Re-paint or touch-up?

[Aerostone]

I was driving through this horrendous blizzard in VA and a rock/pebble/something hard flew right to the corner of my windshield and cracked it. Windshield is fixed but the rock managed to deflect off the hood and the side frame of the car. The hood has minor two to three streaks but the frame has about a dime-size chip.

Should I get collision repair on it where they sand and repaint the entire hood and the majority of the frame? Or should I just let them touch up on it?

The car is black and brand new 2011. The only reason I'm considering touch up is because I don't want the new black paint to not totally match the original paint. Is this a reasonable concern or since it's a 2011 brand new car it shouldn't be a problem?

Any advice? Thanks and Happy Holidays.

 

[CookieRoe]

How about a pic to see how bad it is?

 

[Uneek]

Touch up. Chips, unfortunately, are inevitable.

 

[Snesley Wipes]

Black paint is the easiest color to match unless its metallic. As a matter of fact body shops will panel paint black as opposed to blending because black is black.

 

[mojo34]

Black paint is the easiest color to match unless its metallic. As a matter of fact body shops will panel paint black as opposed to blending because black is black.

I have seen a few solid blacks that did not match... it is very unlikely, but it can happen.

Aerostone, are the "streaks" in the hood large scratches? If they are large scratches and you can feel them with your fingernail, they are likely through the clearcoat and will likely look terrible if they are touched up. If they are more of a rub mark than a scratch, they might be able to be buffed out. Also, why would the majority of the frame need to be painted for a dime sized chip?

 

[viper83181]

correct me if I'm wrong, but won't a dealer or any reputable body shop just get the pain code off the info placard of the vehicle and match it that way? Also, does anyone know if I can just go to a toyota dealer and get a can of code matched paint to touch up the scratches myself?

 

[Uneek]

correct me if I'm wrong, but won't a dealer or any reputable body shop just get the pain code off the info placard of the vehicle and match it that way? Also, does anyone know if I can just go to a toyota dealer and get a can of code matched paint to touch up the scratches myself?

Yes, but the paint also fades. Touch up paint, depending on color, more noticeable on some than others, is still off.

Yes, the dealer has brush on touch up paint from Toyota. Dupli-Color and PaintScratch.com has aerosol touch up paint.

 

[mojo34]

The paint code alone does not guarantee the color will match. When you hear people say metallics never match, it is absolutely true. There are so many things that affect the color of a metallic, that it is impossible to perfectly match a metallic color. Spray technique, overlap, gun speed, air temp, humidity, and air pressure are just some of the things that will change the look of a metallic color.
A good body shop will do a blend (when necessary) into the adjacent panel(s) to hide the fact that the color does not match. If you spray color up to the edge of the panel you are painting, the fact that the color doesn't match will be much more noticeable. A blend into another panel is actually give the illusion that the color matches, and when done correctly, it is invisible.

 

[wombie]

I just got one of the panels on my 06 resprayed. It's black and I honestly can't tell the difference - considering the truck is coming up on 5 years old and sits outside all the time I'd say that bodes pretty well for your brand new truck if you decided to go the respray route.

 

[DesertEdition]

Black paint is the easiest color to match unless its metallic. As a matter of fact body shops will panel paint black as opposed to blending because black is black.

Black is not always "Black" some blacks have some light tints of brown/white or even yellow or a combo of the three..

correct me if I'm wrong, but won't a dealer or any reputable body shop just get the pain code off the info placard of the vehicle and match it that way? Also, does anyone know if I can just go to a toyota dealer and get a can of code matched paint to touch up the scratches myself?

Depending on the place you go and the experience of the shop they can get it close but most of the time you can tell

The paint code alone does not guarantee the color will match. When you hear people say metallics never match, it is absolutely true. There are so many things that affect the color of a metallic, that it is impossible to perfectly match a metallic color. Spray technique, overlap, gun speed, air temp, humidity, and air pressure are just some of the things that will change the look of a metallic color.
A good body shop will do a blend (when necessary) into the adjacent panel(s) to hide the fact that the color does not match. If you spray color up to the edge of the panel you are painting, the fact that the color doesn't match will be much more noticeable. A blend into another panel is actually give the illusion that the color matches, and when done correctly, it is invisible.

True and not true if you goto a good body shop they can 95% get the paint to match even metallics and as far as the technique part goes only really factors in if the panel is layed flat when it normally hangs on the car and if its a custom color or pearl... but to best avoid any problems is todo a blend

Yes, but the paint also fades. Touch up paint, depending on color, more noticeable on some than others, is still off.

Yes, the dealer has brush on touch up paint from Toyota. Dupli-Color and PaintScratch.com has aerosol touch up paint.

And do not trust those either you may get lucky sometimes but even though your vehicle was sprayed silver the same year they have the same color BUT there could be a variance to the color witch could make it different and those companies that sell the touch up dont go into that detail they just make the most common variance of that color and call it good


there is my 2 cents :trophy: