evan9381 Posted July 15, 2018 Report Share Posted July 15, 2018 How does paint matching work? I sent my carbon bicycle frame to a guy in MN to do a small carbon repair after an incident a couple months ago. Many people on a fb group have used him, all super positive reviews. I asked him about repainting my whole bike a new scheme while he had it. I just gave him some color ideas and told him to surprise me. While I like what he did with it, there are a couple issues that need addressed, and I really don't want to deal with having the bike disassembled again, shipping, waiting, etc. He did one color that is a gunmetal color that he mixed up, so it's not something off the shelf. There is a small mark in the paint and due to the old paint there being white, it sticks out. There are also a few runs in the paint. A couple aren't super noticeable, but there is one that is very visible and I'm scratching my head wondering how it left his hands as it is. It might be able to be wet sanded out, but it's close to a decal that i'm not sure if it's stenciled and painted or vinyl and cleared over (I'm not a paint guy so idk how these things go...i'm also waiting to hear back from him). Just want to see what it might take to get these things fixed locally (and maybe a small bottle of touch up paint for future marks). https://imgur.com/a/0T0XqQr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdk 4219 Posted July 16, 2018 Report Share Posted July 16, 2018 Paint matches are never exactly the same color. Variances from different paint guns to spraying pressure to atmospheric conditions change the color and the way the metallic will lay down ( which will also alter the color). Painters rely on blending , essentially fading from the original color to the new color, to trick the eye. Metallic colors are especially hard to match. Your best bet may be to call the guy who painted it and ask if he has any extra paint, if he doesn’t maybe he used a certain color code and the paint people here can start with that code. If neither happens, you want to ask which manufacturer of paint he used, as most will vary with metallic size and color as well. The biggest hurdle I see for you on a bike is where to break the clearcoat without painting the whole frame. Blending clear in the middle of a panel always results in a visual blemish, painters always try to stop the clear at at the end of a panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted July 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 So basically one of those situations where the cure is worse than the disease? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdk 4219 Posted July 17, 2018 Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 The runs could be sanded and buffed, but there will always be a risk of breaking through the clear, which requires repaint. The wheel blemish will require the whole wheel to be painted, which requires either spoke disassembly or tedious taping and sanding around the spokes. The parts are so small that an airbrush would be required to blend the blemishes and that may be hard to match the metallics. Most painters will say disassemble and repaint, or leave as it is. The forks and wheel would be the easiest as the paint match doesn’t need to be perfect just close because it does not touch anything with the same color, and those parts are easily removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted July 17, 2018 Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 I hope you put this guy on blast...the repair is going to be more involved than the original paint job, methinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clifford Automotive Posted July 18, 2018 Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 A lot of truth here, but I disagree a little. I can match paint to 99% with tinting if necessary. But that's if its necessary. Most of the time we have variances that get us to where the color needs to be. Metal and plastic show paint different because of how they cure. As stated the way paint is sprayed, ambient temperature and panel temperature can all affect the way paint lays and cures. The amount of reducer can change it. There is a lot more that will change it too, but I could go on forever. Blending clear is one of the easiest things I do almost every other day. If done correctly there is no visible detection after the fact. You need to get ahold of Sevan, Wasco, or Ohio Auto Color. Probably in that order. They can do a prophet on the paint and get a match. A prophetic match uses a camera look at the paint from multiple angles, and comes up with a good match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted July 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 The wheel is fine. It's just how they look. That last pic is a bubble/run in the paint. As for putting the guy on blast, I doubt anyone here cares. There are already very few cyclists on this board already, and the number of people that would need repair or have a bike repainted is even smaller. Add in that he isn't local, it's not like he is an autobody guy doing this on the side and I need to warn people about him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdk 4219 Posted July 19, 2018 Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 A lot of truth here, but I disagree a little. I can match paint to 99% with tinting if necessary. But that's if its necessary. Most of the time we have variances that get us to where the color needs to be. Metal and plastic show paint different because of how they cure. As stated the way paint is sprayed, ambient temperature and panel temperature can all affect the way paint lays and cures. The amount of reducer can change it. There is a lot more that will change it too, but I could go on forever. Blending clear is one of the easiest things I do almost every other day. If done correctly there is no visible detection after the fact. You need to get ahold of Sevan, Wasco, or Ohio Auto Color. Probably in that order. They can do a prophet on the paint and get a match. A prophetic match uses a camera look at the paint from multiple angles, and comes up with a good match. Most of them bitch about paint matching an a panel smaller than 4x4” I certainly would like to see the reaction from a bike frame. I definitely agree that color match can be accomplished, but a it certainly requires a dedicated painter that knows what they are doing. A full paint mix station helps as well. Looks like Kevin can fix the blemishes on your bike, give him a call I didn’t think it was reasonable to fix. Let us know how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted July 19, 2018 Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 The wheel is fine. It's just how they look. That last pic is a bubble/run in the paint. As for putting the guy on blast, I doubt anyone here cares. There are already very few cyclists on this board already, and the number of people that would need repair or have a bike repainted is even smaller. Add in that he isn't local, it's not like he is an autobody guy doing this on the side and I need to warn people about him I meant putting him on blast on whatever cycling forum CDK 4219 was on when others referred this guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evan9381 Posted July 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 I meant putting him on blast on whatever cycling forum CDK 4219 was on when others referred this guy. Ah. Idk if I want to do that as I really didn't/can't give him a chance to correct it right now. I was on vacation when it got back to the shop here...if I was home, I could have stopped by to check it out and at that point, maybe shipped it back for corrections (even though I would've hated to wait even longer...this is my good bike). to send it back now, I'd have to have the shop disassemble the bike again, ship it, and reassemble it. The disassembly/reassembly alone is ~$225. If I sent it back before, it'd only cost me $60 or so in shipping. Now that the shop has put it back together, it'd be ~$300. also, this dude is basically THE guy to go to for this stuff. his fb page only has 5 star reviews. I think it's just something that slipped past him. I've seen other stuff he's done, and it all looks amazing. I don't think this is the norm or I would've heard about it before. I'll reconsider stuff this winter when I'm not riding as much. I don't want to deal with sending it back out again right now. Riding my winter bike when I want to go fast isn't fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted July 19, 2018 Report Share Posted July 19, 2018 Whoops...I meant you, Evan, not CDK. Too many letters and numbers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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