I know you do killer work Jeremy. I been to your site. I just dont understand the mentality of not doing an expensive paint job based on the off chance that the owner might run into a shopping cart, or get hit by a train one day in the future.
I tell the person, 'I wont do any blends. You ever need a repair, its a panel job.' And for crash, I have color matched several hundred pearl whites. Its all about concentration (density). Ive matched door handles, trunk lids, bumper covers, mirrors, rear garnish, spoilers, etc. Using a different paint manuf than the vehicles were painted with. I was taught to do it using a machine. Xrite. When the machine would actually work right (probably the antique computer more than the xrite) it was a godsend to help match those difficult colors. But I knew I couldnt depend on that undependable machine. So I just learned about how it worked, and try to do that with my eyes. Just break down the process into sections. Base color. Pearl color. And concentration of pearl (texture is considered also but ideally shouldnt be a factor). And it worked out.
The issue I see with most people who say not to do all overs with Chameleons because they are hard to match, is really, they think its ugly. And I agree. Its tacky/ugly most all the time. But an off the shelf chameleon panel match is no harder than any other pearl job. People are just afraid of what they dont understand. Now, if the painted car in question has different chameleons mixed together, that makes it a major pain in the ass. But its not a pain because its a chameleon. Its a pain because your matching something that you dont know what it is, or the proportions of the mix. I personally wouldnt attempt that.
Another demographic that ive noticed really diminishes the value of chameleons paints (or special effect paints in general) is those with tons of artistic talent like Jeremy or JimC. I dont know whether it irks them that they have spent so many hours honing their craft, becoming masters, and someone (a talentless hack like myself) can just spray a vehicle with a new fangled sparkly paint and it look pretty damn kewl..?
It would be like when I took my compound bow to a bow shoot, and everyone there was shooting longbow. Those old fellers scowled at me something fierce. (Needless to say, I was at the wrong place.)
$8000 for a chameleon paint job.
Or $8000 for a wild and crazy custom air brushed paint job. If the issue was based on fix-ability, I would much rather fix the chameleon.
jeremyb;8891 said:
These colors are really meant to be an accent stripe or something of the nature, imo.
I obviously disagree. These pigments were actually intended to be used for anticounterfeiting purposes. Not for painting cars at all. And in no time, people started putting it in paint. I read my can, and it didnt say "Only intended as an accent stripe". I cant imagine what paint jobs would look like today, if everyone only did an 'accent stripe'.
That SEM fiasco is just simply unacceptable. WOW. I have one color chart from them. And just based on that, im gonna toss it. Not worth someone picking it out and me having to risk it, even if they have 'fixed it'. Ive had good luck with Alsa's candies anyways.