Repaired a dent and refinished the quarter panel and rear bumper on my 05 Crossfire(759 Graphite Metallic) last night and used PPG DBC. The job turned out better than I expected for a novice, with the exception of the color match, it was horrible. The color had three formulas to choose from and I picked the one that I thought best matched my vehicle from paint chips I was given. I ran across this same problem with my Taurus which had 5 formulas. I asked the guy if they had a spectrometer and was advised that they do, however they really don't bother using it as it is wrong about 90% of the time. I don't have any idea if he was being truthful or just didn't want to bother with it as he was busy. Looks like I will try one of the other two formulas. I used 400 grit prior to base coat/clear coat application, considering the paint is so fresh will it be OK to use 400 grit again?

You should have done a sprayout to see if the color was blendable. If no variants will fly, give the gas cap to the jobber and have them match it. If yours provides this service of course. 400 grit before base if sealing, 600 if not. No, the jobber was not giving you a line, the camera is not the magic wand many think it is. If you do not have scuff paste, cut it with 6-800. Don't go through the clear or the base may lift if you did not use DX57.

Use 800 and like Scott said do not burn through that clear.

Spray out and may need tinted. Those camera systems are junk.

Maybe blend ?

He wasn't joking about the spectrometer, that thing is wrong about 90% of the time. I've had to explain to a lot of people that it doesn't tell you what the exact color is, that it just gives you a starting point when matching a color.

Any time a color has variations, it's important to have a piece to compare to the chips so you have an accurate color match.

I’m sure glad to be made aware of the burning through the clear issue as I didn’t use DX57, and no doubt I would have. In the event that I do burn through could I use the DX57 in the new base coat? I did purchase some scuff paste as my initial intention was to blend it into the door, but figured I would save some work if by chance it was a good match. I also was a little gun shy as I have only blended twice before, but this time I bought DBU500 color blender in hopes of achieving better results than before. Next time I do this I’m going to do a test spay as I certainly can see how that could have saved me a lot of extra work. When I compared the three paint chips to my car in the sun they were so close I couldn’t with certainty choose one, but comparing the three with each other a difference could be seen. Very confusing.

When choosing a alternate don't do it by picking the one you think matches.
But do it by process of elimination. Choose the ones that don't match. You want go back and forth in your head as you do when you're trying to find a match. Been painting 27 years and this method will help you.