OEM Paint

[vrauba]

I need to touch up my 2000 Boxster's paint because I had some road debris hit the hood and I sustained a few chips. Mine is Lapis Blue metallic and I wanted to do the repairs myself. My question is....is it worth tracking down original OEM paint (probably manufactured in Germny) or will US made like Dupont or Sherwin-Williams work as well? Does anyone who makes the original paint for Porsche and if they have distributors in US? My biggest concern is matching the metal flake characteristics and unique color variations with changing light conditions. I tend to be anal about being a perfectionist, and no body shop will take as much care in the repairs, as I would. So I'd like to start with the best paint. Thx.

[Tool Pants]

My artic silver has been painted twice, with Sherwin Willams and Sikkens. Both times it was a perfect match.

My friend has been in the body shop business for 30 years and he said all paint companies can duplicate each other. He used Sherwin Williams on my car because they give him a good deal. He has used other companies in the past.

Christophorus or Panorama had an article recently as to to supplies what to Porsche. It was Dupont for paint. Dupont owns Spies Hecker. Someone said Spies Hecker made the paint.

I bet over the years Porsche has used different companies or several companies at the same time, and Finland might use something else.

[bejan986]

You can get Touch up paint at the dealership and it will be an exact match.

[98Boxster98]

paintscratch.com uses Dupont ChromaBase paint

[FlashingBlade]

My artic silver has been painted twice, with Sherwin Willams and Sikkens.  Both times it was a perfect match.

My friend has been in the body shop business for 30 years and he said all paint companies can duplicate each other.  He used Sherwin Williams on my car because they give him a good deal.  He has used other companies in the past.

Christophorus or Panorama had an article recently as to to supplies what to Porsche.  It was Dupont for paint.  Dupont owns Spies Hecker.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The issue that I have with different paint manufacturers is that they use different combination of pigments to match a color. The problem with that is that the pigments fade at different rates, which means that after a couple of years the repainted parts will look different. For some colors (e.g., white, silver) this may not very noticable. For brighter colors, like yellow and red, this may be very noticable.

My information is based on my experience with a set of VWs whose OEM paint was BASF/Glazurit. I don't know what Porsche uses (any one?). My story is backed up with the body shop that I have used in the past, and the refusal by another body shop to work on my Yellow Corrado. He used a different paint brand and could not guarantee the match over the warrantee period.

YMMV

Jan

[FlashingBlade]

A quick clarification to my post... If you just want to touch up scratches and dings so that they are not so obvious from 5 feet, get whatever you can find at the dealer or elsewhere. If you want to repaint a fender or a door, and you want to keep the car for a bit, then you need to worry about paint quality, pigments and such.

Jan

[FlashingBlade]

You can get Touch up paint at the dealership and it will be an exact match.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you you are lucky, it'll be close, sometimes very close, but not always. My Guards Red touch up paint is way to orangy eventhough it is the exact same paint code.

Car manufacturers buy x 1000 liters of paint in one batch, and unless you got the paint from that batch you will always have a slight difference. I also have the impressions that they changed colors over time while retaining the same name (like the Guards Red).

Jan

[al986]

I've had glasurit used on my white Boxster 4 years ago and it is still matching perfectly today.