[ivanlopezfranco]

Hello everyone!

Some parts of my car were recently painted in Mazda collision center, they have painted the front and rear bumpers, also the hood. But when looking at it, I can see a slight difference. I know the color has a code in Mazda agency, so there is no way it can be wrong (they say). Does anyone know if there was a slight color difference in between versions? or is it the Sun's UV factor changing my old paint color a little bit? or is it something that will get fixed when the polishing is done? (this is not all done yet, but when I came to verify the changes, found these things and told the agent to take a look at these).

I'm bit scared to receive the car in the way it is right now, and later regret because I know there is something not totally well done, hehehe.

Please let me know your thoughts and thanks in advance for your help

Ivan

 

[arathol]

Soul red is quite difficult to match like that. You can't just paint panels. What you paint has to be blended into the surrounding areas. Also, sometimes the plastic bumpers can seem a different shade than the steel panels with the same paint. If its wrong, tell Mazda it does not match and do it again. Most likely they are already aware of this, but as this color is very expensive somebody is hoping you won't notice or won't care.

 

[EadzaM]

The bottom line is: it's a very difficult color to match exactly. Also, painting on plastic vs metal exacerbates the issue. I had/have this same issue with a body shop that I trusted. When I first received the car, it was WAY off. I took it back and they improved it but I can still see the difference in very bright sun light. It blends better in dark lighting. The depth and richness of the red just isn't the same as the rest of the car. I still look at the bumpers almost every time I walk up to and away from my car. Eventually, I'll stop. A lot of people I point it out to can't tell a difference though. But I'm pretty OCD.

If you look at stock factory soul red paint on other cars (I've done this a lot), you'd notice that the bumpers are actually a little darker than the rest of the body. I guess it blends in better that way. Mine and yours look lighter.

I'm actually kind of glad to see that even a Mazda factory paint shop couldn't get it right. But looking at your pictures, it looks much better than mine. I'll dig up before and after pics later if you're interested.

 

[Chimphappyhour]

There will also be some fading due to sunlight. That paint code was for when your car was new. This is also the same problem people run into when they decide to debadge their cars after a couple of years.

 

[Ivant]

It looks perfect to me. These days they do a very good job of color matching. Well the computer does. Back in the 70s and 80s they did a terrible job of it, not even close. The paint jobs were crap as well. Pastels and matts, bloody horrible.

 

[Vette2Mazda]

In my opinion, even the best attempts by body shops will never exactly match today's high tech factory paint applications. And as the technology grows, soon body shops will have to paint the whole car for a minor fender bender.