Why matching faded factory paint is so hard

Hey folks! This is Mike and Tom from Pacific One Collision and Restoration.

Welcome to another Q&A session where I answer questions from you all on the internet.

Today's question is:

"Why matching faded factory paint is so hard"

Summary:

Mike explains that matching paint on older or faded vehicles is challenging because of many factors, with environment being one of the biggest. Washington's climate provides relatively little consistent sunlight, so a car that spent most of its life in California will have reacted to UV rays differently, meaning that even on a car only a couple of years old the factory paint code won't match, which is where tinting comes in. The shop relies on skilled painters and uses spray-out cards to verify colors before blending so the human eye can't catch the transition. While Pacific One has sophisticated color-matching cameras, Mike stresses they are not the be-all and end-all; the camera reports an accuracy percentage, such as 88 percent, so the painter then does a test spray-out to judge whether the mix needs more black, white, or red, and tints accordingly. He emphasizes that simply reading the paint code on the door doesn't always work and that qualified paint techs are essential.

Answer:

When we're dealing with paint, older vehicles, and color matching, it can be somewhat challenging, and there are so many factors that go into paint matching and tinting. If you think about it, we live in Washington State; the weather is pretty typical for us, and we don't have a lot of consistent sunlight. So if we get a car, say from California, that we've determined needs a repair, the UV rays and the paint all react differently in California than they do in Washington State. So when we go to mix paint, even if the car is only a couple years old but it's been in California most of its life, the paint code color is not going to match, and this is where tinting comes in. We have really good painters at our shop. We do spray-out cards to make sure our colors are good, so that when we blend and put that new color on, it matches and your human eyes will never be able to catch it. We do have some very sophisticated cameras and we can color match paint very well, but we don't use that as the be-all and end-all, because the camera will tell you its percent of accuracy. So when you scan the vehicle, it might tell you it's an 88 percent match, hypothetically. What we need to do then is a test spray-out to see, does it need more black, does it need more white, does it need a little more red? We'll do a spray-out based off what the camera tells us, then tint the color and make sure we get a good color match. But environment is really one of the biggest differences when it comes to paint. Just opening the driver's door and looking at the paint code does not always work, and you have to make sure you have qualified paint techs that know how to tint and color match successfully.