Bad paint matching on one side of my DB9

[stevecur]

Hope everyone is well...

I've had my DB9 for a good few months now and couldn't be happier.

I moved to a new house yesterday which had a garage. It's the first time I have been able to store it away off the street. I washed / waxed car as usual and put it away in the garage. I went back later on to inspect my handy work (at night) and turned on the lights in the garage.

I immediately noticed that the driver side wing was a slightly different shade than the bonnet (less metallic flakes and a little more milky).

Slightly perplexed, I worked along from here, all the way down to the rear wing and it was the same colour. The whole driver side looks to have been resprayed at some point.

I know that the driver side front wing had a knock at one point so do you think that they resprayed the wing and carried on to all adjoining panels?

Car appears to be absolutely straight and full AMSH. Had it up on stilts and nothing sinister lurking anywhere.

Was also wondering about the price of having a complete respray at Aston...

Thanks in advance, all.

[Manwhoneverwas]

One possibility is that the paint has bubbled, for instance on the door at the lock area which is a very common occurrence in Astons (even relatively new ones).
The paint shop would fix and paint the door and blend the paint over the front wing / rear panel.

[Sunray3006]

I've had similar issues with my '06 DB9 which I purchased a year ago from AM in Amersham, and following some corrective paint for the standard 'bubbles' that they did originally at their 'approved' bodyshop, my car looks a bit patchy and is more obvious under strip lights.

My bonnet has now developed some bubbles, and instead of going down the AM route as they quoted £1,750 for a bonnet spray with the standard £250 contribution with 'no' blending into the wings , I have found a garage local to me (near Dunstable) that restores classic cars and that have done Astons previously (in fact they have a DB6 in for a full restoration at the moment).

I dropped the car off tonight as they will do the repair next week whilst I am away in Belgium on business for a few days, and they have suggested that they start half way down each door and go all the way round and over for a perfect blend, finishing half way up the door pillars.

They have quoted a LOT less than the official AM quote, and once back I'll photograph and post for your opinions, and if a good job may be worth a visit for you as its not that far from you.

I'll keep you posted.

[stevecur]

Thank you very much for the info.

I suppose it must be a *fairly* good job as it's only noticeable under strong garage lighting.

I suspect it you are right, Manwhoneverwas. The paint goes up to the "weld mark" (the small indentation which seperates the rear wing from roof panel). It looks to be a blend job.

Will have to decide whether it's best to get these panels worked over again or indeed go for a full respray.

I'm very interested in the results that you get Sunray3006.

I forgot to mention, it is metallic black 2009.

[stevecur]

What a fascinating, insightful post, Byteme.

Than you for taking the time out to explain.

I'm going to get the car out tomorrow and have another look in daylight and take it from there.

I suppose my initial fear was that the car had been in some kind of catastrophic accident but I am slowly learning about the blending process and also other common problems (such as the bubbling).

Once my paranoia subsides, the obsession with the colour matching will probably go along with it...

[NBTBRV8]

Fluoro lights will make a repaint stand out every time. If they replaced/repaired the front wing then what they would do is paint it and blend the colour right back through the door to the edge under the handle and they would clear down the whole side of the car. I would be surprised if they didn't blend colour in to the bonnet and stop at the other side bonnet edge.

There is nothing you can do with a mismatched colour, this is why I hate panel repairs as matching colours, even off a formula is very very difficult as changes in paint batches, temperatures and how it is applied all come in to the mix. Even different brands of paint with the same formula come out differently.

[paddy328]

I've seen this all too often and many Aston approved bodyshop's are just plain useless. I've known of a couple that have spent months going back and forth to the dealer/ bodyshop because they couldn't get the colour match right. putting the right amount of flake in the paint and also not having the skill to polish it up properly also seems to be an issue.

Try sl restoration in crawley. Best bodyshop in the country.

Francis

[Byteme]

paddy328 said:

I've seen this all too often and many Aston approved bodyshop's are just plain useless. I've known of a couple that have spent months going back and forth to the dealer/ bodyshop because they couldn't get the colour match right. putting the right amount of flake in the paint and also not having the skill to polish it up properly also seems to be an issue.

Try sl restoration in crawley. Best bodyshop in the country.

Francis

Within a proper setting, the right amount of metallic pigmentation is probably the least likely possibility, particularly as this/these will make up the highest proportion of the overall mix. For a number of reasons, too little or too much metallic content quickly shifts colour as well so getting it right at the outset is critical.

If a painter is unable to get the basic metallic contents correct they'd find it far more difficult to add the much smaller colour tint quantities. Anyone making those mistakes wouldn't have a hope in hell of correcting the mix.

I do see a lot of smart repairs being carried out and I'm sure you see the results of their repairs on a frequent basis.

Edited by Byteme on Saturday 11th October 21:31