Colour match issue

[private number]

As some of you may know. got the Lip kit fitted. However, wasnt properly colour matched. The dudes told me over the phone it wasnt properly colour matched. So i told them it should have been and you said it was suppose to be done today and i need my car over the weekend. They said its fine. So told me to ring the boss this week and talk to him about it.

The thing is, they colour matched it from one of the fenders. And for some reason, my rear bumper is a different white (different shade) to the rest of the car. Same with the front bumper, but the rear is more noticeable. They told me to call the boss tomorrow and discuss it. I said did i have to pay extra for it to be fixed, and he said "dont think so". However they said the difference in colour may be due to different materials used. Even though he colour matched it to the fender, looking at it..it may not have matched since the lip is just a shade brighter than the trunk. So actually, there are 3 different shades of white on my car. However, the white lip looks more colour matched to the fender (though not perfect) to the bumper. It just sticks out more because you got the bumper seperating the fender and the lip.

In pictures its fine, and in person the only mis-colouring you could probably see is the bumpers but cause its my car, like everyone..we see the imperfections even if nobody else does. haha

Any advice you could give me before i call tomorrow?

Edited September 19, 2010 by private number

[DJKOR]

If they colour matched it to the fenders, then I can easily imagine your lip being a different colour to your bumper. Most of the recent Toyota's I've looked at (haven't payed much attention to other cars) have the plastic bumpers a slightly different shade to the rest of the painted metal body of the car.

They should have colour matched it to the bumpers if that's the case, so they should definitely fix their mistake.

Edit: You can see what I mean about the colour difference on my TRD and my last Sportivo:

[private number]

Oh yeah i see that clearly now. Thought it was only my car with that slight colouration in my bumpers. Never actually really paid much attention to that detail. Why did toyota have that slight mis-colouration between the metal body parts and the bumpers though? Cost cutting?

Thanks for that DJ. Ill bring that up in the phonecall tomorrow. Ive heard that when they colour match cars, they sometimes flare the paint to the part they colour matched it so the differences in colours are not noticable to the naked eye. Obviously, it wont be perfect due to the exposure the paint has had on the elements etc etc, hence why they flare it.

Edited September 19, 2010 by private number

[pezzie]

Hey private,

i've been painting things lately and noticed as well that on my zre the paint on the frame and bumpers are different. Your painter should have known that, when i was getting my spray can mixed the mixer dude asked me what i was using it for because the colour can come out different depending on what you spray it on, and pointed the difference in colour on my car. So i guess thats just inexperience by the guy painting your your kit? So get them to fix it for free :D

[private number]

Thanks pezzie. Will do. After i asked if it would cost me anything to fix it he said "dont think so. Better call the boss on monday".

Removing the lip kit off the bumper to get resprayed again would be a very big hassle and the final product will not be as good as it was originally. The kit is held on by various screws and industrial strength double sided sticky tape to keep it extra secure. Would it be possible to paint the bumpers the same colour as the kit since they are both in a way a form of plastic? Because the kit is closer to the actual metal body colour, then the bumper was when it came out of factory.

[private number]

Heres a cropped image of it. Taken by an iphone 4 on a cloudy day. How much more obviously would it be if it was taken by an SLR on a sunny day? haha. The front is similar to this aswell. However, sideskirts are just slightly off, but only to me.

[pezzie]

oh damn, thats a completely different white. The side skirts should be a match seeing as it should be matched to the body of the car rather than the bumpers. Im guessing everythings been clear coated so some issues which may arise is that the guys will want you to sand it down to apply another coat of paint. make them do that for free as well i reckon

[private number]

Thanks pezzie!

I called them up just then. Theyre charging me 500 to repaint both bumpers so its colour matched to the bumpers. And a cheaper rate to respray the lip kit so its colour matched to the off white bumpers. I wanted to respray the bumpers because the kit is actually closer matched to the fenders than it to the bumpers that came out of factory. The 500 they are charging me is at a discounted rate too.

I told them the painter should have known that its a different colour since its how it came out of factory. And he said the bumpers was resprayed previously because he found damage? Damge being some paint which cracked because i reversed into a highlux. I then said why didnt the painter colour match it to the bumpers? and he said then we would have made two different pots of paint. I said you should have because you told me everything would be colour matched.

As for the other worker telling me it was their mistake and it shouldnt cost me a thing? the dude said "that guy doesnt know anything"

Anyway, im not happy at all. Any further advice?

I dont mind paying a small amount to get the bumpers colour matched to the lip kit since i have some paint damage which i wanted to remove anyway but at a later date. But not that 500.

Edited September 20, 2010 by private number

[johnnieboi]

So you spoke to the 'boss'? You would think that if you brought it to shop to be painted they would paint it as close as possible to the original body color. Nah thats just f$rked. Any shop painting something like a kit should be as close to if not almost perfect match to the rest of your body. Did you give him the paint code/color? Or did you just tell him to paint it so it matches? Cause that could be it, i dunno. Sounds like your gonna be doing something twice at your loss.

Hope something works out for ya

[private number]

I told him the paint colour, 061 white and to colour match it to the body. But they colour matched it to the fender. The sideskirts is on point with the doors, however the rear bumper is completely off as like dj said, for some reason the toyota bumpers come out a different colour to the rest of the body. Called him back today because i needed the reciept faxed for the previous job through which i got. However i brought up the issue and he said if i get both bumpers resprayed it will cost me 500. I asked if i can respray it seperately at seperate times for 250. And he said it will be more expensive. He quoted me 300 before on a previous day to get one bumper resprayed, now he quoted me 400 today for the same job. I guess to try show that he was being "nice" about their mistake and giving me a discount on the new job.

annoying as f(*&^%$%^&*()k. and im not keen on paying 500 for something THEY should of done right. What do you reckon i should do from here? Is there a higher authority i could go to or something?

Edited September 21, 2010 by private number