Colour shade differences

[johnnyBv8]

My car has a large soft dent in the driver’s door thanks to an anonymous benefactor. I’ve contacted a PDR company who have quoted on it - a fair bit more than I expected. My local breaker has almost the same car - same paint code and year, and original paint. I know with some colours the chance of a colour match would be minimal, though I’ve done it years ago and it was fine. What are the chances on a VW pearl metallic black? I thought there might be a more likely match with black than with some other colours like silver or grey?

Anyone have an informed steer?

Thanks

[Bluevanman]

It's really pot luck.
Has your car been repainted that side before?
Has the replacement panel? You don't have any way of knowing before you buy it .
Some pearl blacks have a gazillion shades,such as Mercedes obsidian for example

[johnnyBv8]

Pretty certain both are original paint

[E63eeeeee...]

It's still a lottery even with original paint. Aiui car manufacturers don't try to keep every batch of paint identical because it's basically impossible, so they paint all the bits separately, then scan them all and make up cars out of parts where the colours match to within a certain tolerance.

[Bluevanman]

E63eeeeee... said:

It's still a lottery even with original paint. Aiui car manufacturers don't try to keep every batch of paint identical because it's basically impossible, so they paint all the bits separately, then scan them all and make up cars out of parts where the colours match to within a certain tolerance.

I find that hard to believe, I know for a fact BMW paint their cars complete,with all panels fitted

[ConnectionError]

E63eeeeee... said:

It's still a lottery even with original paint. Aiui car manufacturers don't try to keep every batch of paint identical because it's basically impossible, so they paint all the bits separately, then scan them all and make up cars out of parts where the colours match to within a certain tolerance.

That is complete rubbish!

[E63eeeeee...]

Bluevanman said:

E63eeeeee... said:

It's still a lottery even with original paint. Aiui car manufacturers don't try to keep every batch of paint identical because it's basically impossible, so they paint all the bits separately, then scan them all and make up cars out of parts where the colours match to within a certain tolerance.

I find that hard to believe, I know for a fact BMW paint their cars complete,with all panels fitted

Fair enough, I can only assume I read it on here, in fact I'm sure there was someone in a warranty dispute with a manufacturer about excessively different panel colours on a new car, but maybe they'd been changed or something.

[RD-1]

I’d go with PDR, personally.

It’s likely you’ll need to machine polish the whole side anyway, due to differing levels of swirl marks, UV damage etc.

Also swapping door cards, alignment etc is a ballache.

[Shedding]

johnnyBv8 said:

My car has a large soft dent in the driver’s door thanks to an anonymous benefactor. I’ve contacted a PDR company who have quoted on it - a fair bit more than I expected. My local breaker has almost the same car - same paint code and year, and original paint. I know with some colours the chance of a colour match would be minimal, though I’ve done it years ago and it was fine. What are the chances on a VW pearl metallic black? I thought there might be a more likely match with black than with some other colours like silver or grey?

Anyone have an informed steer?

Thanks

I've done this a few times, a Toyota pearlescent grey, a Ford metallic grey and a Toyota metallic blue being a few examples. The match has been perfect each time (original factory paint).

[paintman]

johnnyBv8 said:

My car has a large soft dent in the driver’s door thanks to an anonymous benefactor. I’ve contacted a PDR company who have quoted on it - a fair bit more than I expected. My local breaker has almost the same car - same paint code and year, and original paint. I know with some colours the chance of a colour match would be minimal, though I’ve done it years ago and it was fine. What are the chances on a VW pearl metallic black? I thought there might be a more likely match with black than with some other colours like silver or grey?

Anyone have an informed steer?

Thanks

If you're very lucky.
Will depend on when & where the car was built & painted & which batch of paint was in use at the time.

Car manufacturers come out with a new colour & if it sells well will order a new batch of paint when the original runs out.
Due to a number of factors there will usually be a slight difference between that & the original.
The more batches, the more the number of variations.
Some very popular colours have been going for years - if not decades.

Can make partial resprays problematic as each paint manufacturer will have their own formulations.
If it's VW Black Magic LC9Z I had formulas for over 100 different formulations, all slightly different.

Saw two Alfa Romeos some years ago in a dealers.
Same paint colour & code & chassis numbers close.
Parked side by side I would have said they were two completely different colours.

Edited by paintman on Wednesday 31st January 12:31

[Hustle_]

johnnyBv8 said:

What are the chances on a VW pearl metallic black? I thought there might be a more likely match with black than with some other colours like silver or grey?

Definitely agree with this, better chance with black, even a pearl metallic, than silver or grey.

Presumably you're saving hundreds and are aware of the work involved in stripping and refitting the door?