Touch up spray match gone a bit Pete Tong

[Lewy]

Any one tell me what i've done wrong. Finally got round to touching up a door ding that had got a bit of rust in it. Wet and dry down to metal, primed it an then a few light coats of matched paint I had made up last year in Wigan, then top clear laquer. although I tried to blend it in, the repair is quite apparent and comes up as a darker patch. I can live with it and it looks better than the rusty patch but was wondering if anyone had any ideas to make it a bit better. Its metalic silver BTW can't remember the code though.

[motorwizard]

This happens because of the depth of paint and the way the metal flakes lie. The reflective pattern is different. On any car with a metallic finish it is difficult to match. It will look different under artificial light. Even paintshops can have problems because of the sprayers technique. Left or right handed painters can spray differently. So using a spray can is very difficult.

[Morag]

Also happened to me when I was spraying my flush fit foglight. The wrong paint code is on my Bongo. I've got Highlight silver not Silent Silver as the code suggests.

[vanvliet]

Also - The paint is probably about ten years old and , well, it fades a little in that time , especially in the sunnier parts of Japan. . If you match the new paint to a sample from the vehicle the paint supplier will normally factor in a degree of fade when mixing up the paint. It aint perfect but it gives a better match .The only other way is to paint a complete panel but then that might not match the others !
Best just to live with it .

[Lewy]

Then live with it I shall - can't really see any other way. Next touch up I might go for the brush method and keep it all small and a bit more contained.

[vanvliet]

- course , depending where it is on the door you could put a nice logo over it . These can be made up to your own design and are easy to apply .I have had a couple made up for my doors which I will fit when the weather is nicer and I can be bothered to wash the van!

[bigdaddycain]

Any one tell me what i've done wrong. Finally got round to touching up a door ding that had got a bit of rust in it. Wet and dry down to metal, primed it an then a few light coats of matched paint I had made up last year in Wigan, then top clear laquer. although I tried to blend it in, the repair is quite apparent and comes up as a darker patch. I can live with it and it looks better than the rusty patch but was wondering if anyone had any ideas to make it a bit better. Its metalic silver BTW can't remember the code though.

You have done nothing wrong,it's just the way things go sometimes when painting,as motorwizard quite rightly points out,different spraying techniques can actually show up quite alarmingly

It sounds like you were using "silver stone" colour?

This is very similar to the notoriously difficult "moondust silver" paint used by ford. It may sound extreme for the amount of touch up initially required,but the only way to have even half a hope of getting a decent even coverage is to branch out in distance from the damaged area,and "feather" the silver into the original silver,then re-lacquer the WHOLE door as one, to help blend in the base coat.