I'm painting my 98 corolla which has a factory color of ruby pearl 3L3 metallic color which I believe is supposed to be more red from google images but maybe not i'm not sure. I think being 20 years old the paint pigments in the base coat may have faded, is that possible? Panels I have sprayed have turned out a lot more "red" then the original paint on the car. The original paint is more of a purple-ish wine color. I paint with OMNI MBC which I believe is an acrylic base coat made by PPG (not a urethane I believe).


This photo kind of shows you what I mean but it looks more red usually when the sun is really out.






One thing I noticed was after buffing an edge on the original paint trunk and really wetsanding and buffing a spot on the sprayed bumper (both areas circled in yellow). The match is a lot better at all angles, but certain angles with the light hitting it are spot on.








Now this picture probably isn't great, but I believe if I look at an angle the sprayed panel looks more red and looking directly at it with the light hitting it, it looks pretty close. Is looking at the angle where it is more red the pitch in the paint? And looking directly at it the face?






Now here are somethings I know I messed up.

- Not letting the primer, base or clear cure properly before adding more coats and moving on.
- Throwing on way to much clear, and probably have the base too thick with wet coats aswell.
- I think my pressure was low? I have a regulator set to 30-35 psi then 3/8 air hose 15' or 25' to the gun.
- not ideal environmental conditions; too humid, hot, etc.
- Maybe too much paint or reducer when mixing? I eyeball it but that was near around 1:1 which is what the omni can calls for, possibly up to 60:40 either direction.


If I raise the air pressure the metallic is supposed to pop/show more in the final finish right? I'm not sure if that will aid in matching the old paint.





My last question is, can I tint this omni PPG base coat or clear to change the final finish effect? Like brighter, darker, duller, less red maybe. Idk is that possible with this paint line.






Sorry for the long post just kind of wondering what user errors I made.

Well, I'm just going to comment on a few things..... first, you are wayyyyy overthinking this process on a 20 year old paint job. ALL paints start fading from the first day they get out in the sun/environment. Reds are about the worst. So no, if you just go to a paint jobber/supplier and say I want paint code 123456x I can almost guarantee you it is not going to match your existing paint. Now if you had taken off the gas filler cap door and had a decent supplier try to help you match it in Deltron base ( I do not like Omni or Shopline bases for any color matching), and IF that cap door was pretty indicative of the overall fade, yeah it might have been closer. And, yes, cutting and buffing the paint does change the "color" and that is why it is called "color sanding" by most of us. When the profile (flatness) of the clear is established this changes the way light strikes the surface instantly improving DOI (depth of image) and color clarity. And the bottom line here is....you are trying to panel blend into a 20 year old paint. Why aren't you just doing an overall shoot on the car????

DarrelK wrote:Well, I'm just going to comment on a few things..... first, you are wayyyyy overthinking this process on a 20 year old paint job. ALL paints start fading from the first day they get out in the sun/environment. Reds are about the worst. So no, if you just go to a paint jobber/supplier and say I want paint code 123456x I can almost guarantee you it is not going to match your existing paint. Now if you had taken off the gas filler cap door and had a decent supplier try to help you match it in Deltron base ( I do not like Omni or Shopline bases for any color matching), and IF that cap door was pretty indicative of the overall fade, yeah it might have been closer. And, yes, cutting and buffing the paint does change the "color" and that is why it is called "color sanding" by most of us. When the profile (flatness) of the clear is established this changes the way light strikes the surface instantly improving DOI (depth of image) and color clarity. And the bottom line here is....you are trying to panel blend into a 20 year old paint. Why aren't you just doing an overall shoot on the car????

Really i'm just looking to practice this is just my daily/beater car. So I don't feel bad making my $500 car look like crap since im always picking up some car from the 90's that needs a little bodywork.

One thing is I don't have the space to shoot the whole car, so I can't really do any blending or anything. At the moment I am just shooting removable panels off the car.

Another thing is I don't have a supplied air respirator system yet. How safe are these Deltron paints like DBU or DBC? I couldn't figure out for the life of me what i'm looking at after looking at the PPG website. Can I get away with using a filter mask?

I need to get my new compressor before being able to run supplied air.

Okay, I get it now.... practice. Well, as someone who has had Iso poisoning from paint exposure I treat EVERYTHING like it's trying to kill me. I wear a full suit with supplied air hood when I do anything with auto coatings but the reality is that it is the booth itself that plays a bigger part in your safety. Pro booths have so much air movement that guys can get by with carbon filter masks a lot. The problem starts with the hobbyist style homemade booth which just isn't flowing enough air. Are base coats safer than the clears? Well, on paper they are....but that still doesn't address becoming "sensitized" to these products from prolonged exposure.....