If you are having some painting touch-ups carried out on your car, or having a small rock chip repaired, the last thing you want is to have paint that doesn’t match your car’s overall paint job. That is why using a professional who knows how to get the right color match is so important, says Aaron Baird, who owns West Coast Recon, a mobile automotive reconditioning company based in southern California.
Every car has a color code that corresponds to the color of your car somewhere on the car. Usually it is somewhere either under the hood or in the driver’s door area, in the door seal, on the door, or somewhere around that area.
That color code corresponds with a mixture ratio, which I can look up on my iPhone to learn exactly what it is. Once I find out the particulars, I then have a sensitive weight scale on my truck that I use to mix that color.
I would say that 99% of the time I do not have a problem with color matching. The only time I do have a problem with color matching is usually when a car has been repainted a different color to what it was originally. In that case, I basically match the color by eye, which is more expensive for me to do. It is much more difficult, and therefore, I charge more because of that.
75 Different Toners
I carry around a set of paints, about 75 different toners, and I can mix basically any automotive color in the world with that set of toners. The paint company that I use is a worldwide company, PPG.
So when people call me they sometimes ask about color matching. They ask about how I can match the color correctly so that their vehicle looks good and so that there is no difference between the paint already on the car and the new paint I put on. In fact, that is often one of the first questions people ask.
I explain to them that every car has a color code. I know where it is, and I can match it perfectly every single time. We do lots of touch-ups on cars, and if the area is small enough, we can do an airbrush chip repair. This is often a low-cost alternative to repainting your vehicle and may be the best solution.
With West Coast Recon, you can rest assured that we will match the color perfectly and then airbrush the chips with paint and clear coat, saving you even more time and money.
