Slight difference in paint colour

[Beachball]

After a hit and run in a local car park(no cctv coverage or witnesses),my 2019 Jazz suffered a shunt on the rear o/side corner of the bumper.
To cut long story short,I decided to pay for the damage myself and not involve my insurance company.
Had it examined by local bodyshop and agreed it required a new bumper.
I collected my car yesterday from bodyshop but noticed that the bumper looked slightly whiter than the existing bodywork.
(Its white pearlescent)
The manager said that they ordered the bumper and paint according to the registration document details and that over the past 4 years,degredation of the original paintwork would be extremely difficult to match.
As im not going to change the car for a few years,I can put up with this.
Is he correct with his degredation explanation?.

[UKjim]

After a hit and run in a local car park(no cctv coverage or witnesses),my 2019 Jazz suffered a shunt on the rear o/side corner of the bumper.
To cut long story short,I decided to pay for the damage myself and not involve my insurance company.
Had it examined by local bodyshop and agreed it required a new bumper.
I collected my car yesterday from bodyshop but noticed that the bumper looked slightly whiter than the existing bodywork.
(Its white pearlescent)
The manager said that they ordered the bumper and paint according to the registration document details and that over the past 4 years,degredation of the original paintwork would be extremely difficult to match.
As im not going to change the car for a few years,I can put up with this.
Is he correct with his degredation explanation?.

I may be wrong but I thought Honda supplied new bumpers painted from the factory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Beachball]

Thank you UKjim.
To be honest,I didnt ask where the bumper was sourced.

[Derkie54]

After a hit and run in a local car park(no cctv coverage or witnesses),my 2019 Jazz suffered a shunt on the rear o/side corner of the bumper.
To cut long story short,I decided to pay for the damage myself and not involve my insurance company.
Had it examined by local bodyshop and agreed it required a new bumper.
I collected my car yesterday from bodyshop but noticed that the bumper looked slightly whiter than the existing bodywork.
(Its white pearlescent)
The manager said that they ordered the bumper and paint according to the registration document details and that over the past 4 years,degredation of the original paintwork would be extremely difficult to match.
As im not going to change the car for a few years,I can put up with this.
Is he correct with his degredation explanation?.

I may be wrong but I thought Honda supplied new bumpers painted from the factory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Even if that's the case the replacement bumper wouldn't have been sprayed with the same paint that was used on that particular car so there could be a slight difference.

[UKjim]

The PU parts such as the bumpers quite often look a different shade to the steel panels possibly because they reflect light differently.

This explains in detail what I was thinking.

https://www.automotivequalitysolutions.com/2013/09/11/bumper-color-that-doesnt-seem-to-match-the-original-factory-color/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FarNorthJazz]

Interesting quote by original poster "The manager said that they ordered the bumper and paint according to the registration document "

My understanding of paint shops is that the paint is mixed on the spot to match the body colour - which may have faded with time.  (this is the problem when you buy a touch up paint stick - it nevers seems to quite match)

There is a good explanation here about how paint is matched. 
https://nationalautocollisioncenters.com/see-how-auto-shops-match-car-paint-colors/

It is an American site,  but I think the info applies to any body repair shop.

It might be worth going back to your bodyshop and asking how they did the paint matching -  did they just buy in the paint per the paint code on the car or did they do a match and mix

[Lord Voltermore]

He is partly correct I think.  Even using an exact colour match  formula the colour could vary according to paint manufacturer  and from which direction the reflective metallic or pearlescent particles were laid down during spraying . A change in direction can affect how the paint reflects light, altering the colour match.  This can be a problem even with factory produced finishes. Cars painted in one Honda factory might differ slightly from those made in another Honda factory,or another year,  even though the colour code is identical.
And yes the original  paint may have faded etc  over time.    It might be worth trying  some  restoration polish on a small area of the original paintwork to see if it changes  the colour closer to the new paint.

Part of it may be due to the skill of the sprayer. They can make slight adjustments while spraying  and maybe the result was not as good as it might be 

[Beachball]

Many thanks for all your very informative replies.
If I had the money,I would have taken the car to our local Honda dealer where im sure a near perfect colour match would have happened,(with a price to match)😅
I used our local bodyshop after reading reviews (4.9 out of over 400)plus 2 personal recommendations from work mates who have used them before.
I suppose you only get what you pay for but as I said,im keeping "pride and joy" for quite a while yet so will wait for a few weeks before I give the surrounding panels a good polish and a light polish to bumper.
I may ask the bodyshop owner how he matched the paint but it does'nt seem as though it was matched in the bodyshop or put under special lighting.
Im 99.9% happy so will continue to look after and cherish it.
Incidentally,the rest of the bodywork is totally unmarked.
Will try to get some photos on here if I can.👍

[UKjim]

Not many main dealers have their own bodyshop, they quite often use a local bodyshop as you have done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Beachball]

Before and after.

[Jocko]

Funny. I read the original post and thought you meant they ordered the bumper PAINTED from Honda. I remember a local had his car badly damaged in an accident on our street. It was repaired and painted to match beautifully but a few months later, once the paint got a bit of weather, it was obviously different. Perhaps you may see the opposite effect.

[embee]

That doesn't look a particularly good match, but I believe pearl white is one of the trickiest to get right, there are numerous "whites" and it can depend on what the undercoat/primer colour is among other things.

I have a pearly white bike which I bought used and it came with "colour matched" panniers. It was a while before I noticed the two pannier lids are actually different "whites", one is a cool white and the other a warm white, but it's only when put side by side it becomes obvious (no-one else has noticed/commented, fairly subtle).

[Wilmo]

Body parts ordered via Cox Motor Parts all come pre-painted.
I don't know if that is direct from Honda or if they get them painted.

They are a Honda dealership running a mail order parts business for those who don't know.
https://www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/honda-shop/honda-jazz/

[BadgerMk3]

From the experience of Focus RS owners, I know matching the 3 stage pearlescent paint between plastic and metal bodywork can de difficult. The trim parts were painted separately to the main body and then installed on the production line. Some of the colour matches on brand new cars were poor at best...

None of the Honda dealers near me have their own body shop, they outsource the work to local body shops.

From your pictures - which again can be difficult to judge due to the nature of the paint and ambient conditions - it looks to me as though your original bumper wasn't the best match either.

Presuming your local body shop actually painted the bumper, I would have expected them to spray several test cards to try and match the existing body work.
Often, with metallic and pearlescent paints, the body shop will paint adjacent panels too to blend the panels in.

As others have said, the paint may well change over time anyway due to environmental effects, so I guess it depends on how happy you are with the finish.

[Lord Voltermore]

There are lots of factors at play.  Flexible plastic body parts may require special plastic primers, or possibly more flexible paint than the metal bodywork.    Different paint shops use different brands of paint mixing systems,  PPG , Glasurit/BASF etc etc.     These systems will mix up any paint code  by precisely weighing out quantities for a mix  from a choice of only about 100 paint base colours , about 10 different sizes of metallic or  pearlescent  particles  , and  a variety of thinners and clear lacquer  coats.     Its inevitable that a different brand of paint, slight variations in weight measurement, spray gun pressure  ,direction of spraying etc can result in a slight differences in colour match. Often its not the tone of the paint but how light hits it that makes the difference.  I believe a skilled sprayer can sometimes  minimise colour differences using  lightly tinted clear coat  laquer/thinner  but I might be wrong in detail.   

I dont know if bumpers etc come ready painted from Japan.  This would increase the chances bulky and  floppy panels will get damaged in transit/storage and the need to stock the correct quantity  of the various colours to avoid long shipping delays.    I suspect they come in bulk in primer and are  prepared and painted in batches  in Europe according to demand . Or supplied to bodyshops in primer who spray it using their own paint mixing system.

Incidentally I notice my Mk4 has a label in the passenger door  which appears to warn body shops not to bake the car in a paint drying oven above 65c  as it would damage the High voltage battery.