[offroadracer99]

Great site with lots of info.....now the bad

My wife and I bought a 2014 honda accord ex-l on a Saturday and 2 days later an idiot backed into it and took out the front passenger fender and headlight. The car is alabaster silver. I had a body shop veteran of 30 years do the repairs. He informed me that silver metallic is a bitch to match. He blended the paint onto the hood and door. Something odd about the paint is this when looking directly down on the front fender/hood area the paint is a perfect match. When looking straight on to the fender from a squatted position the paint is a darn near perfect match. When you stand at the rear wheel and look toward the front passenger at the repaired fender the color is obviously off. What is up with this?...Is this as good as I can hope for. I dont want to have it repainted just to have it turn out jacked up again. I live in the boonies of East Kentucky....so finding a quality body shop/painter is almost impossible. Any and all advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[ObsidianEX-L]

Silver is hard to match. It sounds like the tint wasn't done properly on the color. Take it back and make them repaint it.

Sorry about your luck with the brand new car, and congrats on your purchase!

 

[offroadracer99]

Im still sick from all this still....I know the guy didnt do it on purpose,,,,but it would no be wise for me to be in the same room with him for any length of time lol:rant:

 

[karfreek]

Welcome to the site! Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

To get it right they may have to reprint the whole side as silver is a bitch. Did you go thru insurance? If so maybe the shop can convince them that that is the only way to make it right.

Jay

 

[ObsidianEX-L]

Im still sick from all this still....I know the guy didnt do it on purpose,,,,but it would no be wise for me to be in the same room with him for any length of time lol:rant:

Are you going through this insurance for the repair, or are you going through your insurance and having them collect the money from his insurance?

I would also investigate a diminished value claim on such a new car.

FYI I would say go through your own insurance, that way your vehicle is covered for the life of it if there are any issues down the road (like the one you're having now with color matching).

 

[offroadracer99]

I am going through the other guys insurance....I have been checking into the diminished value claim. The estimate for the work is $2300. The guy who did the body work/paint said insurance companies will typically do 1/2 of the estimate for the diminished value. At least that would take some of the sting out of a 2 day old new car being backed into.

Thanks for the info and guidance. I would appreciate any info on the diminished value claim.

 

[ltxi]

No excuse whatsoever for an inability to color match today. Especially on a just otb, new car. I could color match silver perfectly, given the proper DuPont numbers to start with, back in the 70's and I've never been more/better than a semi-talented amateur.

 

[turdburger]

yes, silver is hard to match. If the metallic flakes aren't sprayed on the right way, the color is off.

What you need to compare is the other side of the car in the same way. Turn the car around 180 degrees and look at it from the rear tire, and see if the color changes the same way.

If both sides colorshift in the same way, then accept it as is.

I'm curious how bad it is. A camera would show it easily if it were really bad.

 

[ltxi]

yes, silver is hard to match. If the metallic flakes aren't sprayed on the right way, the color is off.

What you need to compare is the other side of the car in the same way. Turn the car around 180 degrees and look at it from the rear tire, and see if the color changes the same way.

If both sides colorshift in the same way, then accept it as is.

I'm curious how bad it is. A camera would show it easily if it were really bad.

Or if the wrong size flakes are used or if the paint wasn't freshly shaken/mixed.

 

[offroadracer99]

I will take some pics tomorrow in the sunlight and post them....Thanks so much for the info.

 

[HondaGuy2]

I owned silver cars for many years and had body work done on a few of those. Let me tell you it is not going to be a perfect match from every angle. Not unless they repaint the entire vehicle. Put simply, there is no way to get the metallic flakes in the same exact distribution in the finish. It does not matter how good the body shop may be. Darker colors are much easier to match.

 

[MN_Runner]

I owned silver cars for many years and had body work done on a few of those. Let me tell you it is not going to be a perfect match from every angle. Not unless they repaint the entire vehicle. Put simply, there is no way to get the metallic flakes in the same exact distribution in the finish. It does not matter how good the body shop may be. Darker colors are much easier to match.

It is easier with darker colors but the age of the paint can have an effect as well. It is not that easy to get 100% match and the only way to get that is to paint the entire car. I feel for the OP.

 

[offroadracer99]

Here is a not so good pic in the garage under a fluorescent light.

 

[Alex9119]

silver and gold are one of the worst to colour match i know that because my parents friends owns a body shop that repairs mostly high end cars, if you want perfect you gotta look into a new car sorry to hear about what has happened though also look into the diminishing value and go from there

 

[mdreibelbis]

No advice for you but just wanted to say I feel for you. I bought a used 1984 Accord LX as I was just getting out of college. It was 100% mint!

The first week I owned it my mom backed into it as she backed out of the driveway. I hadn't owned a car before so she wasn't thinking about a vehicle being parked in the drive and BAM hit it with her Chevy Blazer. Did about $3,000 1986 dollars worth of damage to it!

I felt sick about the whole thing but she felt worse I'm sure.

Good luck with it!

 

[justblink778]

The paint match isn't 100% perfect but it's not too bad...maybe 90%...I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Mechanic]

I owned silver cars for many years and had body work done on a few of those. Let me tell you it is not going to be a perfect match from every angle. Not unless they repaint the entire vehicle. Put simply, there is no way to get the metallic flakes in the same exact distribution in the finish. It does not matter how good the body shop may be. . . . .[emphasis added]

This ^.

 

[EXLAccord2011]

No excuse whatsoever for an inability to color match today. Especially on a just otb, new car. I could color match silver perfectly, given the proper DuPont numbers to start with, back in the 70's and I've never been more/better than a semi-talented amateur.

Not exactly..I do this for a living...With pearls and reflective particles they come in batches with a mixture of micron sizes of particles..One batch may have 40 percent of particles with a particular micron size, the next batch of the same pearlecent pigment may have 60 percent of particles with that micron size..So although the pearl will be the same and the color the same, the reflective properties will be different from batch to batch. These ranges exist on the part of the manufacturer and batch approval has a spec range upon which they base their approvals. So although technically you are getting the same color and the formulation and mixture ratios can be exactly as was done in the original application of paint, the results can still vary when different batches of pearls and pigments are used. It can not be avoided unless everything is from the same batch. There are many variables in this process that can still be within spec and yet be slightly different...Hope this sheds some light on the subject..