Finally, after 10 years of ownership.... w00t update

[turbowop]

To answer a couple of questions...

I painted the clips on the rear package shelf a couple years ago. Those are easy, since you can just pop them out and paint them on some cardboard.

I painted the rear window trim on the car. I grabbed some 3M plastic sheeting from some guys I know at a local body shop and masked off everything really well. I didn't feel like breaking clips and opening a can of worms just to paint the trim.

I painted the windshield trim off the car. I planned on getting a new windshield anyway, so I didn't worry about broken clips, and pretty much all of them broke. Not to mention that the mess of urethane under the trim would have prohibited replacement of the clips without pulling the windshield anyway, so I'm glad I waited. The new windshield is nice. The old one didn't have any cracks or large spidered rock chips, but tons of little chips. It was pretty peppered from years of use. Also, all those little chips on the passenger side had white shoe polish in them from track numbers and dial in bracket times which made it even worse. I seriously couldn't get that sh*t out. I had Safelite come out to the house and do it in my garage for $220.

 

[turbowop]

BTW, here is a picture of the new windshield and painted trim...





Please notice the difference in color from the hood to the fenders. I just had that painted, as well as the front bumper and valence. The paint supply place didn't put my custom mixture onto the side of the can a couple years ago. I assumed they put the colors that were actually mixed onto the side of the can, not just the factory sh*t, so I chucked my little piece of paper that had the custom mix ingredients. So now I'm fucked as far as getting my paint mixed 100% correct again. It wasn't as noticeable when I put the bumper back on the car, but once the hood went on I was like /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif . They just mixed me factory belize green, but it looks close enough before it's sprayed on that I didn't think anything of it.

I repainted the parts due to some issues that you guys usually don't see in pictures, but can be noticed in person. I had the opening in the bumper smoothed out better and some of the paint was chipping down low from rocks, etc. When I had the JDM hood painted the painter didn't quite lay on enough base coat at the edges, which bugged me also. I just lived with it. In fact, that was the last time I had the correct paint mixed, was for the hood when I first got it. Here I am thinking this sh*t was all going to be fixed, and now the sh*t doesn't match. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Anyway, I'm supposed to take the fuel door down to the paint place and they are going to use their electronic dealie that takes a picture of the paint to see what's in it and try to match it. She said it should come out way better than what it is now if not almost perfect, and she's not going to charge me. I'm crossing my fingers. Anybody else had good luck matching paint like that? All I remember is messing with the amount of metallic in the paint, which made it darker, but I can't remember off the top of my head what we did. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bawling.gif

 

[strokin4dr]

Quoting turbowop:
Anybody else had good luck matching paint like that? All I remember is messing with the amount of metallic in the paint, which made it darker, but I can't remember off the top of my head what we did.



I had this before and it came up with a perfect match; and this was silver with is harder to match exactly. I forgot what paint code was used on one of my cars a few years back, and when there machine came up with a Land Rover color, it rang a bell in my head and I remembered that was exactly what was used. I should work out fine with the dark green.
Post up the code when you get it. I love that color on 1051! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Olson]

My brother had a custom color made for his car a few years ago. He had to get the car repainted because he got into an accident. The body shop did what yours is doing and it came out as a perfect match to his orginal paint.

 

[turbowop]

Well, those two responses give me hope. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Thanks.

I pulled off the fuel door to take down there for the process... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[jepherz]

I had paint mixed for my eclipse using a gun, and it turned out horrible. Dark red metallic. Hope that doesn't make you cry...

A good body shop will never plan on painting individual panels for a car with any metallic in them; they'll always blend. Even if you knew the right color for the basecoat, there are 7+ shades of a sealer layer they spray on which drastically alter the ending shade. Small variances like gun pressure and spraying style will even affect the way the color turns out.

What kind of paint are they using, Mark? I don't know about matching with the gun, but if you have a paint code, your chances of matching exactly are much closer with more premium brands of paint. The "off" brands and cheaper levels of paint don't have the money to dump into color match research.

Best of luck, it should turn out fine! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[turbowop]

I don't like blending unless necessary. If the color isn't a perfect match, you can usually see blends in sunlight, which bugs the sh*t out of me. I would only do that if I had to paint something like a fender and then blend into the door, but with a hood, it's not as noticeable or needed, IMO. I'm glad it's not a panel on the side of the car for that reason. I'd probably break down and repaint the whole car at that point.

When I first got the JDM hood and had it sprayed, the color was a spot on match to the rest of the car, but the guy I had shoot it didn't hit the edges with enough basecoat, which gave them a feathered look in certain lighting. Most people never noticed it, even in person, but I knew it was there and I'm OCD. The front bumper needed redone, so I figured I'd have the hood done while I was at it. The guy who painted it this time used the same sealer color that was used before.

It can't get any worse than it is now, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Well it could, but I think they can get the color closer than it is now. It's PPG paint. Also, I could always put a carbon fiber hood on it as a last resort to matching paint. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif

 

[turbowop]

So they used the PPG camera dealie and matched up the paint using it. It looks pretty close, or at least closer than the stuff on there now. My painter is going to do a "spray card" I think he called it where he has different cards with different color sealers on them he sprays over with the base coat and then clears them for me to bring home and compare against the paint on the car. Hopefully it matches.

 

[Polish]

For some reason I always liked the trim chrome on your car. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

It just seemed to fit in. Still looks good now though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[turbowop]

OMFG!!!

So I'm looking online to see what colors go into making belize green using the tint guide on the label on the side of all these paint cans I have now and I notice something underneath the label on my two year old paint can that was the correct color. I peel back the outer label and find this...




/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

See where the m127 is crossed out and m126 is added? That was the change made to the factory color. After seeing that I now remember it vividly. It's been a couple years so I couldn't remember off the top of my head. m127 is "medium bright aluminum". m126 is "coarse aluminum". It's just a change in the metallic color, but it darkened up the factory color a lot. Now I can get the color made again. I'm so f***ing happy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Barnes]

Woot!

Your nut-swinger-fu grows ever stronger. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[turbowop]

UPDATE! WOOT!

My parts are now resprayed the correct color. I got really lucky that the correct color was marked underneath the paintcan label. I dropped them off yesterday and they were finished today at 4pm, even got baked in the booth. It pays to know people. They didn't even charge me for the respray. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[Barnes]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif

 

i wanna know your people /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[jepherz]

Damn, that's quick. They resprayed the front bumper without removing the chrome trim this time?

 

[Polish]

1051 strikes again.

Need a poppoff spec photo shoot once it's all put back together. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[strokin4dr]

Quoting jepherz:
Damn, that's quick. They resprayed the front bumper without removing the chrome trim this time?



I seriously doubt it.

 

[turbowop]

Yeah, I dropped the parts off during my lunch on Thursday, went in during my lunch on Friday and he was already spraying basecoat. Told me to come back at 4pm and as long as he didn't get any runs in the clear or anything else weird happened, they'd be done. Considering any fixing that needed to be done was already finished before the wrong color went down, all he had to do was scuff and shoot this time around.


Also, I actually had them mask around the chrome trim this time. There is enough space around the trim that paint can get in there just fine. I can't even tell, and considering how anal I am about stuff like this, that's a good thing.

That chrome trim is now $40 from the dealer. That's the wholesale price, too. For one piece, or enough to do one bumper. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif It comes in one size and only has one part number now, which has superseded to the part number for the back bumper, since that's the longest piece needed. It's cut to fit. When I replaced all the trim in '04 it was $20 per piece. So I ordered it this time and when I went to pay for it was when I heard the price had doubled. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I'm sure I could find something similar at a bodyshop supply place, but I wanted it to be an exact match to the other trim. I wasn't about to pay another $40 when they can just mask around it.

 

Looking good.

Regarding the windshield, is it genuine Mitsu glass with the MMC logo in the corner? Is that still available for our cars?

 

[Gvr4-330]

What's the part number for the chrome trim? The clear layer on mine is peeling.

Rob