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My old boss told me to never trust a paint code alone on a silver metallic

He said always spray out a test card first, even if the job is small. I ignored him on a 2018 Honda Civic bumper last month. The code said NH-830M. Sprayed it, looked way off in sunlight. Had to redo the whole blend on the quarter panel. Cost me an extra 2 hours and a bunch of clear. So, is his rule always right, or was this just a bad batch of paint? When do you skip the spray out card to save time?
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3 Comments
lily_young59
Okay but is it really that serious every single time? Sometimes the code is spot on, especially with newer cars. That Honda might have been a weird batch or maybe the basecoat was mixed wrong at the store. I've skipped spray outs on small jobs and been fine, saves a good 20 minutes.
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lucas159
lucas1591mo ago
Honestly, that rule is basically gospel for a reason. Metallic colors can look totally different depending on the batch and how it's sprayed. Skipping the test card is just asking to waste more time fixing it later.
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gavin928
gavin92828d agoMost Upvoted
Dude, my buddy skipped one and the whole fender was off.
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