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My 95 F150 is a medium gray metallic color. The door jamb sticker shows the paint code to be WM. I'm not finding it in the paint charts. I was told it was called "smoke"
I see a light smoke in the charts but the truck looks darker. Code does not match the light smoke either.
I also have a 95 Bronco in light opal metallic.
Be warned that there was a slight change in paint shade sometime during the 95 model year run for the light opal metallic, according to my paint supplier. Choose "A" or "B" at end of paint formulation is the choice I was given.
My paint supplier had no idea how to differentiate between the two other than holding a paint chip up to the existing vehicle.
Most people probably wouldn't notice the difference between the two in many cases depending on what area of vehicle is getting the new paint.
After all was said and done I needed the lighter version, but I purchased the darker unknowingly. Still very close considering it was going on the tailgate and really didn't meet up with too much of the other body panels.
Interesting. The drivers door on my truck was repainted and the color is a bit lighter than the rest of the truck. Wonder if that was the issue. You said you got the darker one. Was that the A or B on the chart?
When the vehicle gets in later tonight I will double check because this was back in 2010 or so and I don't entirely trust my memory on the specifics.
Even though I have since had the vehicle repainted entirely with PPG base/clear, there is still a spot in one of the door jambs where I did some touch up with this other single stage paint.
I still have the paint can with the formula number.
Let me report back with more specifics......
Here is what applies to my rig.
Just for clarity, mine is a 95 Bronco built in 10/94, so it is an early 95..
It has paint code WM just like yours.
Notice that some charts call it "light opal clear coat metallic" and others call it "light opal poly". The name is not important but the paint code (WM) is what rules.
If you notice the paint formulation number above is M6631A where as everywhere else I look shows the formulation number as being M6631.
Light Opal metallic: https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorco...e=Light%20Opal
So going back to what I mentioned before that I was given a choice between an "A" or "B". I think I am mistaken. I now think that it was an "A" variant that was the option.
I was likely given the choice of M6631 or M6631A equivelant. These are Ford numbers and other paint manufacturers use different numbers for same color.
With that being said, the paint I had purchased from the Carquest store back in 2010 was a single stage made by Third Dimension, which I believe is a Sherwin Williams brand.
This paint formulation number is 54-48459-A . I would assume (oh oh...) that the "A" at the end of the formulation number correlates to the Ford number of M6631A -vs- M6631 that shows on most look up charts.
Now back to what I can report about my specific vehicle, I sprayed an small area inside of one of my door jambs this 54-48459-A paint. This paint is slightly darker that the original paint that came on my Bronco. The original paint has more of a silvery look but new paint is slightly bent to a grayish tone. Not terribly noticeable but a keen eye will see it.
Now, except for the door jamb area that I sprayed, I never used this paint. Instead, I sent it to a body shop to paint the new tailgate and they used PPG 2 stage which was the darker paint and yes you could notice the darker tailgate next to the original paint just above the tail lights.
Fast forward about 8 years and decided to get entire truck repainted. A different shop used PPG formulation for the M6631 and it too is the darker color and the slight color discrepancy over the original paint can be witnessed at the door jamb areas. Most people wont even notice this but it is there.
Given this, my guess is (and this is only a guess so do your own due diligence) is that the earlier production vehicles used the lighter almost silvery color and they later switched to a darker more grayish color later in model year for some reason.
So if you are given the choice of an "A" formulation this would likely be the darker late production color. I would also be speculating here but it looks like PPG defaults to the later production darker gray color.
Yours looks to be a later production 95 given the build date on your data tag.
As a side note, when I used this Third Dimension paint to spray a small area inside of the door jamb I used a Preval sprayer. The spray out was way too heavy for the metallic content and it just looked all muddled and metallics looked awful. Glad it is in a hidden area. So be warned that metallics didn't seem to work well in a Preval sprayer.
Hope that helps some.
Here is a picture of my Bronco wearing the darker WM paint:
That Bronco is SWEET!
Thank you for the insight with this color. If I was to repaint the entire truck I think I'd go with the lighter color. For now I'm just trying to match what's there. Many other things to attend to before a respray. Your time is truly appreciated.
Something to keep in mind as well, is what the color of the substrate is. It should be on the can, a printed label by the mixer - It will indicate the color of the primer / and base coat color. That’s aside from guns, air pressure, coats, orientation, etc etc. difficult to match, you may want to do a test panel if you’re looking for the best match.
If you just sand down the top clear coat and put another coat on top of the silver, it can be a slightly different shade when finished. Ymmv.
On another note, as mentioned above, it is the tail gate, so not as noticeable.
Something to keep in mind as well, is what the color of the substrate is. It should be on the can, a printed label by the mixer - It will indicate the color of the primer / and base coat color. That’s aside from guns, air pressure, coats, orientation, etc etc. difficult to match, you may want to do a test panel if you’re looking for the best match.
If you just sand down the top clear coat and put another coat on top of the silver, it can be a slightly different shade when finished. Ymmv.
On another note, as mentioned above, it is the tail gate, so not as noticeable.
(Sharp looking Bronco McLeod)
Can't agree with you more. Silver and grey metallics are some of the hardest paints to spray and get right. Motteling, striping and dull spots are very easy to get if you have even the slightest difference in air pressure or gun settings. Keeping the flakes at the top on final coats is even harder. I've been spraying paint for years. Silvers are still a challenge to this day.
Something to keep in mind as well, is what the color of the substrate is. It should be on the can, a printed label by the mixer - It will indicate the color of the primer / and base coat color. That’s aside from guns, air pressure, coats, orientation, etc etc. difficult to match, you may want to do a test panel if you’re looking for the best match.
If you just sand down the top clear coat and put another coat on top of the silver, it can be a slightly different shade when finished. Ymmv.
On another note, as mentioned above, it is the tail gate, so not as noticeable.
(Sharp looking Bronco McLeod)
Yes, the underlying color can potentially cause an issue with shade of the top coat. That red truck right behind the Bronco got a repaint several years after that picture and the recommended color of primer or sealer was white.
I used the same color light gray epoxy as the OEM paint job had and am quite pleased still, but it could be an issue in certain applications for sure.
Here is what applies to my rig.
Just for clarity, mine is a 95 Bronco built in 10/94, so it is an early 95..
It has paint code WM just like yours.
Notice that some charts call it "light opal clear coat metallic" and others call it "light opal poly". The name is not important but the paint code (WM) is what rules.
If you notice the paint formulation number above is M6631A where as everywhere else I look shows the formulation number as being M6631.
Light Opal metallic: https://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorco...e=Light%20Opal
So going back to what I mentioned before that I was given a choice between an "A" or "B". I think I am mistaken. I now think that it was an "A" variant that was the option.
I was likely given the choice of M6631 or M6631A equivelant. These are Ford numbers and other paint manufacturers use different numbers for same color.
With that being said, the paint I had purchased from the Carquest store back in 2010 was a single stage made by Third Dimension, which I believe is a Sherwin Williams brand.
This paint formulation number is 54-48459-A . I would assume (oh oh...) that the "A" at the end of the formulation number correlates to the Ford number of M6631A -vs- M6631 that shows on most look up charts.
Now back to what I can report about my specific vehicle, I sprayed an small area inside of one of my door jambs this 54-48459-A paint. This paint is slightly darker that the original paint that came on my Bronco. The original paint has more of a silvery look but new paint is slightly bent to a grayish tone. Not terribly noticeable but a keen eye will see it.
Now, except for the door jamb area that I sprayed, I never used this paint. Instead, I sent it to a body shop to paint the new tailgate and they used PPG 2 stage which was the darker paint and yes you could notice the darker tailgate next to the original paint just above the tail lights.
Fast forward about 8 years and decided to get entire truck repainted. A different shop used PPG formulation for the M6631 and it too is the darker color and the slight color discrepancy over the original paint can be witnessed at the door jamb areas. Most people wont even notice this but it is there.
Given this, my guess is (and this is only a guess so do your own due diligence) is that the earlier production vehicles used the lighter almost silvery color and they later switched to a darker more grayish color later in model year for some reason.
So if you are given the choice of an "A" formulation this would likely be the darker late production color. I would also be speculating here but it looks like PPG defaults to the later production darker gray color.
Yours looks to be a later production 95 given the build date on your data tag.
As a side note, when I used this Third Dimension paint to spray a small area inside of the door jamb I used a Preval sprayer. The spray out was way too heavy for the metallic content and it just looked all muddled and metallics looked awful. Glad it is in a hidden area. So be warned that metallics didn't seem to work well in a Preval sprayer.
Hope that helps some.
Here is a picture of my Bronco wearing the darker WM paint:
Can you post a pic of that rear bumper on the Bronco? It looks really nice from the side. Lots of ground clearance
