I have a 96 F150 that I will be welding rear fender body panels on. The truck is not perfect and has some minor scratches, dents, etc. It is a Eddie bauer edition, so it is white on top with gold trim on the bottom. Here is a pic:

I am afraid that when I paint it, it will look like a completely different color. I When I'm done, I don't want it to look like body work was done to it. If I paint it with the original paint coded paint, will it look the same as the almost-20-yr-old paint that's on it now?

edit: Hmmmm. Pic wouldn't show. Let's try this again:

 

With todays technology it is no longer a ....it's going to turn out like a zebra concern. There is one thing your want to do.....find a bodyshop of paint supply shop (body shop is more likely) to have a laser for scanning the paint. They will take 3 readings and the software will create the (almost) exact formula taking into consideration fading, etc. Typically, it is what I will call a half of shade to being on the money...meaning, it is almost undetectable to the human eye....and they will mix the paint for yu with their system. This system is typically found a body shops that specialize in color matching (not paint blending).

 

Is this something I should have a body shop do? I do not have a paint booth or anything. Just a cheap siphon feed spray gun. But remember - even though the pic makes it look like it's spotless - it's not. I don't need to win any competitions here. Just want to apply it, and get it to match to the average guy. I just want to keep costs down.

Well, officially, because of environmental laws is should be sprayed in an approved spray booth but IMHO, of course with a couple of pieces to practice on 1st, I would think you would do fine. If you do all the prep work using their recommended primers, I would bet that they wouldn't charge that much more to spray it for you as well.....but, BC/CC is really not that difficult...easier (IMHO) than acrylic enamel...