JAB225

My question is: have any of you with Lake Silver tint obtained a satisfactory (i.e. virtually invisible) repainting job?

My car got keyed, so... off to the autobody shop.

The paint job was unsatisfactory; instead of a glass-like appearance of the colored undercoat, the paint surface came out sort of lightly pebble-grained (the colored coat not the clear top coat).

The autobody guy claims it's a paint issue not a workmanship issue. He arranges a meet with his paint supplier and the Dupont paint rep to look at the car. Paint rep claims it's a "real good job" and that with that Dupont paint it's the best that can be done (what BS!). He then offers that there's a european spec version of the same paint color (duh, why wasn't that used in the first place?); they'll get the paint and paint a couple of test pannels (on a scrap door) and compare results.

I'd like to be armed with at least some anecdotal evidence that others with silver paint have had "perfect" results.

(the insurance claims guy has looked at the painted car (before the big meeting) and agreed it was not satisfactory, so unless he flips I've got them behind me that a repaint is reqired)

Thanks.

suiTTman

Paint is perfect - color is off just slightly and only noticable in florecent light !!

He has his own body shop and only repairs Audis and BMWs - so I guess they know how to paint german cars..

I had door and fender - skin replaced and painted..

Lone Starr (Ivan)

done by Audi dealer body shop. It was perfect. Only one small overspray onto windshield washer fluid reservoir cap. No orange peel, no roughness, nice smooth deep shine and matched the paint very well. The paint tech told me it wasn't a perfect match but I sure couldn't tell.

Would it help if I found out what brand of paint was used? I can do that pretty easily.

hoTTub

and they had one of the mobile guys come and try to fix it, the job turned out awful. I took it back to the dealer and they admitted her into the Dealership Body Shop.

They paint quality turned out to be outstanding, the paint has the same finish (glass-like) as the factory paint.

The *only* problem is that they chose a bad spot to blend the paints together because in certain light, I can see exactly where it stops/starts. This is more of a funiction of trying to get the paint *grain* lined up with the factory grain, that is the hardest part of painting in silver

JAB225

Yes thanks, knowing the exact paint used might be very helpful

NexxTT

Original silver had faded just a tad so color match at the rear hatch/fender seam is just a tad off, but you really have to be looking for it to tell.

Glass-like, yes! :-)

QYKSLVR

Local bodyshop painted a new rear apron matched perfect! This is the best shop around though.

sofTTware

Car is silver. The Ultimate Paint Shop in the northern Chicago suburbs did the work. They are excellent.

TwisTTer

The entire right side had to be repainted.
For the life of me, they could not match the paint to save their lives.
The job was done over twice. This was a body shop the dealer recommended.

My second TT was involved in a fender bender (some idiot backed up into the fender and made a slight crease).

Body shop wants to repaint the new fender and the door to "blend it in". There is no way I'm letting them pain my car.

Luckily for me, it was clean hit right on the fender. I searched the entire country for a painted fender in Lake Silver and found 1 (body parts for TT's are sooooooo hard to find!!!!!).

At least I know that it will match because it is factory painted.

What it boils down to is who does the paint job.
I've seen some of the best shop do poor jobs on silver metallic or any color that has a metallic mix (such as pearl white).

A friend recommended to try shops that do restoration of classic cars. They do the best paint jobs.

ND4SPD

$16,000 of damage, completely not noticeable.