Painted ready to fit body panels from eBay

[Strawman]

I haven't, my experience with pattern part body panels is they need hours of work to fit properly where factory ones usually fit almost perfectly. Depends how important shut lines are I suppose.

[blank]

What colour car is it going on?


If it's grey or silver then the colour match is unlikely to be any good.

[kambites]

How do they match the colour?

[julian64]

Is this the same system where you go to a scrap yard, find an identical colour car and take the panel off. Pay the guy a tenner and walk away?

[kambites]

SpecialBranch said:

I would presume they match the colour by the cars original colour code?

Unless it's a very new car, that doesn't really work. Even modern paint fades.

[ModernAndy]

kambites said:

Unless it's a very new car, that doesn't really work. Even modern paint fades.

Would a really good polish on ALL the panels do the job well enough?

[kambites]

ModernAndy said:

kambites said:

Unless it's a very new car, that doesn't really work. Even modern paint fades.

Would a really good polish on ALL the panels do the job well enough?

Good question, I have no idea.

I also don't know how good the paint matches are even from new. I doubt different batches of "the same" paint are absolutely identical but I've no idea whether they're different enough to be able to see if you put two panels next to each other.

[Strawman]

ModernAndy said:

Would a really good polish on ALL the panels do the job well enough?

Not if the paint has faded under the clear coat, which it will have after >5 years, depending a bit on colour etc.

[MarvGTI]

What would the price for an unpainted wing be ?

Might be easier to have a stab at painting it yourself if you're certain the color won't match straight away ?

[MarvGTI]

SpecialBranch said:

A genuine new front wing is around £160, whilst a good quality insurance approved aftermarket is around £80.

80 sounds reasonable, even with a rattle can finish it can't possibly be that sh**e?

If I had to choose, the car I'd be buying the wing for would make the difference. I wouldn't go with a rattle can finish on a new(ish), expensive(ish) car.

My shed ? Bring it on!

[TallPaul]

Are you sure they're new panels and not just secondhand ones that happen to be in the right colour?
Whilst I haven't searched for these, it does seem unlikely that a pattern panel can be painted in your requested colour, then sent to you for a reasonable cost and it being any good- colour or fitment...
Edit to say:
I've just found them on ebay, "painted OEM quality panels" good luck!

Edited by TallPaul on Tuesday 22 April 20:18

[paintman]

Colour match is likely to be a HUGE issue. Pale metallics - incl silver - being the worst.
Just because they have the colour code doesn't take into account the variant shades in that colour code - and by that I mean in brand new factory built cars. Popular colours will involve several batches of paint - as they get to the end of a batch they order another batch of paint. Knowing when it was built doesn't necessarily help.
Even on something as simple as Ford 'Frozen White' I have colour chips for 5 different shades & formulations for around 15.
Ford Panther Black I have formulations for over 40 shades.
Painting a whole panel often leads to a noticable mismatch between it & the adjacent panel & blending into the adjacent panels is usually necessary to minimise this.

I should add that I SMART repair professionally - and worked in the car paint trade in the 70s - so do have some practical knowledge!

[kambites]

When I had the front clam replaced on the Elise it was blended into the surrounding panels. Next time I have it off the car, I'll have to try comparing it side-by-side with the rear clam and see how different it is.

[r11co]

I've done this. It was a front wing for a Pug 307 in Diablo Red, which is the cherry metallic you see on a lot of Pugs and Citroens.

Panel was a pattern part and plastic as per the original, and was in fact a decent fit which I suppose is easier when it is a moulding rather than a pressing. Colour match was damn-near perfect, but the paint finish itself could have been a little better as the lacquer was a touch uneven, but it was better than the cracked and crazed panel that came off and it's been on the car for a year now and no-one else but me has noticed the small flaws - it could probably be polished to perfection. TBH I reckon there are new cars with panels that are worse.

Was much cheaper than sourcing the panel and getting it painted locally, so I'm happy.

[FakeConcern]

I put one of these on my daughters 2002 Clio, colour is metallic black & we were pleased with both the fit & match.