How to match imola red color

Are you in North America? All the autobody shops either mix or buy automotive paint from specialized divisions of major paint companies. In the couple of "brushes" that I have had my repairer has supplied me with a very small quantity as "future" touch-up.

Malcolm Mason

better stores will mix the spray cans for you (at least here in the UK). Find the paint code under the bonnet. Take that code to the autoshop/auto body shop/paint factor. They look it up in a big book, or if modern on a computer for the paint maker they use. It will list the pigment recipe (base/tints/effects) mix it in a jug, pour into a blank can, add the propellent (CO2 etc) and then label it for you.

It gives a far better match than any premixed generic "Saab Imola Red" will, because you slight variances of the colour code over a number of years even though they come with the same colour name from Saab.

Better still is to buy bulk +thinners, buy or hire a compressor and gun and learn to set it up to spray properly, better finish, cheaper in the long run, and as long as the tin of paint is unthinned and properly sealed will last for ages so you can do jobs later when you need.

A good auto supply store (in the USA) will have the ability to mix paints. Be aware that some paints are applied in multiple stages. You can wither apply it with an air brush, a compressor and spray gun, or one of those disposable CO2/bottle arrangements.

Even custom mixed paints will not be an exact match. A quality body shop mixes the paint themselves, tries it, then adjusts a bit. They do that a few times... then they still blend it very carefully into the adjoining panels to get an undetectable match. It's never _exactly_ the same as factory paint but a good body man can make it undetectable. Bodywork and paint work is only a science for the lesser men, it's an art for the true professionals.

Are you painting your car or something else ?

Yes, and red is the most difficult colour to match since it often fades.

In the 90's Saab used a single stage paint for non metallic colors like red, black, white. This contributes to fade, although it allows you to polish the car and restore the color.

When it's time to patch, it's an issue. Single stage paint is getting difficult to find. Body men (very good ones) will tell you that they can't produce the same durability as a baked factory one stage - which is itself already a little troublesome as you have mentioned. Because of fade, they suggest a two stage with clear coat.

Getting OT... After some long discussions with my body man, I agreed to allow him to use clear coat for some repairs I needed. He matched the color almost perfectly (he tests and retests), then clearcoated the new panels (two stage paint) and cleared back over some adjoining panels to blend it. He's got a _very_ good paint man who paints, blocks it out, and makes it perfect. Charges a small fortune, but you can't tell that there was ever any paint work done. The only downside is that I have to buff the non-CC panels yearly to keep them up to snuff with the clearcoated sections... but I had to do that anyway to make the car look new each year and now there's actually a little less to buff.

I have often speculated that the matching process could be computerized. Say, the precise colour of the car could be measured through bandpass filters. The base paints would have to be very precise and the computer would know about the final colour after drying. Possibly, the whole thing would be expensive and there would be a temptation to cut corners. But nevertheless, here's a free idea.

Good thinking... but there already is such a device, the Smartscan spectrophotometer or just 'paintscanner'... it is placed on a flat piece of the car, like the bonnet/hood, works with a flashlight and lenses, the reflecting light is recorded and analysed and the machine produces a color code.

------ MH

Ok, interesting. I've heard that automatic colour monitoring is often used for industrial processes, e.g. carpet making. Anybody know if this system is used by auto paint shops somewhere in the UK?

My local body repairer (never tested except for an A/C repair) uses a colour photospectrometer.

David.

Thank you very much, everyone who responded.

Having listened to your advice, I just had the part professionally painted (it was a bumper). All I had to do was to tell them the saab color code. They looked it up somehow. The result is great. The color matches perfectly. It is visually impossible to tell that the bumper had been re-painted.

I am now thinking of repainting the spoiler the same way ... but will have to wait another month: this month's budget is busted.

Thank you.