I hate silver!!

Well, my fiancee wants to get rid of her 2001 Civic because she thinks it is bad luck. In any case, there were a couple of spots that needed some touch-up paint (a couple of long scratches, and 2 chips). I got the paint code and got some TU from the dealer. It is way darker than the original paint. She has a satin silver metallic, this paint almost looked like a light charcoal. Now the spots are even more noticeable!! I did read the forum and found some good advice, but it doesn`t really help me at this point. I was thinking of trying to remove some of the TU paint, and go over it with a lighter shade of silver. I think it would be less noticeable to be a little light than to be too dark. Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

The only thing you can do is grow a mullet and the spots will repair themselves. It sounds weird, but its true. :naughty If that isn`t an option then you will have to chip the paint out and try it again. I`m surprised that it didn`t work out well. Metallics are usually fairly easy colors to work with when touching up. Take your paint code to a shop and have them mix you some touch up paint. It should cost like $10 or $15 bucks, but at least it will be the exact same color. I can`t believe the bottle from the dealership didn`t match. Take it back to them and show them how nasty it looks. Maybe they gave you the wrong color.

Try growing the mullet and see what happens. If nothing else then you`ll be smoother with the ladies. :fuzz

did you shake it really really well? those small bottles at the dealers seem to sit there for a long time..

Fuzz is right..grow a mullet and goatee:lmfao and then go to an auto paint supply shop with the car and have them mix you a quart...give the rest to the new owner

I would grow a mullet, but I only need to be smooth with one lady from now on. I fear the mullet might draw too much attention from the ladies and the fiancee would get jealous. I double checked teh paint code before leaving the dealership and it is correct. I also (just for giggles) bought some touch-up (DupliColor or something) from Pep Boys. It was actually a better match, but still a little dark. Not sure if it makes a difference since the car is relatively new, but probably hadn`t been waxed for about the first 2 years she had (prior to us dating, of course), and maybe washed 2-3 times a year in an automatic car wash (some with brushes!!). Would the paint have faded that bad? I shook the crap out of all the TU bottles (I need one of those paint shakers they have at Home Depot). Funny thing, when I opened the Honda stuff, you could see the silver, but also black bubbles. It was never one complete color, but looked more like an oil/water mixture (or lava lamp), never quite mixing.

You can remove the old touchup paint with Mother`s California Gold® Paint Chip Repair. It is available at a lot of auto supply stores, but not all of them. It also can be used to help you with the repair. Just follow the instructions with it. I sometimes do an excellent job, sometimes not so excellent. With the Mother`s stuff, I just remove my unsatisfactory repair and do it over.

You could probably remove it with some lacquer thinner on a towel, but you need to use some caution if you do. It isn`t easy to damage the OEM paint, but you could.

Poorboy`s comment about shaking it well is a good one, but if it is as far off as you describe, I question if you got the right color of touchup paint. My experience with color matching has been pretty good, but unlike the Fuzz, I seem to have more trouble with metallics. I have a problem getting good dispersal of the metallic when I apply a small amount.

Charles

If it still wasnt a consisten color, you probably should have contined shaking. I know when I used my TU paint on my truck, i shook it for about 15 minutes, my arm felt like puddy but the color catually came out alot nicer.

:yeah

that tube could be as old as the car and have never moved:dunno :dancin and keep shaking

Silver metalic is a tough one to match ... metalics for one thing have a tendancy to seperate so mixing constantly is important. You should be able to remove the paint with some lacquer thinner as most touch up products are lacquer based.
Most paint supply places will only mix a minimum of a pint of paint so that might be costly.
I would either buy a lighter shade of touch up paint and mix the two or even try mixing a little white paint in with it to lighten it. If using another silver be sure the metal flakes in the paint are not larger than the ones on the car.
When applying the paint try to dab it on and not disturb it after it is placed on the scratch because that will bring the darker color to the top of the surface.
Good Luck ... paint matching can be a bear sometimes!