Color Matching

When Layton Carcare’s Estimators and Painters look at a vehicle, they do so with a thorough understanding of the color and painting process. They have Training and years of experience! Training by Sherwin Williams, the world’s largest Paint Manufacturer, and (I-Car) the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair.   

From small scratches to major bodywork, we know You would like the color to be an exact match.  On older cars, the colors might have faded or not be easy to find. So how is automotive paint matched? 

What do you know about automotive paint?

• Automotive paint is made of resin, pigment, and solvent.
• Resin determines the durability of your paint and the quality of the application 
• Solvent provides the right amount of viscosity, so the paint can be applied.
• Pigment comes in powder form and includes colors or toners that are mixed together to give the finish.
• Most vehicles are painted in a Base Coat / Clear coat paint system.  These paint systems are named for the 2 step process of base coating, which colors the car, and Clear coating which protects the basecoat both from the UV rays of the sun and contaminates, like tree sap.

Steps in getting the color mixed and matched:

1. We get the paint code for the original paint on your car from your car’s identification plate, called the VIN tag.  Typically in the driver’s side front door jamb.
2. We look the “formula” up in our “mixing system”.  This provides us with the number of toners need to produce the quantity of paint required for your repair needs.
3. We look for formula variations.  Yep, the same paint code has variations.  So at times, we have multiple formulas to choose from.  Variations in lightness, darkness, and hue. The painter makes multiple spray-outs, called “test panels”, and will tint the color until it matches……Matches well enough to “blend”.
4.  Blending.  After achieving full coverage over the repair, additional paint coats are sprayed outward, sometimes as much as 18 inches.  These additional coats create an opaque layer that helps prevent the human eye from picking up any slight color deviation. To get enough area to effect the blend we regularly “blend” into the adjacent panels.
   
   
5. Finally we clear-coat the repaired area and the blended area.  The clear coat is the shine and protection that the color needs to last for years to come.
6. Detailing:  Occasionally the new clear will look better than the clear coat on the rest of the car.  We often can polish the car and perfect the finish to bring back that showroom shine.

For Painting and Detailing Services contact Layton Carcare at (801)-593-9200.