[konablue5oh]

I'm looking for some feedback from members that had a limited area repainted at a Ford dealer. Does the repainted area match the factory paint job pretty much perfectly or can you see a difference? If you could say what color your Mustang is when you comment, I would appreciate it. My Mustang is Kona Blue.
Thanks

Background:
I noticed 2 spots below my quarter window where there seem to be inclusions under the paint. Probably something was stuck to the chassis when they painted the car. My dealer says they will take the quarter window out and prep/repaint the area under warranty but he warned me that if you looked at it real close you may still see that a repair was made there since its very hard to match perfectly. So since the spots are not very obvious, he said to think about what the least of the evils is. Doesnt seem like he's trying to avoid doing the repair because he said they get paid pretty good by Ford to make such repairs.

 

[Checkmate]

I think they're just being honest with you. No matter how good the shop is that does the painting, it may not be an exact match 100% but close enough that you won't be able to tell under most conditions.

I had paint work done on a rear quarter panel and door (not at the dealer) and it was blended nearly perfectly. I was extremely happy with the job. The only problem was that the re-painted areas look better than the factory paint job!

 

[donbrasco31]

My brother used to work somewhere that did automotive paint. We were just talking about this the other day. The dealership is the best place to go as they can come the closest with the paint color. However, even at a dealership they will always remind you of the chance that the paint may not match the original 100%, and you may be dissapointed. Of course, it could also come out near perfect, but there is always chance involved.

 

[Ltngdrvr]

If the painter is good, knows his stuff, he should be able to make a match that is spot on. Might take some custom mixing and testing but if he's good then he can do it.

 

[86967]

there is no mixing, they use a standard paint code, I wouldn't do it, it will more than likely look worse than before, most of the dealer paint guys are not very good...

 

[2oo5GT]

+1, i've seen horrible paint jobs or fixes from dealerships. Being so small, it's very hard to make it unnoticable, but sometimes they can get super close. It's better to paint a larger area to help blend it in and not so noticable.

 

[duckbubbles]

Depends entirely on the skill of the painter. I had most of the front end of my Vapor Stang done about 3 years ago and cannot tell what was painted. Metallics are hard to match but my guys did a great job.

Frank

 

[AM18195]

If you are a perfectionist you will notice the panted area everytime you see it... drives me nuts. If it is not that bad I would leave it but if you must the only way you will not be able to tell imo is to have them paint the whole side

 

[Curr]

I'll report back in a few days and let you know. My dealer called me today and said that my car showed up, but that there was a small ding in the hood that they were going to have fixed before they deliver the car to me.

I'm torn on whether I want to see it before because if they don't fix it 100% I'll always look at that spot...

 

[Taskiss]

I had a silver Mustang rear quarter panel painted once, looked great when I picked it up, looked fine during the day, but under a street light at night it didn't even look at all like the same color.

 

[412horses]

I don't think you can automatically say all dealer bodyshops are bad or worse than non-dealer shops, some are quite impressive. I had to have a a minor touch up on my 2009 Torch (what would be Race today) Red Mustang and the color was dead-on perfect and I couldn't feel the blend.

However on a 2001 silver Accord a few years ago it was great at first but the blended area aged sort of funny and was really starting to go flat when I sold it to buy the 2009 Mustang (about 3 years since the touch up). On my '94 red metallic Accord (what can I say people love to drive into me for some reason) I t-boned someone who turned left in front of me from two lanes over to my right and by the time I was done hitting, spinning, and having glass shower down on the car about 70% of it needed painted. I was expecting a big hideous mess (the insurance refused a total repaint) but to my surprise it matched flawlessly. I'd say Kona will be a b**** to match but it just depends on how good the shop is.

How bad are the defects, picture? As aggravating as it is, if they are just small body imperfections but have a smooth, unbroken coat of paint over them I might be inclined to leave it alone.

 

[pdmustgt]

Any true painter will tell you they can come very close but never complete match. Factroy uses system to keep over spray down grounding the body and positive charged paint. One of the biggest reason why they can't make metallic paint match. The way factroy paints the car all metal in the paint stand on end where dealership and body repair places it lays down.

 

[Siber Express]

there is no mixing, they use a standard paint code, I wouldn't do it, it will more than likely look worse than before, most of the dealer paint guys are not very good...

Yes they use a standard paint code, but the painter can and normally does make adjustments to it to get the closest match possible. A lot also depends on the brand of paint their supplier uses also for and how many different plants that Ford was using that paint code at.
If the L6 Kona is like my L2 True Blue we got the cast and color about perfect on my F150 with a couple of adjustments :bigthumbsup

 

[Sleeper5.0]

IDK?? I have to have my pass door repainted.. Some little punk kid shot it with a BB gun as I drove by a few weeks back..It's going in this next week:mesad:.. If I didn't have to have it done I wouldn't do it.. They are repainting the whole side from what I gather.. Even my body dude is worried about how it will turn out... It's brand new factory paint...

 

[Curr]

Well I saw my "ding" this morning and it's much better than I feared. It looks like the metal was dinged before it was painted, and it's a tiny, tiny blemish that is hardly noticeable unless you go over every inch of the car, you'd still be hard pressed to find it.

If they can knock it out, without breaking the paint I'm going to tell them to try, but if they are going to break the paint I'm just going to say **** it. 99/100 people would never even see it. Thank goodness!

 

[konablue5oh]

Thanks for the feedback everybody. Next time I go in I'll have a chat with the guys at my dealer's body shop. I dont expect them to do any custom mixing though.

 

[Siber Express]

It is not so much custom mixing, since all paint is custom mixed. Any quality shop will make the paint match, plus it is easier to blend in if it matched.

 

[BLK 5.0]

Since the car is new they will most likely use the paint as is staight from Ford. The issue for matching is not the paint color, but getting the metal flakes to lay down just like the surrounding paint. This is what makes metal flake paint the most difficult to match. As already mentioned I would talk to the actual painters that would be doing the work to get the feel of their skill level.

It's possible to get an extremely close match, just not probable from the dealer.