Question for those who know about painting polyurethane parts
 

I just got my car back with my new GT3 bumper, skirts for Precision Porsche. In bright sunlight is looks like a decent color match, but I did have my reservations about the color when I visted the body shop earlier in the week.

Now that the parts are actually on the car, I am certain that the colors are different. I have a 2000 Boxster in Silver. As some of you know, there are basically 3 variations of silver:

-Artic Silver Metalic
-Meridien Metalic
-Polar Silver

I kindly pointed out the color difference before I took the car back. The guy at the shop explained that the color is a result of my bumper/skirt being polyurethane and also having fresh paint on, so it looks a different color, as a result. "That's the problem when you have metallic paint on polyurethane. Also, your original paint is 10 years old, so that is why it seems darker", they said. The also said that the bumper is more angled to reflect light differently

Is this true ? That they can't color match properly because it's painted polyurethane and not painted metal ? I just don't buy it. I asked how they color matched it. They said they grabbed the color code/formula for my specific color from porsche. They also said my results would be better if I paid them to blend the paint to the rest of the adjecent parts.

I'm going to go back this week and take off the gas cover to show them that the colors are different, even at the same angles.

But if someone can shed some light on 'not being able to color match b/c it's polyurethane' explanation, that would be great.

Any quality bodyshop should be able to match the color 100%. I had mine done and there is no difference in color.

I would take it up with the bodyshop. I can assure you they didn't use the right paints only something "similar" to Porsche.

Bumpers never match the car 100% because of the difference in materials. Look at any brand new car in direct sunlight, the bumpers won't match. Some more noticeable than others but I assure you there will be a slight color difference.

Some body shops will take the color code and mix that up, spray a sample, compare it with the car, and add whatever is needed to get the correct usually sun faded color. However, it's obvious that they don't do that.

Hmmm...I know nothing about painting, but couldn't they have painted one coat and then paint another coat over it, so the original bumper color wouldn't affect the true color of the paint ?

My problem is that the paint is actually lighter than my body. So if they were painting on a black bumper, wouldn't it cause the paint to be a little darker ?

I painted my own polyurethane bumper (GT3 from Precision Porsche) along with a few fiberglass pieces (rear spoilers & under tray) as well as the bumperettes. I used Glasurit 2-stage paint. Guess what? It all matches just like factory.
If your paint refinisher can't match it, he's not the guy to go to in the first place.

My AS car
 

Has had its bumper painted and the match is perfect. It was about 7.5 years old when it was painted.

And Eric painted some bumperettes for me and shipped them to me and he never saw the car. Again a perfect match.

So if you look at the rear of my car you are seeing three generations of paintings coming from 3 different sources and I guarantee in any light you can't tell any difference.

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Rareair, I see that your car is dark blue. Is it metallic in color ? I went back today and they did agree that the color on my original paint looks more 'yellow' than what they color matched. It's most prominent right where the bumper and fenders meet, so they are going to do some blending.

The GT3 skirts don't look so bad...but I just can't get over the front bumper. It looks really silver, not arctic silver. They were telling me that metallic paints are tricky because the color will change slightly in certain angles, which I can see.

Here's a pic. In bright sunlight it looks fine. It's just during overcast or cloudy days where I really notice a difference.

I just don't know enough about the trade to understand what they are explaining to me. They mentioned that they used the best paint out there. It was BASF stuff, but I wasn't sure what kind.

All I know is that it doesn't match 100% and I'm not 100% happy.

Silver does show slight differences very quickly in different lighting. Bumpers do tend to show up worse as they reflect the light at a greater variety of angles than other body panels. I've had four different shops paint body kits etc in the last six years and only one really matched well on the first attempt. Ask them to improve it, but I always pay a little more for blending up front.

My car is Artic Silver, not Blue :confused: Which formula did your painter use? There are 2 paint formulas for Artic Silver. 92T & 92U. If you look under the hood of your car, the color code can be found on a White decal sheet along with the M-codes