I really, really need some help - anybody ever had any problems matching the shadow gray paint? Let me explain. Last year my husband bought me an 04 F250, shadow gray, 6.0 to haul my horses with. Well unfortunately someone bumped into the back left bed panel. We took it to a "friend's" body shop. They did great work on the body repair, but I took it back for a third time yesterday to get the paint right. After a million excuses, now he's trying to tell me the truck was painted wrong at the factory, and that's why it's so hard to match. Something about the metal flecks standing up, the robotic arm on the sprayer, yadda, yadda yadda. Anyways, I'm hoping someone here can give me some advice, opinions, sympathy? Anybody ever had a problem like this before?

 

Welcome to FTE.

We were just talking to some friends about this same thing a few days ago.

Another friend of ours has an F-350 with the Shadow Gray paint. His wife was coming back from the Carolina's last year and a rear tire blew and destroyed the passanger side box. The Ford paint shop re-sprayed it 4 x's and still no luck matching the original paint job. He finally decided to just accept the 2-tone look since they couldn't get it to match and he needed the truck. 2 months in the shop was about all he could stand.

You'll probably have to find someone that does specialty work and even then it may not match.

Good luck and I hope are able to get it back to new looking.

 

Oh no. Well thank you very much for replying, although I have to say that was not a t all what I wanted to hear! I wonder how I would go about finding a specialist that could handle this? Any ideas? Anybody else heard of this problem and do you have any suggestions (other than driving a new truck that looks like somebody stuck a different bed on it)?

 

Matching greys and silvers are difficult because of the metal content in the paint. Most body shops will take your paint code, and give you paint that matches the original color, which is nice for most colors, however greys and silvers tend to fade the quickest, so even after your truck is a year old, if it's been outside it's no longer the original grey.

What your shop needs to do, if they have the capability, is to match the paint with an optical-scanning machine that gives them the right mixtures of pigments, metal, and base paint. Then you can get darn close.

This is why painting the whole thing often is easier - at least it will match. Or, do something "cute" like paint below a certain paint all around, so it looks intentionally a slightly different color.

THis is one of the reasons why I like white vehicles, and when choosing off the lot (or used) I tend to go for white. Easy to match, easy to blend, and if the body work is "darn close but not perfect", you can barely see it unless you're hunting.

I spent years of my late teens and early 20's painting and repainting a 66 GTO black trying to get it to match, and my body work not showing. It just wasn't going to happen.

 

Hey Frederic - the problem with matching this "Shadow Gray" factory paint job is that it begins dark at the bottom and fades up to white in a very cool pattern.

Its that fading in that our friend couldn't get a match on so now his one side of the bed looks almost 2 tone.

 

Thanks for the advice y'all. Yep, this shadow gray is apparently very different. Something to do with the metal fleck. I know it's got a CX paint code, but couldn't really tell you more than that. I sure will mention the optical scan though and see what they say. His Ford "Paint Man" is supposed to be at his shop on Monday to take a look - we'll see what he has to say. Oh and this shadow gray is gray all over, it doesn't fade to white, and it's been parked under cover except for when it's parked at an arena or in a pasture for the day, but when it gets home it's covered, so it's not faded any. Frustrating!

 

When your painter bought the paint was he given several alternates to select from? Most metallic colored paint jobs vary in shade, even from the factory. Lately some paint companies have begun selling a cheaper grade of paint that comes in "standard" only. Take your truck to a paint store that sells quality brands of paints. Let them compare all the alternate samples with your truck and select the one that matches.

Your painter may need to paint the entire side of the bed rather than trying to spot paint it. That way, even if the paint is not an exact match, it will be separated from the original paint and might not be as noticible.

As a hobbyist I have been painting cars for 40 years. Matching colors can be a royal pain. Good luck.

 

Thanks for your help, GWall, but hopefully that's what the Ford Paint Rep is going to do today, and according to our friend who owns the body shop, that's what they've been doing for weeks is comparing paint and paint sprayouts. And yes, they did paint the whole side of the bed, and the whole tailgate as well. That's why it looks like it's been wrecked and had a different bed stuck on it! I just had not heard about any problems with this particular color, like he was telling me, and was wondering if any of you had, or if he really was just giving me the run-around.