It is not unusual for plastic pieces to not match exactly the car color. Even bumpers might look different if you look at some cars. The other thread, http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...?threadid=3312, also discusses the side mirror housings looking a little different. Something to live with, I suppose, or get painted by a shop that will match the color?

 

I have the mismatch on the strakes but spoilers OK. I decided to live with it. BTW, I had forgotten about until I read this post.

 

If you check out the other thread on mirrors this was discussed their also. The last thing you would want to do is to have your factory paint repainted by a body shop. And I'm saying this as a bodyshop owner. Unless you have a serious color difference, but then another option would be to have the dealership order another one and hope that it matches better. I just put on the deck lid spoiler and it matches quite well. You just don't know how difficult it will be for a shop the match a pearl yellow without being able to blend into the adjacent panels to match the color. If you want I'll explain how a pearl coat is painted but it would take up a little space. And a word about oxidization, the best thing to prevent it is garage keep the car or use a cover. Oxidization is primarily caused by the Sun and probably wont be a factor on your Stook for many years. Any by the way the worse color for oxidization is red, the pigments in red break down quicker than others do. How many flat red cars have you seen driving around?

 

This is what I'm confused with. . .is the Spa Pearl yellow truly a pearl, or is it just a ***glitzy*** name to a color mix that Honda named?

If it's truly a pearl, then I agree, trying to match the body panels is very time consuming and tedious. However, if it's not a real pearl, then blending the color on lip to the body panels should not be difficult.

 

Its a true pearl. I looked at the paint code with a guy who knows car finishes and it is 3 step process paint job. 1-Base Yellow, 2-Pearl Clearcoat, 3-Clearcoat and very tough to match. Maybe I won't get the chin spoiler afterall.

 

I have not yet looked up the formula, I'll do it tomorrow. But if as this thread says it is indeed a 3 stage pearl then this is the process. First the car is painted in a non-metalic flat yellow, then it is painted with a translucent pearl the same pearl that is used on whites. This is where the color difference comes in, you have to use the exact amount of pearl on the whole car. In other words if Honda has used 2 coats of pearl and you local bodyshop uses 3 coats, voila a color mis-match. And this gets very tricky in areas such as the adjoining panels where when painting the spray would overlap and you would get more pearl on those areas. This would give you a different color on all your body ajoining panels. Then of course your last step is your clearcoat which is your shine and protection. The only way to color match a pearl is to paint test panels with different amount of pearlcoats on each panel then clear them all and look at them in the sun next to the car.

 

Nick:

Do clearcoated cars oxidize? I had a red Miata which was horrible. Every wax job took some paint off. I have not had the problem with clearcoated paint.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JMark:
[B]Nick:

Do clearcoated cars oxidize?

 

The paint technology in the last 10 years has improved tremendously, nearly all car manufactures are using clearcoats even on their solid colors (non metallics). But clear will still oxidize, but not nearly as quick as a car w/out clear. I'm sure you have seen some colors turning white, this is the clearcoat breaking down. One of the great things about clearcoat is like Prolene said, minor imperfections and dullness can be buffed out. But then of course you are taking paint off the car and shortening the life of the clear.