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Touch Up Paint Doesn't Match

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by PiPLosAngeles, Nov 28, 2012.

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  1. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    I have a 781 Sea Glass Pearl 2012 Prius. I discovered to my dismay that even light pressure (no impact) on the painted plastic will chip the paint. I bought 781 touch up paint from the dealer and shook the bottle for three full minutes. The color isn't even close. It looks worse than the ding, almost as bad as if I used White Out. Has anyone had this trouble or have suggestions for matching Sea Glass Pearl?
     
    #1 PiPLosAngeles, Nov 28, 2012
  2. 13Plug

    13Plug Active Member

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    Pic? I was thinking about getting the paint protection film on my Prius, are you talking about the front bumper?
     
    #2 13Plug, Nov 28, 2012
  3. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    Sorry, no pic. After letting the touch up paint dry for a few hours with no improvement I removed it with solvent.

    The plastic piece in question is actually the part just below the lower rear window. It's the plastic part with the Toyota and Prius emblems attached.
     
    #3 PiPLosAngeles, Nov 28, 2012
  4. TsKarma

    TsKarma Junior Member

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    Sorry to hear. I don't have much experience with it (yet).
    Just wondering if you got unlucky and received a bad batch from the dealer? Have you tried to bring it back to the dealer and compare it to another one?
     
    #4 TsKarma, Nov 28, 2012
  5. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    They ordered another, but it will take a week. I'll let you know and take pics this time. If it's going to be impossible to get touchup paint to match the car I'm going to be in a world of hurt. I've become fairly good at touch up and I can't pay $1,000 to a body shop for every scratch and chip.
     
    #5 PiPLosAngeles, Nov 28, 2012
  6. phoenixgreg

    phoenixgreg Senior member

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    Unfortunately, the pearlescent colors are very difficult to match (yours and Blizzard White). My friend has a white one and his touch-up paint didn't match either.
     
    #6 phoenixgreg, Nov 29, 2012
  7. sLick415

    sLick415 Member

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    Would love to see any pictures of the touch up paint.
     
    #7 sLick415, Nov 29, 2012
    MasterPri08 likes this.
  8. Les_PL

    Les_PL Active Member

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    Hey,
    I think it's a proper thread to ask the question if anybody used the stickerfix. I've asked on Polish Toyota Club forum but no one had a clue about it. For me looks good and - as a temporary solution it may work. Recently I experienced the very first ugly scrrrratch on my black spaceship (see below :( And - however in Poland the body workshoppers charge less than in US - the cost of professional touch-upping is also painful.
    What do you think of it?


    rysa.jpg
     
    #8 Les_PL, Nov 29, 2012
  9. 13Plug

    13Plug Active Member

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    I've never heard of stickerfix. Interesting idea, not sure I'd use it though.

    For what it's worth, I bought some sea glass pearl touchup paint from the dealer and used it to fill in a few paint chips on the front bumper. It matched very well, although it left a little "divot" in the paint where I did it. The result wasn't totally professional but if I had to do it again I would trust the paint, and do a few extra applications to build up the chipped area to blend more smoothly.

    The toyota paint pens work better than the old school brushes in a bottle though.

    I wonder how the OP made out...
     
    #9 13Plug, May 1, 2013
  10. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    OP still has a chip out of the silver part on the rear because I can't find a paint code that matches it. The guys at my local dealer tried pretty hard to help me, and we found some pretty close, but even those looked really bad and were visible from some distance.
     
    #10 PiPLosAngeles, May 1, 2013
  11. danvee

    danvee Blizzard Brigadier

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    Have you tried paintscratch.com?
     
    #11 danvee, May 1, 2013
  12. 13Plug

    13Plug Active Member

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    Oh so the sea glass color isn't the issue now? I wouldn't expect them to be able to color match anything but the main paint color. Can you repaint the whole part or replace? And how did you chip the paint on the rear?
     
    #12 13Plug, May 1, 2013
  13. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    Sea Glass was never the issue. It's the silver color Toyota uses on the front bumper, the rear hatch, and the door handles. There is no paint code for it so nobody can match it.

    It got chipped because I didn't realize just how soft that paint was. I was opening the hatch slowly to see how far it would open before it hit the garage door. I made the mistake of letting it touch the garage door. By touch, I mean make contact, not slam or hit. I let it rest there to measure the opening. That was enough to make a ding all the way through to the black plastic underneath.
     
    #13 PiPLosAngeles, May 2, 2013
  14. 13Plug

    13Plug Active Member

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    Whoops I must have misread original message:

    "I bought 781 touch up paint from the dealer ... Has anyone had this trouble or have suggestions for matching Sea Glass Pearl?"
     
    #14 13Plug, May 2, 2013
  15. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    Yeah, when I first went to get paint I wasn't really paying attention. When I told the dealer that I dinged the rear hatch trim they just gave me the 781 Sea Glass Pearl. I didn't even look at the paint code, I just dabbed it on and then went :eek:
     
    #15 PiPLosAngeles, May 2, 2013
  16. tach18k

    tach18k Member

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    Understand the Pearl paint color is not like other solid color paint. There is different levels of paint in a Pearl color finish. They will sell you the base color, but to get the Pearl affect takes an application process. Forget the nicks and chips, I have a black model and the paint is very soft. But I can get a exact color match.
     
    #16 tach18k, May 2, 2013
  17. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    The touch up paint matches the car fine. There's just no touch up paint for the silver parts, which unfortunately are some of the most ding and scratch prone parts of the car (and they say it takes government to make dumb choices).
     
    #17 PiPLosAngeles, May 2, 2013
  18. bedrock8x

    bedrock8x Senior Member

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    Go to a professional auto paint shop, they can computer match the paint color for you.
     
    #18 bedrock8x, May 2, 2013
  19. PiPLosAngeles

    PiPLosAngeles Senior Member

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    I went to two separate shops and they all said they wouldn't be able to match it because it's metallic. They can get the silver color right, but they'll never be able to match the "sparkles" or whatever you call it. Plus, that makes a $10 job into a $600 job.
     
    #19 PiPLosAngeles, May 2, 2013
  20. bedrock8x

    bedrock8x Senior Member

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    Color match, yes, sparkle, never. This is because when applying the new paint, the metallic particle will not align to the same direction as the original paint. The counterman should have told you that.
    If the chip is less that 1/4", it should not be too noticeable.

     
    #20 bedrock8x, May 2, 2013
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