Hi guys,

I have a agean blue '02 CLS. Had it for like 2 month. Bad luck! Got into an accident where my rear and front bumpers needed to be replaced. Went to a body shop around where I live they did the replacement and repainting.

The problem is that the paint doesn't match. It has the same qualities when light shines on it and it looks very similar in the evening but in broad daylight any fool can notice the difference.

These pieces of crap at the body shop told me that they used the color code on the car and that this color is what they came up with. Nothing else they could do.

So now I have contacted the BBB and my county consumer affairs office but of course it will take them forever. I will go to court if nec. But I am just amazed that this is what happened. This place has expensive cars outside and they do such a blind job!!!

Has anyone had these problems before? Especially on the same kind of paint?

Any advice would be appreciated.

-Max

 

Did you go through your insurance?

If so contact them as well. I have Allstate and they Guarentee any paintwork and repair work as long as I own the car. ANY complaint and the shop needs to address it.

OTherwise, I just got mine back after my wreck and they did a PERFECT match on the paint (I have the San Marino Red) and it's IMPOSSIBLE to tell anywhere that it was repainted. They did tear my cruise control wiring and threw off my alignment, but they fixed it no questions asked as soon as I mentioned it.

(In case anyone is wondering, it was Gerber Auto Repair in Chicago)

 

Several people, including myself, have had problems like this. Wher a shop uses the code listed for the car and the paint comes out to be different. I had a problem with a shop unable to match Satin Silver.
I dont know where the error is coming from, maybe the shop, maybe the factory.

 

Man, sorry to hear about that. I'm not sure what the BBB can do for you, in terms of getting the situation resolved. If the shop won't do anything, you may need a lawyer.

Can you post pics???

 

My car suffered severe hail damage, 5k worth, you could not even tell that it was repaired when the body shop was done, they did a fantastic job matching the paint. Usualy red is hard to match with the original, i cant tell which panels were repainted and which one were not, it was that good.

 

The body shop should not have used the paint code, they should have match the paint on the car. The paint starts to fade and will change color as soon as it is exposed to the elements (ever so slightly). if they don't do that they are they are not a very good body shop. But that is what the problem is

 

I was told only to use the paint code if the car is brand new. There are soooooo many variences in one paint color, one ounce can mismatch the color. The best way that I have heard of was by wieght, atleast thats what a friend of mine told me.

 

i think the paint shop has the warranty for their paint if it is not matched to your car.

 

A good shop will use a color analyzer plugged into a PC to get a digital color sample of several areas around the damaged area.
The numbers obtained will give them the exact “recipe” for your color to enter into the paint mixer.

They should NEVER use the color code, even if the car is only a month old.

Shawn S