Hey guys,

I just painted a bumper and lip "Silverstone Metallic: NH-630M ". I know there are two shades of SSM and I'm thinking I may have had the AP2 version mixed. Is there a difference in these paint codes? I had the paint mixed locally at paint circuit and they did a great job (they have always been great to work with), I shot it myself, and as you can see in the following images, it's quite a different shade panel to panel. Did what I could after the fact to darken it up and it's looking much better, hard to tell in certain light. I've made it obvious in the pics below but in person it's not so contrasty.


I've got no problem shooting this again as I'm only out a few bucks for paint and I have a decent booth to shoot parts in. I'm just wondering if anyone local has any experience with these colours and can offer up a better way to get the paint.

On to the pics, obviously no panel blending here either, Please keep in mind the images were shot BEFORE I did any final wet sanding, buffing and colour matching, mostly for fitment purposes. I've also pumped up a few things in photoshop to show the problem areas. aside from some basic blending on the bumper only. (Doing it again I'd spend some more time blending the middle section as it turned out just far too light)
Thanks!



Cranked the contrast to show bumper-to-hood issue

 

I've heard that there are up to 14 variations in the paint colour Silverstone, mostly in the flake used in the paint over the years. The trick is getting the flake right. Plus you have differences when they switched production from Tochigi to Suzuka assembly plants, and other differences like you mentioned. I had a tough time matching my Sebring Silver paint, along the lines of what you experienced. I've heard that you should spray a few different test patterns on some scrap metal or wood and then select the blend that best matches your paint, and professional paint shops will test out different flake before choosing the best match. The other variable is getting the flake to lay properly but you probably know about that.

 

Thanks for the input! I knew it was a tricky colour but damn! Agreed on the flake, that made/ makes it quite a task. I've got it super close in some areas and way off in others. It requires a really specific spray pattern too I found. Oh well guess I'll spend sometime with my body/paint guy and test some stuff out.

Thanks again!