Body shop panel repainted - questions

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ch35iM

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Just got my car back from the body shop after the left rear door was repainted because someone keyed it. I chose not to go through insurance and the shop told me they could get 99% match with the bmw alpine white without needing to blend into the adjacent panels which saved me $1000.

In most light it is 99% matched but in full sun the new paint is ever so slightly darker than the front door and quarter panel (I would say 95%). When I pointed this out to the shop the guy said don't worry, once the paint fully cures and sits in the sun after 90 days (excuse the percentages again..) it will be 98%, and once you, after 90 days wait, clean polish and seal the paint with the same products on all panels it will be lightened up/matched to 99%.

Is any of this true? Will the paint eventually match better or will the door always be slightly off?
 
Depends on the light, but it will never be OEM. BTW what year is your BMW?
 
Have him put it in writing so in 100+ days if it isn't perfect you can go back and they will repaint it.
 
It won't change any time soon. And as that fades, so will the other paint. Panel painting is very tough to match with all the tints/shades. Even test panels do not guarantee a match. Laying it down is another whole problem when matching.
 
My hood was repainted and in certain lighting has an amber hue to it, but most days its not noticeable.

I would play with products, like CQUK to darken, cq regular to make it glossier on different panels and see how that works.
 
My body guy said its the CC that is the difference.
 
That's all a bunch of BS... If it doesn't match today it never will. I'm an old paint guy and if I had to repair a door for example, I'd paint the entire side of the car on problem matches. As for blending into adjacent panels, that is one of the worst options in my opinion - now instead of one screwed up panel you have three.
 
Rsurfer said:
Depends on the light, but it will never be OEM. BTW what year is your BMW?
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2013 X3

JeffM said:
My hood was repainted and in certain lighting has an amber hue to it, but most days its not noticeable.

I would play with products, like CQUK to darken, cq regular to make it glossier on different panels and see how that works.
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Not familiar with these products what are they?

JeffM said:
My body guy said its the CC that is the difference.
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What is CC?

Coopers ST said:
Have him put it in writing so in 100+ days if it isn't perfect you can go back and they will repaint it.
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Sounds like it ain't gonna be perfect in 100 days...
 
My friend works at the BMW plant that's 30 miles from my house. BMW plant uses high quality urethane that has very little solvent and is usually hard in matter of hours. Meaning it's cure? As the color remains the same. Even in cold weather they have some system there. I've asked this question many times with him to find out about the hardness of paint with BMWs.I'm no expert and he sees a lot even though the plant is like Fort Knox so I hope this might be helpful.
 
Kenny94 said:
My friend works at the BMW plant that's 30 miles from my house. BMW plant uses high quality urethane that has very little solvent and is usually hard in matter of hours. Meaning it's cure? As the color remains the same. Even in cold weather they have some system there. I've asked this question many times with him to find out about the hardness of paint with BMWs.I'm no expert and he sees a lot even though the plant is like Fort Knox so I hope this might be helpful.
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What are you saying, so the color of the new paint will or will not change as it cures?
 
As a painter I can say the exact thing another user told you already.
As the time passes the shade will change BUT not only on that door, it will change on all body panels.
As for the 90 days, this is true more or less, clearcoat (CC) needs minimum 45-60 days to fully cure down in depth but this is if your not using a paint booth which will cure the clearcoat in 30 to 60 minutes. As a BMW agreed plant they 100% have a paint booth so that's crap with the 90 days. Maybe in 90 days the CC will get minor scratches and will fade the shade difference and you will not see it. Blending adiacent panels is done for this.
As for the prices, WOW you had to pay 1000 USD more to paint adiacent panels ? 1000 USD for 2 panels. Got to say I'm jealous not working there :)
White is the most hardest to match color, it has so many shades that you really need a great "eye" to get it right and even so painting technique plays a great role.
My opinion, wait for the 90 days to pass and decide if you go back or not.
Its hard if not impossible to get perfection when you paint only 1 panel.
 
raulddan said:
As a painter I can say the exact thing another user told you already.
As the time passes the shade will change BUT not only on that door, it will change on all body panels.
As for the 90 days, this is true more or less, clearcoat (CC) needs minimum 45-60 days to fully cure down in depth but this is if your not using a paint booth which will cure the clearcoat in 30 to 60 minutes. As a BMW agreed plant they 100% have a paint booth so that's crap with the 90 days. Maybe in 90 days the CC will get minor scratches and will fade the shade difference and you will not see it. Blending adiacent panels is done for this.
As for the prices, WOW you had to pay 1000 USD more to paint adiacent panels ? 1000 USD for 2 panels. Got to say I'm jealous not working there :)
White is the most hardest to match color, it has so many shades that you really need a great "eye" to get it right and even so painting technique plays a great role.
My opinion, wait for the 90 days to pass and decide if you go back or not.
Its hard if not impossible to get perfection when you paint only 1 panel.
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Yes $1000 difference, I paid ~500 for the non blend job which is 95% there, to me I couldn't justify $1500 for a 12 inch long key scratch. I asked some of my colleagues from work/friends that did not know which panel was damaged to tell me which panel was repainted and not one was able to guess correctly, so that's reassuring.
 
My paint shop would paint that for considerly less $$. But be that as it is, the trick is to blend the clear into adjacent panels. The basecoat (colour is pretty constant in terms of colour). So blending clear into adjacent panels is not that labour intensive (hit it with 1200 grit and spray away). Now you have protection against fading issues and the blend will be hard to detect. I agree that white is the hardest to blend, but it is the clear that makes the difference.
 
raulddan said:
As for the 90 days, this is true more or less, clearcoat (CC) needs minimum 45-60 days to fully cure down in depth but this is if your not using a paint booth which will cure the clearcoat in 30 to 60 minutes. As a BMW agreed plant they 100% have a paint booth so that's crap with the 90 days.




If you only could provide something in writing from a credible source and put this 90 day cure time (out gassing) to bed once and for all.
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Any reputable shop should have a color matching reader gun that they point to an undamaged panel & pull the trigger. It kicks out a code & that code is plugged into a computer that converts it to a formula. I had bought a red Firehawk Iroc spoiler to put on my blue WS6 Trans Am. The color was matched perfectly to where people have asked me if that spoiler is stock.
 
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