Want a Visually Appealing and In Style Paint Job (Part 1)?
Discover How to Select the Best Car Paint Color from the Countless Auto Paint Colors Available Plus How to Achieve an Exact Match of Old Auto Paint Colors using Auto Paint Codes.
Choosing the right car paint color for your project is a key stage overall. Depending on the age of your vehicle and the size of the area to be covered this stage will vary in importance with much more thought needed on older vehicles requiring complete color changes.
Regardless of what it is that you’re going to paint or how you decide between the countless auto paint colors, our advice to ensure you are satisfied with your car paint color selection is to examine your anticipated color under as many different lighting conditions as possible both indoors and outdoors.
The process of choosing between auto paint colors can be confusing as well as frustrating due to the countless auto paint colors to choose from. Be patient and take your time.
Look at various automotive industry magazines to gain your ideas and inspiration from other car enthusiasts. Such magazines can be a great source of ideas for paint schemes and colors.
Visit car shows and ask car owners what made them choose their particular car paint color scheme.
These people may lead you to some invaluable suppliers and products. They can also help you to identify possible mistakes and help you to avoid making them too.
Not all auto paint colors work with all auto body styles.
One thing you need to take into consideration when you are trying to choose a car paint color is whether or not the color works with your particular auto body style.
Often, especially on older classics and vintage vehicles, certain color schemes prove more visually appealing compared with others.
Experienced car painters have a knack for envisioning the outcome of cars painted using specific colors.
From their own experience gathered from being immersed within the industry over many years, they know which colors look the best and are in style for most types of vehicles.
So a good idea would be to start by asking them for their opinion. Even try taking your vehicle along with you to help them come up with some ideas.
True auto enthusiasts can be found in a variety of places, especially car clubs for your particular make and model of vehicle.
Members have an interest in your particular vehicle or they wouldn’t join. If you have an older project car that you can’t decide on a color for; ask car club members for their advice.
By speaking with these people, it should help you to at least narrow your color choices to a select few.
Always bear in mind that if there is any chance you will be selling your vehicle at a future date, you will need to choose a color that will still make it saleable.
Matching the Old Car Paint Color
Finding the correct color for blending in repaint areas is very simple on newer vehicles.
Auto paint codes are found by looking at the vehicle’s ID tag. This information can be found for you by an auto paint supply store member of staff who will examine its VIN or its paint and options tag.
You need to be cautious however when dealing with auto paint codes printed on VIN or color and options tags; sometimes the auto paint codes don’t match the color that was sprayed on the vehicle at the factory. Only a small percentage of these errors occur, but play it safe.
Tell the person who is looking up the color for your vehicle what the basic color of your vehicle actually is. This way if you hand over the wrong auto paint codes, you won’t be wasting your money or the suppliers paint on something that you can’t use.
If you run into this predicament, choose your car paint color from various paint selection charts. Most auto paint suppliers will have volumes of paint chips that are organized by year and manufacturer of the vehicle.
Make sure you understand that similar auto paint colors from different years and/or manufacturers can be very close to each other but different.
Before you select a car paint color, view it in sunlight, not just the stores artificial lighting. Even better is to ask the person in the paint store to help you confirm that the actual color you are looking at is an exact match for your vehicle. This process has gotten much harder with the introduction of more auto paint colors.
Even exact auto paint codes can produce different colors.
Certain auto paint codes may have as many as 10 variant codes while some may not have any, this is because of the process employed in the factory (you don’t need to know the finite details.)
For auto paint codes which have variations, the person who is mixing the paint will always supply the prime formula if the paint is to be used for a complete paint job.
If the paint is going to be used for repairs only then you will have to take color chips of each variant and compare them to the vehicle being repaired to find the exact match.
After you have determined that the vehicle you are painting is actually the prime color, or a variant of, you would be wise to make a note of it for future reference, should you need to purchase additional paint for that vehicle at some other time.
Your auto paint supplier will give you all the help you will need in order to find the exact match of the old paint on your vehicle.
I hope you liked this blog. See you in Part two! Talk soon!
-Tony
P.S. If you want to learn more, about auto body and get all the information you need so you can customize your projects, learn how to restore your classic or put a body kit on your car, check out VIP here: LearnAutoBodyAndPaint VIP Course.
Other Helpful Links:
HVLP Spray Guns – The Things To Consider When Purchasing A Spray Paint Gun
Plasti Dip Car Painting – How To Plasti Dip Your Car – Part 1
How To Paint With Pearls & Flakes – What is Pearl Paint? Painting Your Car With Pearl Paint!