Mixing bench
Paint and Color Matching
Computerized paint mixing matched against your vehicle as it sits today, blended into the surrounding panels and baked on in our downdraft booth.
Chapter 01
The right color code can still be the wrong color
Every vehicle left the factory with a paint code, and it's tempting to think matching that code is the whole job. It isn't, because the panel next to the repair hasn't stayed factory-fresh. Years of Iowa sun, winter road salt and weather have faded and shifted it in ways a code on a chart doesn't account for.
Spray a fresh, code-correct color next to a panel that's faded even a little and you get two different colors sitting inches apart. Under shop lighting it can look close. Step outside into daylight, and the repaired panel reads as a patch, not a match. That's the gap between matching a code and matching a car.
Paint prep bay at Andrews Collision Center with vehicles being prepped under overhead extraction ducting
How we actually match it, on your car, today
We work the match at our color matching bench using computerized paint mixing, but we're mixing against the panels on your vehicle as they look right now, not against a factory chart alone. That's what accounts for the fade and the years since it left the lot.
Rather than stopping the new color hard at the edge of the damaged panel, we spray out a test panel first and blend the finish into the adjacent panels, so the transition softens instead of announcing itself as a seam. Once the color is right, the finish gets baked on in our downdraft paint booth, which keeps dust out of a wet finish and cures it evenly across the panel.
You can count on our Axalta certified refinishers to run this process the same way on every job, whether it's a single bumper or a full quarter panel.
Chapter 03
How to tell it's right, and what happens if it isn't
Don't judge a paint match under shop light. Take it outside and look at it in daylight, and check it from an angle as well as straight on, since a blend can look perfect head-on and still show a faint edge when the light rakes across it. That's the same test our own techs use before a car goes back to the owner.
The craftsmanship on our bodywork, paint included, carries a lifetime warranty. If a repaired panel starts to show its edge or the color drifts from the surrounding finish down the road, that's exactly what the warranty is there for.
We're at 815 3rd St SE in Cedar Rapids, family owned since 1958. If you're weighing a repair estimate that only quotes a factory paint code, call (319) 365-4627 and ask what a real blend on your car looks like.
Andrews Collision Center, BBB accredited, Axalta certified refinishers, family owned since 1958. Lifetime warranty on the craftsmanship of every paint and body repair.