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1994 Sc400 Black, Paint Mismatch....


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Someone backed on my front driverside fender and since the hood and facia had rock chips etc., I thought that best way to make the car look like new was to paint the hood, both fenders and front facia.

My buddy, who has a paintshop did the work and when I picked up the car, I could not believe my eyes.. Front was "greyish", looked like it had haze all over it.

After driving the car for few weeks the grey color really got under my nerves... So I decided to take it to a local paintshop. Yesterday I was supposed to pick up my SC and quess what?

It's grey again.. Less grey, but still has the damn haze in the paint.

Local paint supplier mixed the correct Lexus black paint (there is supposively 2 parts of black and 1 part of midnight blue in the 1994 black paint) He used a clearcoat on it. Could this clearcoat be the reason for the haze??? I read that the original paint does not have clearcoat until 2001....

This guy has painted cars 13 years and is puzzled what the problem is.

Can anyone here help us, I want my car back, preferrably in one color... :cries:

The picture is before the paintjob. Thats the way I want it...

Thanks, Lauri

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My .02 ...

I have a '95 SC 400 in black and it looks identicle to your 'before' photograph. Further, I had light dents in my right door and left door/quarter panel and had a shop shoot the sides of the car in November. The original paint is represented by the LF fender and RR quarter panel and the job matches perfectly.

I could be mistaken, but I thought the majority of shops were matching paint through utilization of technology. (Shoot the car with a scanner and analyze paint with software...)

Most importantly, this is not rocket science and you contracted that paint shop to match your original color. They did not and thus are still under legal obligation to do the job you initially requested.

I do not think a clear coat would cause this problem.

Good luck

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Laura. Formula matching is not a good idea on a 12 year old vehicle. Scanning the paint is the right way and the method that any decent paint shop should/would use.

Tom

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Laura. Formula matching is not a good idea on a 12 year old vehicle. Scanning the paint is the right way and the method that any decent paint shop should/would use.

Tom

Oh well. now they are now going to try to paint mix into the doors...

Lets see what comes out of this one. In case this goes south, I'm looking at a nice flame job int the fenders or a 2 tone car.... :cries:

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Laura. Formula matching is not a good idea on a 12 year old vehicle. Scanning the paint is the right way and the method that any decent paint shop should/would use.

Tom

Oh well. now they are now going to try to paint mix into the doors...

Lets see what comes out of this one. In case this goes south, I'm looking at a nice flame job int the fenders or a 2 tone car....:cries:

I would recommend being a bit more assertive with this. The paint mix is a lousy remedy when all that needs to be done is a repaint on the front of the car. Seriously, I would very nicely suggest an entire redo and if that strikes them !Removed! then contract a solid shop for the repair and bring the former to court. Truly, the ball is in your court with some photos. The mix will never, and I mean never look right. :closedeyes:

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Color matching sections of paint on older cars is almost impossibe...In certain shade or sunlight you will always notice a difference...I would say your better off painting the entire car, having it color sanded and it will come out like new...Especially if you restore the headlight lenses to factory clear condition...That is what I did with my car two years ago....New paint, new interior, and cleaned those headlights...Looks like a brand new car....

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Color matching sections of paint on older cars is almost impossibe...In certain shade or sunlight you will always notice a difference...I would say your better off painting the entire car, having it color sanded and it will come out like new...Especially if you restore the headlight lenses to factory clear condition...That is what I did with my car two years ago....New paint, new interior, and cleaned those headlights...Looks like a brand new car....

You may be right on this one. Not just sure if it's worth it, being a -94...

I'll get the car back at the end of the week, lets see how it comes out.

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I have a 93 SC 300 and was told that the black paint was the only color without a clear coat. The front section was repainted a year ago, they didn't put in a stretch additive and it has started to peel. My only thought is to put a bra on it rather than repaint at this stage. They had to get the Lexus paint and did not mix it themselves. Everything matched on mine. Don't know if they still do it, but Lexus used to make body shops go thru a special Lexus certiified repair program before they would let their dealers refer people to a faciility for body repair work.

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Hey Jibby,

Was there a notible difference in sound when you removed the smaller cats? I'm looking for a certain sound; however, I can't seem to get there with the cats. Last thing I want to do is have any smog related issues by removing any of the exhaust components.

Thanks,

Todd

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No change what so ever in sound when deleting the two smaller cats...Infact there was only maybe a 10% increase in sound when I upgraded to my S&S Headers..Upper exhaust changes have very little effect on sound on the SC4's....The biggest change in exhaust sounds will be from your mufflers, Y's and center main cat. swaps or deletions...

Getting a little off topic here...Sorry 94BLKSC400

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Laura. Formula matching is not a good idea on a 12 year old vehicle. Scanning the paint is the right way and the method that any decent paint shop should/would use.

Tom

Oh well. now they are now going to try to paint mix into the doors...

Lets see what comes out of this one. In case this goes south, I'm looking at a nice flame job int the fenders or a 2 tone car....:cries:

I would recommend being a bit more assertive with this. The paint mix is a lousy remedy when all that needs to be done is a repaint on the front of the car. Seriously, I would very nicely suggest an entire redo and if that strikes them !Removed! then contract a solid shop for the repair and bring the former to court. Truly, the ball is in your court with some photos. The mix will never, and I mean never look right. :closedeyes:

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No change what so ever in sound when deleting the two smaller cats...Infact there was only maybe a 10% increase in sound when I upgraded to my S&S Headers..Upper exhaust changes have very little effect on sound on the SC4's....The biggest change in exhaust sounds will be from your mufflers, Y's and center main cat. swaps or deletions...

Getting a little off topic here...Sorry 94BLKSC400

The shop should have tried better: for many Lexus blacks there are several formula variations which should be check with test panels, depending on the time of production runs morning, noon or night which is a small percentage of tone change to the mix and to the color. The fade character can be adjusted by reducing 105 base black, but the basic color/depth should be very close/exact. Most painter will find the color, not try the variations and blame the match on fade. Go back and have them fix it. The surface scan with the mass spec works well for solid colors, because tri, pearls, metallic have flop agents, and is about 90% accurate for older colors. Either way the painter should know what to do.

mark.blend

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Just an update....

I got the car back with "blended" doors. Being as picky as I am, I was unable to see the difference anymore.

That's good news. Now I can proceed with the next task clearing the #71 code that just popped up, looks like its time for a new EGR valve.

Maybe even new black leather seats with tan accents..... I'm thinking of using the same guy who made my Viper seats in black/red stiching (used to be UGLY grey).

Maybe black leather with my Lex too.

Thanks for the help!

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