Auto paint and refinish

Getting the color right

Every car leaves the factory with a paint code, usually on a label in the driver's door jamb or under the hood. That code is where we start, not where we stop. Years in the sun move the color on your car away from what it looked like new, so a can mixed straight from the code can still come out a shade off.

So we read the paint that is on your car today with computer color matching, adjust the mix, and blend the new color into the panels next to the repair. When it is done right, you can’t find the line where the new paint stops. One customer at our Edinburg shop said it in five words: “They matched the paint perfectly.”

Touch-up, one panel, or the whole car

Most paint jobs fall into one of these:

• Touch-up for scratches and chips that haven't gone deep
• One panel, like a bumper or a door, blended into the panels on each side
• Several panels after a collision repair
• A full respray when the finish is gone across the whole car

Why we blend instead of painting edge to edge

A new door painted edge to edge in the factory code can look off next to a fender that has been outside for eight summers. Your eye catches the difference right at the gap. Blending fades the new color into the panel next to it, so there is no hard edge to catch.

Blending means more surface gets prep and clear coat than the damaged panel alone. It costs a bit more than painting one panel by itself, and it is the reason a good repair is hard to spot.

Valley sun and clear coat

NWS Brownsville lists McAllen's normal high in July at 96.5 degrees. Cars here bake in parking lots, driveways, and job sites for months at a time, and the clear coat on top of the color takes the worst of it.

Clear coat fails in stages. First it goes dull. Then it turns chalky. Then it starts to peel, usually on the roof, hood, and trunk lid first, since they face the sun. Once it is peeling, polishing won't bring it back. The panel has to be sanded down and refinished. If you catch it at the dull stage, have us look before it gets worse.

What changes the price of paint work

There is no set price per panel. These are the things that move it:

• How many panels get paint, and whether the panels next to them get blended
• The color (pearl and tri-coat colors take more steps than a solid color)
• Dents, rust, or old repairs that need fixing before paint goes on
• Trim, handles, and lights that come off so the paint covers clean