Car Paint Colour Match

Our customers often ask about the car paint colour match process and how we get the perfect, factory finish on your vehicles.

The answer is simple, a trick of the trade! Just kidding, this article tells you everything you need to know about car paint colour match so you can rest assured that your repair from Mobile SMART Repair UK is of the highest quality.

Colour matching is crucial in the smart repair industry, regardless of whether you're going for a mobile or bodyshop-based repair. Achieving the perfect alignment between the new paint on your car and the car's existing colour is vital.

To gain a seamless finish, we'll spend some time looking for the best shade during the car paint colour match process.

A proper colour match is the only way to restore the original factory look of the car, and sometimes, even to the untrained eye, a bad colour match can be pretty noticeable. Getting a seamless finish will help maintain value, which is paramount to our customers.

Tools for Car Paint Colour Match Processes

Much like the rest of the world, the automotive sector is turning digital. With this, many digital colour-matching systems have become available. These help to identify the exact shade of a vehicle.

As experienced technicians, however, we're very familiar with the makes and models of cars and their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications too.

Individual paint programs are an easy place for us to start, as we will know the make and model of your car before we arrive at your repair booking.

BMW for example, provides a comprehensive colour catalogue with standard and exclusive colour options. This chart comes with a colour-matching system for repairers. Mercedes-Benz is a similar case, with even their most unique finishes being detailed for repairers, from their iridium silver to obsidian black.

Car Paint Colour Match For Mercedes-Benz Example:

Obsidian black by Mercedes is an original manufacturer shade that typically gives the appearance of a glossy and deep black. Since it's not the purest of blacks, there is often a slight warmth to the appearance of the vehicle.

(We've used digital examples to provide the closest match online!)

Car Paint Colour Match For Mercedes-Benz Example:

Iridium silver is another original shade brought to the market by Mercedes. Unlike other silver shades in the sector, iridium silver is a metallic shade with hints of underlying blue. This premium shade is typically used on S-Class, E-Class and AMG models.

(Again, we've used digital examples to provide the closest online example!)

Audi, Porsche, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Ferrari, and Jaguar/Land Rover are some other common manufacturer colour charts. These colour wheels make the car paint colour match fairly straightforward, with specifications provided for metallic and pearlescent finishes.

The colour coding systems are typically available online, or via their designated apps, so we'll start your mobile smart repair by looking up the exact colour code needing to be mixed. Efficient and accurate!

The art and science behind car paint colour match

Knowledge of paint chemistry and careful consideration during formulation is how we achieve the perfect colour match. What many of our customers also find interesting though, is that your paint code is specified in your car. So, if you're ever wondering 'What colour is my car?' then the below can help!

What colour is my car?

Finding your car's paint colour code is easy. It depends on the make of your car as to where it is located, however, common locations include:

• The driver-side door frame or sill

• Under the hood in the engine bay

• Glove box

• Owners manual

Still can't find your colour code? Check out this car paint colour match and code identifier from Halfords.

Your car colour code helps with car paint colour matches by detailing a series of letters and numbers to reflect the right hue, manufacturing batch, tones/multi-tones and other colour variations. Again, each manufacturer has their own colour chart so the codes often vary between car makes too.

A basic colour code is usually 3 - 4 characters long and can be alpha-numeric to outline a combination of different attributes of the colour. An additional code can be added, which is typically to specify the colours of different parts if you have a two-tone vehicle.

Car colour codes will not only specify shade but also finish! This means that if you have a metallic paint finish to your vehicle, we'll be able to match it perfectly for an undetectable finish. The same goes for solid, pearlescent and matte too.

This BMW for example, has a metallic finish so the code you'd often see is A82 for carbon black metallic, or C9B for a space grey metallic. Other medium-to-grey BMW shades include B39 and A23 colour codes, for example.

These codes can be followed by M or MET to indicate metallic finishes or P for pearl finishes.

Audi, Mercedes, Nissan, Hyundai, Ford and Toyota all specify MET or P.

Car Paint Colour Match at Mobile SMART Repair UK

As a business, we're passionate about delivering discreet colour matches and undetectable repairs. With this, we ensure we have access to and use all the same paint systems that large-scale body shops utilise. Making our repairs of the same quality, but much more advanced in terms of convenience and speed.

Our vans are well equipped, housing over 65 tinters in our scheme to ensure we get that colour and finish exactly right.

With a SMART repair, by nature, we are focused on the central damage zone, rather than the entire panel. With this comes a high focus on colour matching and blending.

Not only do we ensure we formulate every colour exactly right but we also include a blending service for those makes and models where the manufacturer's finish is slightly more unique, or if the damage is close to the edge of where two panels meet.