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How to Match Your Auto Paint Color

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Is your car's paint scratched up? Did you replace a body panel and now it doesn't match the rest of your car? You want to do some touch-up painting, but how do you know what color to use? You can't just go by the name. Manufacturers will change the shade of color but not the name. You can't just guess either, even a subtle difference will be noticeable.

What Is Auto Paint Made Of?

There are three components to automotive paint, pigment, solvent, and resin. The Pigments is the powdered color or toner that gives your paint that beautiful finish. The solvent is what helps the paint to be applied in a smooth finish. The Resin determines how durable your paint is going to be.

Find Your Color Code

The first step in an auto paint color match is to see if you can find your vehicle's color code. To find auto paint codes you will need to know your car's manufacturer, model, and year. Then you can go to the manufacturer's website and see if they still have the paint code listed. The older your car, the less likely you will find the code here. If the manufacturer website wasn't successful, you can look on enthusiasts or aftermarket websites. Sometimes they will cater to owners with older vehicles.

Get Your Car Painted

Once you have the code you can go to an auto body shop or shop that specializes in painting and tell them the code. They will be able to use that code to match your car's original paint exactly. There is a slight catch with this. The older your car gets, the less likely the new paint will exactly match the paint on your car. Cars that are in the sun or elements a lot will have faded paint. Higher quality paint will take longer to fade, but it will happen eventually. High-performance auto shops will know this and be able to adjust the paint from the color code to match the faded paint on your car.

Another trick that professional painters will do is blend the new paint into the old paint. If the paint isn't blended, there will be light or dark spots from where the new paint was applied. Blending tricks the eye into not noticing where the new paint was applied.

What If You Can't Find the Code Online?

Try looking around your car. Many times manufacturers will put it somewhere on the actual car. There are a bunch of places it could be depending on the manufacturer and model.

Glove box
Driver's door jam
Under driver's seat
Driver's sun visor
In the center console
Engine bay firewall
Trunk lid
Spare tire wheel well in the trunk

The Owner's Manual

If you don't feel like digging around your car, you can try looking in your owner's manual. The code should be in there too. Check under the section that talks about the specs or exterior of the vehicle.

Beware of the 5% Rule

Manufacturers factor for a 5% variation in color. This means that even though you have the code, it may not be an exact match to your car. It helps to use a color chart like the DuPont auto paint color chart to account for that variation in color.

Color Analyze

Soon color matching your car's paint is going to be as easy as a scan. Currently in the works is a device that your shop could hold over your car. The device will then scan your car's paint and use its massive database to determine the exact shade and elements of your car's color.

Once you know your car's paint color code, you can work with a professional to fine tune the color to be a perfect match. This can be an expensive process due to how time-consuming it can be. You may want to ask your shop about auto paint financing. While you're at it, ask them about the best auto sealant. You are paying to have your car repainted to look amazing, don't you want to keep it looking that way as long as possible? A paint sealant will help keep your paint looking like new.

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