Should you be able to see an auto body shops color blend?

[Dorian]

Hi All,

So I have a general question about auto body repair that I am hoping some experts on here can help with. I have a 2000 Lexus ES300 that is Pearl White. Over Thanksgiving I had a slight run in with a deer. The hood was slightly dented on one side (small enough to just have repaired).

After I got the car back at the end of Dec. I noticed that whenever there is bright light shinning on the hood you can see where it was blended.

The dent was in the front corner of the hood so you can see about half way across the hood where there is almost a "dust" like effect. I am assuming this is where the blend thins out and the pearl effect layer is causing the effect. I don't notice any color blend inconsistency - just the reflective part of the paint. Is this normal? Or a bad paint job?

[AutowerxDetailing]

They should have painted the whole hood... that's ridiculous. Best thing would be to have them repaint the entire hood correctly.

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[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Normally in a body repair shop if just one small area of the panel needs to be repainted it will indeed be painted and blended to match the rest of the panel. This is normal practice in most auto body repair facilities. This not only saves time but saves materials as well.

Being able to see exactly and point out where it was repaired and blended is something that I would bring back to the shops attention. Let them now that you are unhappy with the work and maybe work with them on having the entire hood repainted.

Hope this helps

[ken tuep]

The answer in always no, regardless of what they say.


Did they blend the clear as well? Or just basecoat?

Pearl colors can be a real pain to blend properly, even for veteran painters. The issue isn't the pearlcoat itself, but the base under it.

Do you have any pictures? Try to give us a better idea of what's going on.

It could be the "flop" is wrong, or the Pearl size isn't correct. The blend basecoat could have been sprayed improperly across the old paint instead of away. Or the clearcoat could have been melted halfway, which doesn't really make sense.

There are way too many factors that come into play when dealing with repairs. I'd recommend taking to a few reputable shops around you, and get their opinions. Its a pain, but you can hear the different explanations and probably come to a conclusion based off of the most popular answer.

Just my 2¢

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[jmfp]

They should have painted the whole hood, especially if its pearl white.

[Mike Phillips]

I'd agree with what everyone else already wrote and especially Ken.


Blending the clear is always going to leave a place where there's the old clear and the new clear and more and more polishing just removes more and more of the new clear.

The correct fix would have been to have discussed this with the body shop before the repair and had them paint the entire hood.

If this type if information is new to you, then this is called a learning experience. A good shop manager, owner or the painter should have explained your options and let you choose as long as they also made you aware that there would be extra cost to repaint the entire hood.


:)

[KB in MD]

how much more can can it cost to paint an entire hood vs a spot repair?

[Hoytman]

...A good shop manager, owner or the painter should have explained your options and let you choose as long as they also made you aware that there would be extra cost to repaint the entire hood.


:)

You don't know what you don't know and the above is an excellent piece of information to file in the back of your mind.

Not many people think of this, including me. I'd say anytime someone would need a repair and they run across a manager that will do as Mike suggested you may want to heavily consider letting this person do the work because right out of the gate you get a sense that they're honest people. That's always a plus.

Too many times have I been told how they would perform a repair, but they never gave me options to choose for myself.

Great comment, Mike!:dblthumb2: