Question for Bodyshop People- Easiest Colours to refinish?

[Pickled Piper]

I would appreciate some advice from bodyshop professionals. I'm looking at buying a Jaguar XF and keeping it long term as a daily driver. Despite being a careful owner, It will inevitably pick up dents and scratches as all my daily drivers have.

I love the look of the light metallic silver that the XF comes in (Liquid Silver) however, I am concerned that after a few years and the inevitable repairs it may end up looking like a patchwork quilt. The other options are black (Ultimate Black) or various shades of blue. Which colour would the bodyshop professionals recommend in terms of ease of refinishing and matching that means my car would still look good in years to come?

Thanks in advance for your input.

pp

[paintman]

White.
And yes, I have owned a white car. Hides a multitude of little dinks & marks. Contrary to popular belief doesn't show the dirt - until you clean one panel & look at the others

Pale metallics are a nightmare if large panels need refinishing & if you look around you'll see lots where one panel looks a slightly different shade to the adjacent panels. Usually needs blending into the adjacent panels, but that increases the cost & insurance companies won't pay for undamaged panels to be done.

Dark colours are generally better, but again there are usually variant shades in all colours - you may remember the Panther Black Mondeo on here a while ago, Spies Hecker list 22 (not a mis-type, twenty-two!)different formulations for that colour in waterbase alone.

[anonymous-user]

I loved my old white Sierra, really was a peice of piss to repair any damage.

[Anatol]

Pickled Piper said:

Which colour would the bodyshop professionals recommend in terms of ease of refinishing and matching that means my car would still look good in years to come?

That's three different variables:

ease of refinishing
ease of matching
and looking good for years to come.

Unfortunately, they pull somewhat in different directions.

Darker colours are generally more forgiving to colour match issues - but are much less forgiving to clearcoat application and get more tired-looking through wear and tear. Pale colours vice versa.

Silver is usually (contrary to the myth) pretty easy to *match* as a paint, but because the final finish varies with application, getting a repair to harmonise with the previous finish isn't just about paint match.

Flat colours are the complete opposite - get the paint recipe right and it is almost impossible for application to vary the perceived colour. But they don't have the sparkle that comes with an effect colour (metallic/pearl).

Of course, the sparkle in effect paints is from light reflecting off the particulates, and as the lacquer gets marred with everyday wear and tear, less light passes through it cleanly to sparkle back at a viewer.

Choosing a colour for finish always involves a trade off.

[Pickled Piper]

Cheers chaps,

Very few if any XFs available in white. I will dismiss silver, much as I like the look of it. So probably black or mid blue.

pp

[V8covin]

The easiest colour to match is straight black as you don't have to worry about blending in and can paint edge to edge....so it also saves the customer a few bob too.

I actually find silver one of the more difficult colours to match.....unless the match is nearly perfect you can almot always see where the blend was done (if you look hard enough).Bumpers are especially difficult to match to the adjacent bodywork

[paintman]

Not at all unusual for factory painted bumpers to look a slightly different shade to the body.
You'll also find you get the same even if you paint bumper AND wing - Ford Machine Silver is especially good at this.

[Pickled Piper]

paintman said:

Not at all unusual for factory painted bumpers to look a slightly different shade to the body.
You'll also find you get the same even if you paint bumper AND wing - Ford Machine Silver is especially good at this.

Yes, I've seen this on brand new silver, straight from the factory Jaguar XFs.

I thought that the original bumpers are delivered to the factory pre-coloured and not spray painted in the car plants. I could be wrong.



pp

Edited by Pickled Piper on Sunday 26th September 16:04

[TUS 373]

I have heard about body and bumpers not matching, even if painted at same time. The explanation was that the plastic and metal a different thermodynamically, so they affect how the paint dries and therefore how the metallic flakes settle out. This means they are the same colour, but seen as being slightly different in terms of the finish, which probably translates as 'different colour'.




I could be wrong though!

[Anatol]

With modern waterborne paint, drying time is much more about airflow than panel temperature, and at any rate, the amount of time the metallics sit in wet film build is so much longer than VOC-borne paint that they have loads of time to achieve uniform orientation with the substrate.

As a result, with cars painted with current gen paints, bumpers and wings not matching is either a different batch of paint (most likely), or the paint application line being set up so that there is a significant difference in application (less likely).

The most common alternative culprit is a slight change of angle between the panels. This orientation change means the two panels reflect a different amount of light, and there is a perceived tone difference, even though the finish is identical.