porsche, but I keep getting referred to Porsche certified collision shops. And they want to paint half a car to “blend” it in (which is something that I have no interest in doing for a stupid wing).
I wish I can find someone that had something painted (eg. bumper, door, etc.) with the same paint code, so I can get the mixture and provide it to my shop.
My shop has been more than patient and accommodating, but I feel like they will lost their patience pretty soon.

I’ll keep the thread updated and hopefully provide the mixture once I get it matched.

In the meantime, all suggestions are welcome and thank you all for feedback.

Boris

Jengah

Did youever get resolution of this problem?

boris_gti

Update:
Last year, while working with the local paint supplier in Canada, I was able to "mimic" the color to an almost perfection. It was a "mix" that took 8 different paint trials and I was pretty happy with the results. I will not be posting this PPG paint code yet as I believe there is a better match in the text below.

Few months ago I purchased a second (OEM this time) GT3 wing and I figured I would do some more research to find the factory cross-reference code for the North American water based paints. Here is what I found:
-Z4, C9Z and LC9Z are all the same colors used by Porsche on different models
-Basalt Black Metallic and Basalt Schwarz Metallic are the same color

Here are the paint codes for the North American paint distributors (depending which paint supplier you go with):
-PPG: 95616
-DuPont: P4005
-RM BASF: MA941.50

As always, I highly recommend that you pay a few extra $ and have a "card" sprayed so you can compare it to your car before you spray the panel you need to paint. Due to 2020 pandemic I have not had a chance to paint the new wing yet, so I cannot 100% guarantee the match. But based on my research, this should be it. I will update this thread and post pictures once the wing gets painted.

Boris

myw

i always get the paint card sprayed first - and do a comparison after which they know what steps to take to adjust the mixture for the real paint. shouldn't be a huge problem imo.

sandwedge

I think the paint supplier may play a big role here never mind the right code. The owner of the shop I picked to fix my bumpers showed me what paint supplier he's using for Porsche repairs. It was "Dupont Standox" which according to him is the exact same brand paint Porsche uses when they paint new cars at the factory. As the shop owner told me: "The paint I will use is the exact same paint Porsche used when your car was built". I believe him. The paint on both the front and rear bumper are perfect matches with the rest of the car. Totally undetectable.

TooHighPSI

Sorry to bring this back from the dead... But I've run into the same issue. The factory Basalt Black has a mostly purple/brown type of metallic hue, and the PPG code that was mixed for me has a mostly blue metallic hue. Way way different when compared side by side. Would you mind posting the paint code that you came up with that best matched your samples? It would be much appreciated!!!

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