Matching old OEM paint

Bossed

Member
Full disclosure, I have never attempted to blend paint. My 2004 F150 (the same one with the galvanic corrosion on the hood) is Dark Toreador Red. The original paint looks amazing for its age, but I know it's almost impossible to match paint where panels meet without doing a blend. I would love to repair the corrosion and repaint the hood. How do guys get the best color match when doing a blend ? (I would definitely use a quality base) Pic of the truck
20220916_100532.jpg
 
Several thin coats, each coat misting out a little farther then the last. Blend on the front of a hood will be undetectable. The main problem with matching colors, is the more years and models (assembly plants) that have the same color, the less control the factory has of every vehicle coming out the same. Ford has used code JL since 1996. It is very possible that your truck is dead on to the color Ford started with in 96, but you won't know until you do a spray out, or if you have some variant chips available, you can get paint mixed to the closest variant.
 
Several thin coats, each coat misting out a little farther then the last. Blend on the front of a hood will be undetectable. The main problem with matching colors, is the more years and models (assembly plants) that have the same color, the less control the factory has of every vehicle coming out the same. Ford has used code JL since 1996. It is very possible that your truck is dead on to the color Ford started with in 96, but you won't know until you do a spray out, or if you have some variant chips available, you can get paint mixed to the closest variant.
Can you explain what you mean ("or if you have some variant chips available") where would I get them ?
 
Can you explain what you mean ("or if you have some variant chips available") where would I get them ?
They're just spray outs of several known variations of a paint code, Your local body shop supply might have them to use on sight, they aren't going to let them leave their property. Most body shops have them, but you will need a good friend at the shop to get use of them. They're very expensive for them to buy, and priceless to them if they have saved all their years of spray outs.
If you are able to get use of some, pick the variant that matches the closest, and have that formula mixed. The closer the match, the easier the blend
 
They're just spray outs of several known variations of a paint code, Your local body shop supply might have them to use on sight, they aren't going to let them leave their property. Most body shops have them, but you will need a good friend at the shop to get use of them. They're very expensive for them to buy, and priceless to them if they have saved all their years of spray outs.
If you are able to get use of some, pick the variant that matches the closest, and have that formula mixed. The closer the match, the easier the blend
I just did a formula search for JL in my Standox system, and they show the standard formula, 2 darker variants, 1 brighter, and 1 redder. Considering that the color has been used for over 25 years, that's a very low number of variants. I think JL (assuming your code is JL) was just used on trucks, so less factories using it means more control on color correctness.
 
One post where I went into a lot of detail. There several others if you search.

 
Most jobbers will have a variant deck at their store that you can check with. Axalta has far better color documentation than PPG. I mixed several Cromax products at several Shops over the years and the Cromax software always was spot on with variants provided you entered the VIN.Cant ever recall when it didn't give me a blendable match.
 
One post where I went into a lot of detail. There several others if you search.

Thank you. I will dig into this.
 
I just did a formula search for JL in my Standox system, and they show the standard formula, 2 darker variants, 1 brighter, and 1 redder. Considering that the color has been used for over 25 years, that's a very low number of variants. I think JL (assuming your code is JL) was just used on trucks, so less factories using it means more control on color correctness.
Thank you for sharing this information. I never thought about there being different variants of a particular color.
 
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