Paint matching .
Discussion
When did most paint suppliers get so awful at paint matching for older cars ?
They just seem to rely on the computers and not their eyes .
They also trot out loads of very poor excuses for not being capable of doing what old style mixers did as a matter of course .
Is it another skill that is disappearing or have I been spoilt in the past .
They just seem to rely on the computers and not their eyes .
They also trot out loads of very poor excuses for not being capable of doing what old style mixers did as a matter of course .
Is it another skill that is disappearing or have I been spoilt in the past .
Achieving a successful paint match is down to the painter. If he mixes the paint, that is an advantage.
An employee of an automotive paint factor will mix the paint they way he/she has been trained. Therefore it will be mixed according to the formula, nothing more, nothing less. There is some skill in this, in taking care to add the tints correctly according to the formula. But there is no "eye-matching" involved.
That formula comes from the book (manufacturers' formula) or from a scan. But same result - the paint is mixed from this formula.
A very skilled painter (if he has a good eye for colour) will mix the paint from the formula, but then (perhaps) tweak it when he holds the mixing stick dipped in the new paint up to the existing panel. To get a very good match requires a very skilled painter!
Not many people have this skill, so the workaround is to blend. Blend the new paint across the adjacent panels. It is virtually impossible to get an edge to edge match without blending, and this has always been the case.
An employee of an automotive paint factor will mix the paint they way he/she has been trained. Therefore it will be mixed according to the formula, nothing more, nothing less. There is some skill in this, in taking care to add the tints correctly according to the formula. But there is no "eye-matching" involved.
That formula comes from the book (manufacturers' formula) or from a scan. But same result - the paint is mixed from this formula.
A very skilled painter (if he has a good eye for colour) will mix the paint from the formula, but then (perhaps) tweak it when he holds the mixing stick dipped in the new paint up to the existing panel. To get a very good match requires a very skilled painter!
Not many people have this skill, so the workaround is to blend. Blend the new paint across the adjacent panels. It is virtually impossible to get an edge to edge match without blending, and this has always been the case.
Maybe I have been spoilt in the past by working with painters who mixed their own paint .
They swatch matched by eye then mixed to the recipe did a test plate then compared it and adjusted if required.
They were very good and did remedial work for insurance companies when others cocked paint matches up .
We have had two lots that haven't come close so far , one on a 2006 TWR built Holden Commodore in Tourismo Blue and the current one on a 60s MK2 Jag in BRG that two paint suppliers have scanned and they claimed 97 % and 98% match but it's nowhere near and more like a 75% match .
They do seem to rely on the computer information over what their eyes tell them .
Each time clean original paint samples have been submitted for scanning and matching .
They swatch matched by eye then mixed to the recipe did a test plate then compared it and adjusted if required.
They were very good and did remedial work for insurance companies when others cocked paint matches up .
We have had two lots that haven't come close so far , one on a 2006 TWR built Holden Commodore in Tourismo Blue and the current one on a 60s MK2 Jag in BRG that two paint suppliers have scanned and they claimed 97 % and 98% match but it's nowhere near and more like a 75% match .
They do seem to rely on the computer information over what their eyes tell them .
Each time clean original paint samples have been submitted for scanning and matching .
grumpy52 said:
They swatch matched by eye then mixed to the recipe did a test plate then compared it and adjusted if required.
As I said in my post above, not many people have this skill.And (as I said), It is virtually impossible to get an edge to edge match without blending, and this has always been the case.
grumpy52 said:
When did most paint suppliers get so awful at paint matching for older cars ?
They just seem to rely on the computers and not their eyes .
They also trot out loads of very poor excuses for not being capable of doing what old style mixers did as a matter of course .
Is it another skill that is disappearing or have I been spoilt in the past .
There's a chap at Ketts in Wisbech who's brilliant at matching paint.They just seem to rely on the computers and not their eyes .
They also trot out loads of very poor excuses for not being capable of doing what old style mixers did as a matter of course .
Is it another skill that is disappearing or have I been spoilt in the past .
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