No VIN or Paint code-how to match color?

T

tssdetailing

New member
Normally I get a car vin or paint code and buy a touch up tube from a dealer or from online supplier. But I have to do some touch up work on a white late 90's Porsche GT2. It's a factory race car, has no VIN and has been repainted once in her lifetime. I don't want to buy Duplicolor white and it be a miss match. What can I do?
 
Since you are just looking for a "lacquer touch up tube", you got a problem.

If you were going to actually refinish a portion of it, you would look in the yellow pages for Finish Masters store close to you, "they are in Cincy" , call and make sure they have the paint reader computer.

If they don't there are other PBE stores in the area, just call until you get one that has such a system.

Then remove the fuel door (or another small panel) and take it to them.

They can produce you a pint of exact match.

Then all you have to do is find someone with an air brush system and the right reducer to apply it.

Or a good gun, and redo the complete panel.

Grumpy
 
Ron is correct, you can go to a Finishmaster and they should be able to match it with a color camera.



Have them mix you up 4oz. of PPG Omni Acrylic Enamel (or Delstar/DAR if they happen to mix that line instead) and as long as it's left unreduced, you can use it with a brush just like the Duplicolor tubes, or you can add some reducer and spray it with an airbrush or other paint gun.



I go to Finishmaster quite often for this type of touch-up, they charge me $10 to mix the small quantity.
 
It would be nice to have the panel you bring already polished so that the true color shows. If the paint is oxidized when it is read, you won't get a good match to the polished paint.
 
Yeah, and 48 year old red is tough as well.

When I restored the old Puch/Allstate, the wheels were fine, just needed the spokes polished and some small paint touch up.

The frame and and everything was a total repaint, so it had to be pretty much on the money.

The computer couldn't come up with one that was close enough.

So, I got their chip book and found a Buick color that so close that you wouldn't believe it.

But, I have always had an eye for colors.

Grumpy
 
Blackthornone said:
It would be nice to have the panel you bring already polished so that the true color shows. If the paint is oxidized when it is read, you won't get a good match to the polished paint.
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Unless the base(under clear) is oxidized/faded, I don't think buffing will alter the color. Can anyone comment on this? I don't know of any body shops that buff panels before they tint color or do spray out panels?
 
David Fermani said:
Unless the base(under clear) is oxidized/faded, I don't think buffing will alter the color. Can anyone comment on this? I don't know of any body shops that buff panels before they tint color or do spray out panels?
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I am used to single stage paint, so in that case, it makes a big difference. I also believe that if the clear coat isn't clear enough, it will make it as difficult for a computer to see the real color as it is to recognize the real color of something when looking through a dirty window.
 
David Fermani said:
Unless the base(under clear) is oxidized/faded, I don't think buffing will alter the color. Can anyone comment on this? I don't know of any body shops that buff panels before they tint color or do spray out panels?
Click to expand...



Although some people argue that clearcoat doesn't oxidize, it definitely dulls over time and can hide the true color underneath.



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Sad to admit, but this is from my wife's trunk when I first started detailing. If that's not oxidized clear coat, I don't know what to call it.



It did polish out though.
 
I agree about the single stage point and is why I put (under clear) to distinguish that.



On refinish clear, it's more yellow that anything and can alter the final sprayout of certain colors in itself. From my understanding, the factory clear (Ron can confrim?) doesn't have this discoloring effect. But, with the OP's application being a refinish may cause even more problems into the mix (pun intended) of matching the color. As far as the the computer not being able to match up a dulled finish I'm not sure but that's a good question. I don't know what parameters they work off of and how sensitive they are to that variable.
 
hmm, kind of a catch 22 scenario but luckily i don't think it will apply to this case. The car's clear shouldn't be oxidized at all as it's a race car, so it doesn't get left in the sun as much as a normal car does (ie, parked at work, or left outside the house). It probably gets ran once or twice a month for a few hours on a track, then goes back into a trailer/garage.



So i'm not dismissing your concerns, but feel that they are not applicable. I'm going to find out what finish care suggests and will happily report!
 
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