Expert: William Forster - 10/9/2006

Question
Hello Bill, Please help... I have '62 Corvette that has just been sprayed in OEM 920 fawn biege, PPG#22005  and clear,lacquer. There were some mistakes that required a touch up re-spray. Even from the same paint, the color does not match and it will require re-spraying. The touch-up areas are darker in color. This paint is metallic and contains some pearlescent content according to the formula. It appears that a heavy or wet spray produces a darker color, whereas a lighter spray, with the gun further away allows the metallic content to stay closer to the surface and produce a lighter color, with more "silver" metallic color. What would be the best way to blend the color for the closest match?  Assuming I can get the color right, I guess it would be right to melt some clear over top extending beyond my color coat, for water rubbing and buffing?  Any help is very much appreciated..Thank you.

Answer
Hello! Everything you are telling me makes perfect sense. The difficult thing to do here, is duplicate the EXACT spray conditions that existed when the car was first sprayed, including humidity, reducer temp range, and heat range. High metallics are prone to change with air pressure, and also percentage of thinning. Was the laquer color a BASE COAT formula, or straight laquer? Straight laquer will make matching more problematic. Try color blending panels, and clear coating entire panels. You WILL need to use bonding clear before you start spraying.   Basically, you don't color the complete panel. You arc the gun out and away about halfway down a panel, and progress a little past the first pass with each coat. Only color the panel to hide. Now, the blend will be pretty corn cobby, I mean dry, but that is okay. Apply your first couple of coats of clear sparingly, so you don't mottle the metallic in the base color. This will darken the color unintentionally. Now, apply a total of 6 coats of clear, over the entire panel. Do not partial panel clear. Try this technique on 1 panel, and see if it cures the mis-match. Another thing you can try, is a match panel. Apply color to a clean piece of sheet metal, (about 10x10), then clear, with the exact number of coats of color and clear you intend to put on the car. Now, check the match. If its dark, mix a whole gunful of color, then let it sit on the paint bench for 30 minutes. Pour off the top half of the color, use what is left in the cup to make a new match panel, and see if it's closer. If it's light, use what you poured off to make a new panel. This is about all I can tell you, other than next time, use modern base coat clear coat paint. Laquer just don't compare for repairability, durability, or longevity. Its pretty stuff, however. Bill