Advice regarding door respray

[pulp58]

Hi

Bit of advice regarding my door/wing needed please 

I posted some pics of my damaged door and wing a few weeks ago here: http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=72735.0 on page two.

Now, the door and wing have been resprayed by the dealer I bought the car from, however................ The next day when I saw the finish of the repair in the sun light it was quite clear my door and wing were a lighter shade of Reflex Silver to the rest of the car.

I took the car straight back to VW and they said that it was the colour mixed exactly as the paint code for the car requires. They admit it is not the same and did not question trying to sort it ASAP. They are having it back tomorrow to put right but I have two worries.

1.  The guy that has done it says he cant match the paint any better than what it is and will have to "blend it in" with the back panel etc. Not happy with this, I thought in this day and age they could just make the paint mix slightly darker ?

2. The same repairer fixed my bumper in July and matched the colour perfectly. They now can not understand why it does not match.
To me this doesnt sound right ? The paint of my car could not have faded that much in 6 months to be different to what it is mixed up new now?

Basically has anyone else had their car repaired and had panels sprayed and did it match the rest of the car ? I think my VW dealer is fibbing to me because they must be able to get a match pretty good? Cars get repaired day in day out and I cant beleive the reality is they have "to blend the paint in to the rest of the car".

One comment Ive had from a friend who used to be in the trade is it needs and extra coat of paint to make it darker, the more coats the darker the paint - is this true ?

I have got some excellent advice from consumer direct regarding my rights, but I just wanted some extra thoughts regarding what I should be expecting from a respray

Ta in advance......sorry for the essay!  :embarassed:

[Hurdy]

Any respray in this day and age should be spot on. If it isn't, it is simply the fault of the bodyshop who fail in getting the match right.

I had my last car resprayed and the match was spot on. The car was steel grey on my GTTDI MKV golf.

IMO they have sprayed it and hoped that you wouldn't either a) notice it or b) complain if you did notice it.

It seems to me to be a sad state of affairs, when in this day and age you should get excellent service from the motor trade and yet in most cases there is some lack of attention to detail which spoils the experience for the customer. It maybe an honest mistake, so I would at least give them a chance to sort it out and who knows you may get something out of them as an apology.

Good Luck

[gazbutmk5gti]

My cars going in for a repair on the wing next week, and speaking to the bodyshop there is your basic paint code which is on your VIN plate, which gives them the basic colour then there are as many as 6 shades of this colour and its up to the skill of the bodyshop to then match this. They should do a test card and then adjust the paint mix to suit until it matches the colour of your car.
If your not happy with the job they have done stand your ground until its right as it will affect the future value of your car.
Having said that I'm still a bit worried about having my car painted next week as its only done 3000 miles and its still a new motor in my mind.

[Hurdy]

My cars going in for a repair on the wing next week, and speaking to the bodyshop there is your basic paint code which is on your VIN plate, which gives them the basic colour then there are as many as 6 shades of this colour and its up to the skill of the bodyshop to then match this. They should do a test card and then adjust the paint mix to suit until it matches the colour of your car.
If your not happy with the job they have done stand your ground until its right as it will affect the future value of your car.
Having said that I'm still a bit worried about having my car painted next week as its only done 3000 miles and its still a new motor in my mind.

You wanted to see how I felt with my last car. I picked it up on the 3rd Jan and on the 13th of Jan some 4rse backed into the side of it. I'd only done 110 miles in it

Hope it matches well for you though. If it was anything like mine you will be okay

[gazbutmk5gti]

That was terrible luck pal, I'm hoping everything will be fine, the bodyshop has a very good reputation so fingers crossed.

[maxamus]

Cars get repaired day in day out and I cant beleive the reality is they have "to blend the paint in to the rest of the car".

Its very difficult to get the paint job exact without blending into the adjacent parts. And most monkeys will struggle with it.
On slightly older cars the original paintwork can fade with the sun light and the elements having effect on it which can make the job of getting a perfect match even harder.

Bodywork paint is ussually applied in layers (i read somewhere that its around 7 layers) and with each layer the colour gets slightly darker. I believe in the factories its done by machines which are programmed. To this day i havent met anyone who can blend a colour into the existing paintwork perfectly. It requires great skill and the attitude most resprayers have is "that will do" which isnt good enough really.

How much would it cost to get the whole car resprayed by VW? I heard its around £800......true?

[pulp58]

It cost me £500 for door to be resprayed and the wing. But the door had to have dent and scrape taken out and wing had dent in. The wing was £200 and the door was £300.  If I hadnt paid for it out of my own pocket I reckon it would have been £800 odd if insurance company paid.

the break down for the bill was £40 for paint, £25 for a new door strip and the rest was labour!

If they did the whole car, im guessing you would get economies of scale with paint and labour etc, so

Ive given the car back to them today, so will report how they get on. gazbutmk5gti , you are right, there are about 3-5 shades of each paint. They got my bumper right when they repaired it................hopefully they will mix it right this time. 

[T88OMM]

That was terrible luck pal, I'm hoping everything will be fine, the bodyshop has a very good reputation so fingers crossed.

Which bodyshop did you end up going with Gaz?

[gazbutmk5gti]

A local place to me recommended by a few people, Rolds motorbodies in Farnworth, though they can't fit me in till the 17th.