Clear coat looks too dark after repair
 

I had a couple of marks on my Tarmac Black '05 Evo which I decided to repair myself. One was caused by someone scuffing my rear bumper in a parking lot (down to the plastic/ABS), and the other was on the hood caused by hitting a large piece of tumbleweed in a wind storm. Neither were very severe, perhaps 1.5" long and 0.5" wide.

I bought a "Dupli-Color" and an "Import Dupli-Color" spray paint to match to the colour of my car, and also a Mitsubishi touch-up paint stick to try. The Import Dupli-Color matched well, although after applying clear coat, using rubbing compound to even it out, and polishing to a shine, the clear coat I added looked a different (darker) shade of black. It is definitely the clear coat and not the paint as I applied clear coat to a larger area than the paint.

With the scratch on the hood, I tried the touch up paint and then the clear coat, and this worked well too, although I got the same problem with the clear coat being darker.

Has anyone else had problems with the clear coat not matching significantly? Any suggestions? :confused:

The repairs look absolutely flawless, aside from the clear coat being too dark! The one on the bumper is only noticeable in direct sunlight, but the one on the hood catches the light a lot easier so shows up more clearly.

If you want it to look right take it to a body shop and have them repaint it.
it will not look good if you dont blend the paint and reclear the hole panel. then the paint must be colorsanded and buffed. As a body tech i would HIGHLY RECOMEND spending
the money and have it look right.

Touch up paint will never be perfect, to me they are only good to cover deep scratch bare metal from rusting. A profesional repaint is the way to go....

When it comes to painting, its difficult. Its a form of art. Trust me I know I am an artist. Paint and clear can go on at angles that give the illusion of a different color. And there are so many types of paint and clear available its difficult to repair something so small without blending the paint around the damaged area. you cant just repair the damaged area, you have to repaint a large area and blend the paint, and then you have to do the same thing with the clear. If you want it done right take it to a pro. otherwise its not going to look right. Not to mention Black is a very hard color to blend. White is one of the easiest.
And look at the damaged area under florescent lighting to get a good idea of the color difference.

OK, cheers for the replies. I figured I would have a go anyway - my repair looks far better than leaving it damaged, though admittedly looks far from perfect. I'll see what a bodyshop will quote me.

clear coat looks darker
 

Hi I work at a pannellbeaters shop and had to repair a silver Mitsubishi that was resprayed before and the door where if blend the silver base coat in middle of door was right but then when if spray the kapci clear coat with its hardener and when it's finished the whole door looks darker than the rest of the car and I don't know what is the problem and the clear coat is high gloss so any ideas? What can the problem be?
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