Respray nightmare - dilema - Advice needed

[RichieL]

Guys,

I just love my S2, had it 2 weeks and it has not been on
the road due to tech porblems and now an even bigger one.

OK, I decide to get my pacific blue S2 sprayed as it has stone
chips on the bonnett, cracks on the rear bumper etc and
generally needed tidying up being an ex London car.

Got a recommendation from my local tyre fitters and booked my
car in to get done. The owner fo the garage said he would
sort the bumper, slight scuffs on wings and bonnet and rear bumper.

We agreed a price and i got the car booked in. He said he managed
to achieve a 98% colour match but due to it being a Fri eve
he had not managed to color match the 2 front light pods as he
was very busy and was shutting up shop. The lights were fine
initially but he did say there was some overspray which indicated
the lights had been sprayed at some stage in it's life.

I agreed to take it back in the beginning of last week to get it sorted but
on arrival last Mon i was informed he had gone bankrupt !!
I was the last job to get partially completed on the Fri before
he did a bunk !! This guy had been in business for 30 years with
a good rep !!

Anyway, went to another approved bodyshop and he quoted me
for the lights anf booked it in last wed with a two day turn around.
I got a call yesterday to inform me that the Lotus colour A68
Pacific blue had been used and the lights were still the same colour
and did not match the car !!! He said he would take a sample
of the paint and try and match it with another paint manufacturer !

Now, i'm not happy !!

The car looks good but is slightly darker, hence the pods looking
now slightly lighter.. !! Although all bodywork does match as
close as possible including the doors and boot lid that have
not been touched

My question is would you guys claim off your insurance and get
the car completely resprayed, if possible ?

Not sure what to do as awating call on Mon with further instruction
from the bodyshop as to what they are going to do with the pods..

Annoyed is not the word !!!

What would you do ??

[Gazza]

Richie

Sinclaires of London have always told me that Pacific Blue is the hardest of all Lotus colours to match, usually resulting in a complete front end respray with it blending into the doors.

Not good news but hope it helps.

Gazza

[Paul.P]

Pretty sure Dico said there was 2 shades of Pacific Blue, depending on the paint manufacturer !

[Dico]

Yes, there are two different shades of pacific blue. Early SE models were a darker shade than the later SE's and ALL S2's which were a lighter colour (two different paint companies).

I'm not sure how you would claim off your insurance

Shame you didn't ask for recomendations off here first.

[RichieL]

Thanks guys, I thought that was the case, even Lotus technical
told me accordig to the VIN number i gave them it was a an A68
colour code for the S2 I have but it is not the same as on the car !!!

Will see how it goes on Mon when and if I get the car back..

All your help is much appreciated..

[GeoffSmith]

I can't see how A68 would be used on an S2. According to the paint codes, DuPont (B prefix) was introduced in 1991.

Mind you, it will all be water based now so even more chance of a mismatch.

[Sy V]

ICI were replaced by DuPont, Geoff, and DP were used there after, so it's quite right that the s2 is the later make of paint.

[muley]

My paint shop said he'd blend mine in if/when we go for a front end respray - he would do bumper, clam, pods, a post fillers in one go.

There's quite a difference between early and later Pac Blue, as stated earlier in the thread.

Cheers

Jim

[stevo]

there are two pacific blues ici 89-91 and du-pont 91 on. the latter is lighter in colour. when a paint shop supplys paint to the bodyshop they take the paint code from the car and mix it from various base colours. this is not an exact sience and any two batches can be slghtly differant. also with a metalic the angle that the gun has passed the panel, the technique of the painter, ambiant temp, humidity and prep of the surface all play a big part in finished artical once its dryed.

any touch up of front end respray will not be exact but a compromise. the only way to get it perfect is to spray the whole car unfortunately and thats what im doing today.

p.s i've got 2 litres of sandox k2 pacific blue for sale if you want.

[RichieL]

Thanks guys, yes, the realms of paint is becoming technical
and I am learing a fair bit on the way. The first mix was taken
from a sample of the petrol cap and mixed accordingly. I a
have advised the current bodyshop to to do the same thing as
it is all very well getting a clour code bt due to the degredation
of colour, light exposure, oxidisation over the last 12 years,
going for the original paint code, whether it be the correct one
or not will still not match the existing paint work !!! ..

I shall see tomorrow what the solution is ??

Quote from the Paint shop " We have been in business for
over 22 years and we will get this matched for you "

My reply was " Have you ever sprayed a pacific blue Lotus
S2 before " ?

Enough said !!!

Thanks guys for all your posts, it really is much appreciated.

Richard

[stevo]

paint dudes know there stuff, let them try. if it all go's tits up your looking at max 2 grand too make it look like it rolled out of hethel.

[DaveT]

Sorry to hear of your troubles Richard. The same thing happened to me when I had my pb elan. Guy went bust just as I was taking it back to complain about the colour match. It turned out that he'd used a Vauxhall colour which was the closest match he could find instead of getting the correct code paint which would have cost more.

My situation was resolved prior to the second respray- with 5 days to spare- by writing the car off. DONT try that one!!!!


DaveT