Paint recommendation?

[RazorDX]

So I'm getting a new, unfinished hood and bumper, possible a fender too. I may even spray the faded and marred spoiler.

Can anyone recommend a paint brand? The car is a light grey/silver (don't have the paint code on-hand), so I don't expect it to have a lot of visible fading. I'm doing it myself with the help of some guys from my dad's shop, but I have to provide the materials. I'm sticking with base/clear.

(Back story, my dad is a terminal manager for truck and trailer rehab, so these guys strip down and respray every truck and trailer every 5 years.)

My main questions:

1) What brand of paint could you recommend?

2) How much paint should I need for a 92-95 SE bumper, hood, fender, and spoiler?

Thanks for any advice or recommendations.

[Blackhawk]

Do you have a mix sheet yet? Silver is a somwehat hard color to match perfectly.

[RazorDX]

I was going to try to get it matched to the paint code.

[Blackhawk]

A closer method would be using the computer, most paint supply stores can use a kinda of "gun" to scan the paint and get a close match, it's closer than going with the VIN and hoping you didn't get much fading.

[RazorDX]

If I did get a lot of fading, I'd probably respray the whole car while I'm buying the supplies. It would only cost extra in materials, and the car is parked for the winter anyway.

[Nighthawk243]

I'm not quite 100% sure, but I believe most of the Dealerships use PPG.

[92CamaroRS]

have you ever painted anything before? do you own a rotary buffer?

the reason silver is hard to match isn't because the actual color is off, its because its all metal flake, you need to make sure its the right size metal flake, and then you need to worry about getting it to lay down in the exact same way as the current paint, which is impossible, you will need to blend the color into adjecent panels so the difference blends and is not noticable,

if you say no to either of the above questions. i would take it to a shop and let them do it.

I do recomend PPG paint myself but DuPont is good aswell

with silver get ready to pay about $60 a PINT, and then expect to pay about $100 for a quart of clear

[TA^Guy]

for OEM style respray I like Dupont ChromaBase.

[RazorDX]

No, I haven't done it myself before... but I'm not the one doing this either. A couple of guys that have done this every day for the past 15-20 years are doing it. I'm honestly not worried about perfection... actually since the car will be parked for the winter I was considering sanding/blasting it down and respraying the whole car.

I appreciate the recommendations on paint. I'd thought of Dupont, but PPG had slipped my mind. Thanks for the suggestions.

As far as buying the paint goes, would a body shop charge more than could be found online after shipping is considered?

Also, how much paint (ballpark guestimate) would you think this job would require?

[92CamaroRS]

Originally posted by RazorDX
No, I haven't done it myself before... but I'm not the one doing this either. A couple of guys that have done this every day for the past 15-20 years are doing it. I'm honestly not worried about perfection... actually since the car will be parked for the winter I was considering sanding/blasting it down and respraying the whole car.

I appreciate the recommendations on paint. I'd thought of Dupont, but PPG had slipped my mind. Thanks for the suggestions.

As far as buying the paint goes, would a body shop charge more than could be found online after shipping is considered?

Also, how much paint (ballpark guestimate) would you think this job would require?


then go with what those guys have been spraying for the last 15-20 years. if you have them spray something that they arn't use to the results will be subpar.

you can't purchase paint online, shipping paint requires a hazmat cert. and thats not cheap so you won't find anyone to ship it to ya.

[RazorDX]

Ahh... well the stuff they spray they only get in 2 colors... white and blue. I'm not sure that they can get it from their supplier in a smaller batch, or have it matched to my paint. Thanks for that bit of info, I've seen paint sold online but didn't look into shipping. I'll call around.

Does anyone know about how much I'd need though?

[TA^Guy]

IF you are doing the entire car I'd go with a gallon, but you'll have some left over for sure. Cory correct me if I'm wrong.

IF you ahve a autobody supply store near you just go on down and pick up the paint/reducer and other products you'll need. Usually that will be the cheapest way unless you know someone with an account to with them and maybe get it discounted or tax free.

[Nighthawk243]

Originally posted by TA^Guy
IF you are doing the entire car I'd go with a gallon, but you'll have some left over for sure. Cory correct me if I'm wrong.

IF you ahve a autobody supply store near you just go on down and pick up the paint/reducer and other products you'll need. Usually that will be the cheapest way unless you know someone with an account to with them and maybe get it discounted or tax free.

Its not bad to have extra though... You can use it for accents.

[92CamaroRS]

a Gallon MIGHT be enough. when i did the camaro i had a gallon of the purple, and a quart of silver, i used about 7/8ths of that gallon and i would have used it all if i didn't have the silver stripes.

but a gallon shoudl be enough

what kind of body man only sprays two collors?

[RazorDX]

The do truck rehab... all of the trucks get the same paint scheme. White, with a blue stripe and white lettering on the stripe. It's not their experience with colors that I'm after, but their experience with the equipment and the application of the paint. I may buy a gallon just in case I do the whole car.

EDIT: It's apparent to me that I need to do a lot of reading, but hopefully someone can lend me their experience here. Are there any particular brands that are a close(r) match to the paint GM used in the mid 90s?

[92CamaroRS]

Originally posted by RazorDX
The do truck rehab... all of the trucks get the same paint scheme. White, with a blue stripe and white lettering on the stripe. It's not their experience with colors that I'm after, but their experience with the equipment and the application of the paint. I may buy a gallon just in case I do the whole car.

I don't have a means of communicating with them right now, so I was wondering if you guys might know this. My experience with paint is limited to first generation Camaro. All we had to prep was bare metal and bondo in some spots. Will molded body parts need primer or just prepped and sprayed?


i would highly recomend going elsewhere to have your paint work done then, unless you don't care how it looks. the paint they are using is most likly a extreamly durable paint, but it is much thicker and doesn't use a clear coat like your car does, these guys will not be use to spraying the thin color that automotive paint is, or the clear coat that will need to be used aswell. also if they only spray solid colors, they won't have a good chance at getting the metalic to lay out like it should, it will end up streaky and spotty. but if you don't care about the way the car ends up looking, go for it, but if you do, i HIGHLY recomend looking into a different route.

[92CamaroRS]

Originally posted by RazorDX

EDIT: It's apparent to me that I need to do a lot of reading, but hopefully someone can lend me their experience here. Are there any particular brands that are a close(r) match to the paint GM used in the mid 90s?

in short, no, each paint is just as likly to match as it is to not match, thats the point of a body shop, they keep a mixing bay instock and spray test panels to check for match and then if its off, they tint in the direction it needs to go.

[RazorDX]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

[little00GT]

silver isn't easy to match, even if u take ur code and VIN to a store that has the capabilities to match it to ur VIN perfectly it still may not match do to the paint on ur car being much much older than the new paint going on, whatever color they seal the panels with, or if the person mixing the paint accidentally puts too much yellow, or too much black in the silver that can dramatically change the color especially in smaller mixes. all in all if it white or black i would say go for it but silver is not the easiest of colors to paint, the body shops have alternate color chips which are the different "alternate color codes" to that one paint code on ur car to best match ur car. i trust my eyes better than the VIN which isn't always right with the paint code. i get a lot of colors that say garruntee match with VIN "XX" and it winds up being way off. ok i'm done droning on and on good luck with it!

[Blackhawk]

I believe most of us are aware of having to compensate for age, but thanks for the heads up for those that didn't know. Wrong mixes are a problem with just about any paint color unless it's a pure color for that brand, which doesn't always happen for factory colors. I didn't know about this before, but I can really see what Cory's getting at with getting the flake to lay down, if it's going a different way you may see the difference and it will probably reflect the light differently than the rest of the paint.

[Nighthawk243]

The color code isn't a perfect match due to variances that occur between different batches of mixed paint. I know my 1995 used two different batches of the red color. The Unibody was a certain shade, but some of the other cladding that would've been painted seprately were a tad bit of a different shade. A quick look, it wasn't noticable, but in certain angles and lighting conditions, it was noticable. I don't believe the panels were ever repainted, the car had no such record.