My 2004 6i 5 door (volcanic red) was stolen and recovered recently. It went thru body repair that costed over $7000. The rear bumper was repainted and now I notice a sutbtle color difference between the bumper and the hatch. The body shop said that they use the exact color specified by the manufacturer. Is it still possible that noticeable color difference would be apparent? Most people would not notice it but I do and my husband does. Should I complain??
paint color match?
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Well...imho, it's hard to match paint as it is. If your 6 is a 2004, there's gonna be a difference in the color, compared to a brand new coat. Of course, as a consumer, you should get what you paid for so it it's really off, I would talk to the shop about it. But, depending on environmental factors, I would think it's not going to be exact. Just my .02.
I think that you should find a shop that will "blend " the paint to match the car instead of just going by the color code. But then again the stock bumpers aren't 100% perfect color matched either because its a different material than the body (according to a paint shop around here).
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91 Posts
My dad does paint work on cars and they can match your factory color exactley. You need to find a good paint shop and they can match the color from the factory codes on your car. As long as it is someone good doing the paint good, it should blend in fine.
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2,480 Posts
Paint changes color. It just happens. The only way to do it is to do exactly what we do for house painting. Take a paint sample, dry it over a piece of grey paper and hold it against your panels. Only way to do it. Oh and ask a woman, they can see more colors than men.
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65 Posts
This is common. It is alomost impossible to match the color exactly, so your better paint and body shops either blend or do a total repaint. i would insist on this since it was insurance that paid for it. I guess it is too late to say do not accept the car until it is done right, but I woupld definitley go raise some cain until it was fixed.
It is possible. My co-worker from an old job had a Jetta that was silver, in an accident. When she got it back, you could tell from a distance the car was a different color. Although she hated me for pointing it out, she told the shop and made them repaint her car so she was alot happier in the end. Make them redo it, they screwed up somewhere. Call your insurance co. and report them if they give you any ish about it. Your insurance states your car needs to be brought back to full 100% like it was before the accident.
Thank you all for your input. I dread bringing my car back to the body shop because it was there for over 5 weeks for repair and another 2 days (2 weeks later) for buffing and polishing after the paint "cured". The car needed new hood, front bumper, and a side sill extension also (among other things). I don't think they came painted. I know that becuase there were small globs of paint on the hood which they had to buff off after the paint "cured". I'm wondering if I don't notice any color difference in the front of the car because they were painted all at the same time, even though the front bumper is made of different material than the hood? If that's the case, then they should be able to paint the back bumper and any adjacent areas simultaneoulsy so they'd be all the same color, right? I want the rest of the car to be the same color too. My car looks perfect, except for the slight color mismatch.... I know it's going to bug me. So, I'll muster my resolve and complain to the body shop.
As pointed out, make sure they blended the paint. They should extend their paiting into the surrounding areas of the car (that weren't damaged) so the color flows from one section to another and isn't a drastic change - this is what they did on mine after an accident and i can't tell the difference. If they JUST painted what was damage, chances are you'll be able to see the paint difference more clearly. Hope that helps and you get your baby back to your expectations! Just don't settle for anythng less than what you're happy with!
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