Deeohgie69

iTrader: (3)

Here's what's going on, I had to have a little paint work done due to a minor accident in my 01 t/a. They had to repaint the drivers fender and front bumper cover, which in turn they had to blend into the hood and drivers door.

The Blue-Green Chameleon paint they did is a shade or two darker, it's more bluish/green a little. But I think they can probably get that closer. The problem that I am having and they aren't seeing, is that I can tell where they blended the metal flake into my door and other areas. To me, the original paint almost looks as though the metallic was put down as a separate layer and then other layers on top of it. The new stuff to me looks as though it was mixed in with everything and sprayed on all at the same time (which turns out they did mix it together). The metal flake almost pops out at you more, it almost looks like it's bigger flakes I guess you'd say. It's definitely more predominate than the rest of the car and I notice it right away. It's almost like it's 3d and can see it in different layers, where as the rest of the oem paint looks like it's flat/laying down and the rest of the paint is on top of it.

So here's my problem, I am the only ones seeing this (maybe they just aren't wanting to admit it), and the shop I have it at is really reputable and have been talking to me daily. I believe that they will try to make it right, but only if the insurance company agrees that it doesn't look the same. So my question is this, does anyone know the paint process that gm used to paint these cars? Was the metallic put down in a separate layer, or was it all sprayed in together after everything is mixed in? I've researched this but I can't find any information on the paint process.

I wouldn't be as **** about it, but I just turned 20k on the car and I cannot except it the way it stands right now. So hopefully someone here can give me some information to help my case to the insurance company to give the go ahead for them to fix this.

Thanks, Dave.

HotWhipT/A

iTrader: (31)

The metallic is not separate. Its very hard if not almost impossible to match how the metallic flake lays down from the factory. I've noticed some paints seem to have bigger flakes than others too. The more paint layers you shoot, the darker the color will be...that's why they blend the panels.

Deeohgie69

iTrader: (3)

The paint color they blended into the door, blends in where you can't tell. But it doesn't match the headlight covers or the passenger side fender because I paid to have them paint the whole bumper due to a few rock chips I wanted filled in. That's going to be fixed though as far as the color not matching up correct on the shops part.

The main problem is the metallic flakes are definitely noticeable where they blended it in on my door. I can tell where it fades out into the factory paint and if you stand back you can tell that it looks like the new paint has a more predominate metallic look than the rest of the car. I don't know what leg I have to stand on as far as making them have the metal flake match. I can live with a slight color difference, as that is to be expected. But the metal flake is the first thing I saw from 10 feet away walking up to the car. They said it's the exact paint mix and that they think the metallic is the same. There has to be some difference in the way that it stands up in the paint as compared to how it did back then.

Is there a way to make the metal flake lay down flat when it's sprayed? this looks as though some of the flakes are on their sides (only way I know to put it) which could be the case I guess. Is there a way they can put a "finer" flake in it so it doesn't reflect as bad so it isn't as noticeable?

LT4vert

iTrader: (3)

Blue Green Chameleon is just a normal 2 stage base/clear paint. In that respect they were correct mixing it all together to make the base coat. There are finer and larger metallic flakes. Given that, it is possible the pigment they used had larger flakes than the factory paint used. Maybe they didnt use what the color code called for and used what they had on hand hoping you would not notice. Maybe they didnt feel it would be a big enough difference to matter. At any rate though, a small detail like that would drive me insane and would have to be corrected.

BLK95-Z

iTrader: (2)

There are so many variances to that color it is next to impossible to get perfect without wasting a couple tries and careful blending. Beautiful color but a pita to repair