My friend has a Red Candy '13 and just bought louvers from AM. He's concerned the paint doesn't match. Is it just the different angles and light? Thoughts?

 

It looks very close, maybe just a tad bit off.

 

Out of curiosity have you tried to flip flip and look at it different angles. The paint may of been laid down different. The factory uses a machine, whereas the small part my hand. Just an idea.

 

Problem fixed. On the third try from American muscle they match much better now.

 

I have read that "red candy" is really gold, with a red clear cost over the top. May or may not be true but as a result it's not possible to ever touch up a scratch with the factory touch up paint. The touch up is a red clear that either shows up as too dark, or if the gold that is blended in with it is too much it shows up as more orange in color. Add to that the paint has a solvent like action on the paint on the car means that for me at least, applying any is a delicate and mostly regrettable exercise. I don't even want to think about any after market or body shop repair when it comes to matching. I think if it comes to that for me it's time for a replacement, or entire repaint.

 

yeah, I am not at all surprised that Red Candy (or any of the similar red tri-coat colors) is very hard to match.

It does have a gold first coat, followed by red and then a tinted red clear coat, hence the name 'tri-coat." On my car, I can see the gold in the spare tire well; apparently they didn't bother with the second and third coats there. I think a good body shop could match it, but not surprised that low-cost aftermarket parts don't quite match.

 

Red Candy is a hell of a color to match.

I have a friend who owns and operates a local body shop - he's a great guy and I love doing business with him. He takes a lot of personal pride in getting things done right, to a better standard than the insurance companies would like to pay for (he used to be an insurance claims authorizer and understands how they work, so he generally gets them to come across with a phone call).

Well, I had a Red Candy '13 convertible for six years that more than once was in need of minor body repaints, as well as the occasional add-on bit like a spoiler that he'd paint and install for me. And he went through hell with it.

At one point a couple of years ago, he had me in for a free repaint of a good part of the rear because the paint manufacturer did a recall on the color and so the repaint costs were (at least largely) covered under some kind of warranty.

As far as I can understand the "metallic" dust is hard to match from panel to panel.