is metallic colour really harder to touch up?

They have better paint guns than they did 20 years ago.

I've had two small repairs done on metallics in the last few years. The bodyshop I took the cars to never mentioned anything about it being metallic and the match was perfect.

I had a scratch/chip repaired on a black metallic painted car done recently and you can't see where the damage to the paintwork was as it has blended in perfectly.

Dave

I think it is harder, but a decent bodyshop will match it very well. It's tricky to do with a rattle can, unless it's a small isolated piece (like say a door mirror).

Same here. My local Ford dealer insist on spraying whole panels and charge a lot of cash, so when we had the 'rust around the chrome trim on the boot' repaired on our Focus, it was done by an independent spray shop who proved that metallic resprays can be blended in beautifully!

My next job on the Focus is the rust spots around the door mirrors. Ford want £270 per door, £540 total because they insist on a complete stripdown and respray the entire panel. I can get both doors done elsewhere for less than a quarter of that.

Morse

Most main dealers don't have the facilities to paint, and just get a bodyshop to do it for them.

You'll likely see it if you look at it via squint in the sunlight

From the spray painters point of view metallic blending has always been easier because you use the metallic base to blend-in by adjusting the airflow and mixture at the gun, then you lacquer the whole panel, albeit more time consuming.

You don't have the same options with straight colours because you can't alter the colour by simply adjusting the airflow or mixture, you have to rely on thinning to blend in.

Colour matching is however slightly different because that has to be done first at source.

Stephen.