Being fobbed off by Merc...Skilled car painter advice needed
Discussion
My wife has a 10 year old Mercedes ML that got hit by someone over a year ago on the rear bumper. It was all sorted by insurance and Mercedes repaired it. A few months ago, she nudged a post to find that the paint peeled off of the bumper (I have a 2 1/2 feet long by 6 inch wide sheet in the house)so we went to Mercedes, showed them that the under the paint it had not been keyed (and in fact felt greasy) and got them to repaint it. The car came back and the bumper is clearly a shade brighter in certain light. They claim that the paint is absolutiely correct as they used the ready mixed paint with correct code for her car. They already painted it once for us and the colour was spot on, and now they say that this can happen as the plastic parts "absorb" paint at different rates and sent me the below letter from Glasurit.
Info. On colour match of plastic components on cars.
On the O.E. production line plastic parts are painted off line and then fitted to the already painted car. This is because the car has an electro deposited primer and electrostatic applied topcoat, which is baked at 160-180C.
Plastic components are not conductive enough for this application and will also distort at the above temperatures, this will lead to colour differences between plastic and metal parts on the original finish.
From a refinish point of view colour differences can occur due to the different absorption qualities of plastics, the same paint can be applied to different types of plastics, which can absorb solvents and resins at different rates will result in a different colour match.
The effect is more so with high silver content colours because the orientation of the aluminium flakes is affected by the drying rate, the drying rate is also affected by the substrate absorption.
The absorption rate on metals is a lot lower but the effect can be seen if you were to remove all the paint from a sign written van, and repaint from metal, the sign writing will be seen from some angles due to differential absorption into the metal from the previous paint system.
With some metallic colours with a high flip the effect can be dramatically changed by the angle at which the colour is seen. Plastic components fitted at a slightly different angle appear to have a different colour match. The accuracy of a colour match can only be assessed, by viewing at the same angle and with the same light conditions, this is not possible with a vehicle once the plastic parts are fitted.
XXXXXXXXX
Technical Sales Representative
Glasurit Automotive Refinish.
I remember from my days in the motor trade, that a decent body shop would test the paint matched before spraying, they would also paint the panels (especially metallic) in the correct orientation that they would sit on the car (e.g. a door is sprayed upright and not lying down) and they would also tint the paint if it looked off.
Am I barking mad to accept the car back!? The difference is very slight, but I know it is different and they can also agreed that it is different.
Help please......
Info. On colour match of plastic components on cars.
On the O.E. production line plastic parts are painted off line and then fitted to the already painted car. This is because the car has an electro deposited primer and electrostatic applied topcoat, which is baked at 160-180C.
Plastic components are not conductive enough for this application and will also distort at the above temperatures, this will lead to colour differences between plastic and metal parts on the original finish.
From a refinish point of view colour differences can occur due to the different absorption qualities of plastics, the same paint can be applied to different types of plastics, which can absorb solvents and resins at different rates will result in a different colour match.
The effect is more so with high silver content colours because the orientation of the aluminium flakes is affected by the drying rate, the drying rate is also affected by the substrate absorption.
The absorption rate on metals is a lot lower but the effect can be seen if you were to remove all the paint from a sign written van, and repaint from metal, the sign writing will be seen from some angles due to differential absorption into the metal from the previous paint system.
With some metallic colours with a high flip the effect can be dramatically changed by the angle at which the colour is seen. Plastic components fitted at a slightly different angle appear to have a different colour match. The accuracy of a colour match can only be assessed, by viewing at the same angle and with the same light conditions, this is not possible with a vehicle once the plastic parts are fitted.
XXXXXXXXX
Technical Sales Representative
Glasurit Automotive Refinish.
I remember from my days in the motor trade, that a decent body shop would test the paint matched before spraying, they would also paint the panels (especially metallic) in the correct orientation that they would sit on the car (e.g. a door is sprayed upright and not lying down) and they would also tint the paint if it looked off.
Am I barking mad to accept the car back!? The difference is very slight, but I know it is different and they can also agreed that it is different.
Help please......
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