Avantéix

well it took 4 long weeks of trials and errors, but in the end they finally got something i'm quite happy with...

they modified the paint mix about 4 times w/o having any success... depending on which angle one looked at the car, either the bumpers were looking too dark or too light or the sparkling effect of the metallic flakes was just not there... i guess the trick was getting the right mix so that the pearl on the bumpers reacted in the same way as the body to the light, i.e. changed shade in the same fashion as the car...

they even brought some kind of <i>spectro-colour-thingy</i> to test the stock paint... and to everyone's surprise it turned out the formula they've got from that spectro-thingy returned a completely different colour mix than the one recommended by Audi... that colour mix was based on Dupont instead of the factory Standox... so they gave it a trial but that just didn't turn out at all... so they went back to Standox again and did some more mix and some more spray outs...

but this time, since we were just about to give up and go back to the least worth of the previous mix (which didn't have as much sparkles as the stock paint), we placed all the test cardboards all over the lowers on the car and looked at them from all different angles... we ended-up picking one that remained pretty much "coordinated" with the rest of the car as the colour was darkening or lighting up... so then it was just a matter of hoping the paint would keep the same properties once applied to the bumpers...

well it worked!

it's almost a perfect match... actually i gave up on <i>the perfect match</i>... i think i've got a good 95%... and i do believe it's equal or even better than what's coming out of the manufactory anyway...
i think i've got something which is probably as good as it can be w/o spending God knows how many more days/weeks working on it for just little gains...

so kudos to Sean, Jon and the other guys from No.1 Collision... these guys went the extra mile just to make sure i was happy with the final product... they spent countless hours working on the car, they've always been courteous to me and even apologetic for the time it was taking them to get it right...
to tell you the truth i couldn't care less how long it was taking as long as the end product looked good and they knew it too...
i'm really lucky to have found a body shop that is so dedicated to making me, the customer, as happy as they possibly could... i even ended-up paying less than originally quoted...

now i can't wait to get my Sportec front lip back from PGPerformance, hopefully sometimes this week, to take it over to No.1...

by the way, for the folks from Vancouver, here is address for No.1 Collision:
1520 West Third Ave
tel: 604 732-6584
i'd definitively recommend these guys...

now the interesting thing Sean told me is that while they were having all these troubles with the paint, they went to Audi with my VIN number thinking it might help... Audi told them it had actually been painted as part of a batch of about 300 cars at a different location than usual... might still have been the same manufactory, but a different line... so it might be a case where the car wasn't even painted with Standox paint from the manufactory... maybe some PPG paint... thought that was quite interesting...

oh and i also got the lower door flares as well as the area around the exhaust pipes on the S4 rear bumper painted mat/trim black as the dark grey-ish colour wasn't cutting it anymore after having the bumpers and lowers painted denim...

now to the most important i guess... the pics...

<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/f576c6f9.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/2caaab1e.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/769df93a.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/01b77178.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/77d578f4.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/04f1783b.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/f892ccc0.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/c329ea5c.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/942b7e73.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/30f85e95.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/59751854.jpg">
<img src="http://img66.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Avant%e9ix/Audi/My%20Avant/Version%203-0/c005b032.jpg">

these and a few more can be found in my <a href="http://public.fotki.com/Avanteix/audi/my_avant/version_30/">Version 3.0 Album</a>

Turbo_Whip!

one questions, how come u did s4 conversion if ur gonna do sportec anyways?

boysan

and now it's even better :^D

TROLL

hey c-bacon, now all you need is some white fogs

German Driver

how did you get the audi logo on the sportec mono caps?

Bob Loblaw

You anticipating any problems w/ not having a front plate?

Avantéix

i was given the opportunity to pick-up the S4 front for cheap... since along with the Sportec front lip it has always been one of my favorites, i just couldn't help myself and bought it...

winter it's gonna be S4, summer will be Sportec... )

Fourspin

stunning.

yourk

hmm.. that looks hot... too hot to trot even

Avantéix

although i'm a bit worried everytime i leave work since the cops like to set-up a speed trap about a couple of hundred meters from my work place... wonder how long it's gonna take them before they point me to the side of the road...