Paint Mismatch From Toyota Spraycan

[Solunauk]

I've just mended a dent in my 1998 Avensis CDX. I went to my local dealer to get a spray can and they looked up my reg. no. and said I needed Lucerne Silver (code on the can is 199). Now I've sprayed it and taken the masking off, there is a very noticeable difference between the original colour (a fairly light metallic silver) and the bit I sprayed.

I used light grey primer and 3 top coats plus laquer and got a pretty even finish but it looks a much darker silver than the original - no way is it going to blend in!!

Does anyone know if this is a common problem? Could they even have given me the wrong colour? The car looks just bog standard sliver, the most common colour like you get on loads of those old Avensis.

I don't have the service book so that doesn't give any clues.

Cheers

Chris

[Black Knight]

They can normally take a little while to fade back or if the primer colour was different to the original could make a difference

[Bosnjo]

Does anyone know if this is a common problem? Could they even have given me the wrong colour? The car looks just bog standard sliver, the most common colour like you get on loads of those old Avensis.

I don't have the service book so that doesn't give any clues.

Cheers

Chris

When I bought mine (2005) I looked at the colour code (Silver) and it said 1C0. Went to the dealer and got 1C0 touch-paint so I could cover those little holes made by stones. When hapened the first one I've cleaned it out and gave just a touch (touch-paint, is't it?). It was so different that I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it needed some time. One year later it was stil much lighter than the rest. In all my previous cars (mostly VW) I would go to the 3M shop as they make car paints by code you give them. Never had any problems and the most of my cars were silver (light grey metalic). So, I gave the code 1C0 at 3M shop and they made me 0,25L bottle. I gave the touch on the spot that I've ruined with Toyota 1C0 touch-paint, and booom... got it perfect. Thrown Toyota Touch-paint to the garbage straight on...

By the way, there is a little plate with engine and paint code. Just look for it. In new Avensis it's on the pillar between driver's door and door behind. Maybe it's on the same place on yours.

[purvesh81]

Where can these 3M shops be found?

[Solunauk]

Thanks Bosnjo. I see you're in Portugal, so the 3M shop is a bit of a trek :) - pretty sure we don't have them here. We do have a shop called Halfords and they do a Toyota Lucerne Silver, so I might try that.

I looked for the plate you mentioned. There is a plastic sticker on the front left hand door pillar and that has C/TR 199 LB13. I guess that the 199 is the colour code, which matches the code on the spray can. Shame the colour doesn't match!

[Bosnjo]

Thanks Bosnjo. I see you're in Portugal, so the 3M shop is a bit of a trek :) - pretty sure we don't have them here. We do have a shop called Halfords and they do a Toyota Lucerne Silver, so I might try that.

I looked for the plate you mentioned. There is a plastic sticker on the front left hand door pillar and that has C/TR 199 LB13. I guess that the 199 is the colour code, which matches the code on the spray can. Shame the colour doesn't match!

I just don't believe Toyota paint anymore. It doesn't have to be 3M shop. As long as it's shop that does computerised mixture of paints matching code you give them, you should go for it. But, just a little advice: Before you use it give just a little touch somewhere over original paint, on the place that's hidden, like by spare tyre or under the hood, bellow some carpet etc. Let it dry and see if it's ok.

[uumode]

Paints can differ from batch to batch, and can age in the shop. Also the paint on your car can change colour a bit when exposed to the sun (depending on how old the car is).

The colour of the paint can also differ in the application of the paint (from my model making days making prototypes for product design) The pressure of the jet, size of the paint particles from the nozzle, and how dry they are - how far they travelled before they hit the surface. Holding the gun up close and having the gun further away produces a very slight variance in colour, as does the application thickness and substrate layer, and thickness of the top gloss coat, and application by paint brush is different yet again.

Also the factory oven bake drying process may produce a different depth of colour (very slight) to an air dried one from a can.

[Solunauk]

I bought a can of Lucerne Silver from Halfords and I'm waiting for some dry weather to try it out. Thanks for all your responses.

[Steve84]

Silver can be a pig of a colour to match. I had a rover 216 in silver some one hit it in a carpark. Had the tail gate replaced and rear bumper, there was a slight shade difference. Then a few weeks down the line someone keyed the whold passenger side front wing to rear wing. Had that sprayed and this was again a slightly different shade to the rear end work and the original paint finish. All work done by a approved rover body shop. I also know a bloke who had a bmw 3series and some one hit that up the rear end that work was carried out by bmw and the colour was way off looked light silver at the front get to the back it was almost a pale grey colour. He was told it was summat to do with the pigments in the paint.

[Solunauk]

Okay, got the job done. The Halfords can isn't perfect but it's a lot nearer the original colour than the Toyota spraycan. The clear lacquer I put on top (supplied by Toyota) seems to change the colour again, though, making it slightly lighter. Not a bad end result, though I found it impossible to get a proper shiny finish without the lacquer running. I guess it's a case of spit and polish.