touch up spray cans

does anyone know anyone who does spray cans of alfa colours, ive just been to chipsaway who said it was too big a job for them and a body shop who said it was too small a job for them they quoted me £500 for a bare metal respray of the front end from the windscreen forward, but i only want the area around the grille doing so if i can source the paint in spray can ill do it myself. ok the quality of finish wont be as good but for such a small area ill do a good enough job.

anoyingly ive found a trade place less than a mile from my home that will make the paint up and put it in a can but they dont sell to the public and wont do such a small order anyway

ive bought a touch up kit from motorvogue but i wont get it till monday and whilst that will be ok for a couple of stone chips i really need a spray can for the area around the grille.

I was recommended car & motorcycle paints...Everything from car touch up paint to air tools available online once, but haven't tried them yet...

car & motorcycle paints...Everything from car touch up paint to air tools available online

this place make up paint according to your code. i've never used the spray can but the touch up paint was a good match.

I have used paints4U as well and I would recommend them.

Can't remember where you are in the country but I've used these guys for years for paint and panels including excellent aerosols. I'm sure they would mail a spray can or two out to you if you can't find anyone locally.

Nuneaton Replacement Panels: N R P Motor Factors in Nuneaton search powered by www.enablemedia.com

what colour is it? be careful getting paint 'off the shelf' as there are sometimes several shades of the same colour with the same paint code, produced to keep the match right as paint natural changes over time. best off going to a vehical refinishing specialist, if you don't know of one locally just go into a local independant motor factors and ask them, should be able to point you in the right direction. they will then match your colour exactly from not only the colour code but also use colour charts to get the exact shade. you wouldn't believe how much difference there is between shades of the same colour, particularly reds. not expensive either, around £10 - £12 for the correct paint . could also go to halfords if you wanted but i don't think they have the colour chits to get the correct shade, they can make up any colour from the paint code though, even if they don't have the paints on display .

cheers guys, just ordered some paint from paints4u(they need to sort their website out, doesnt seem to come up on google )

ill let you know how it turns out.

Can't you get it from the Alfa dealers then?

dont know about other dealers but motorvogue in northampton dont do spray cans just touch up kits.

I got mine from Halfords (yes really) and it's been remarkably effective with an excellent colour match for the dark blue metallic. They used no end of different colours to make it up. I also bought the laquer.

Mike

Originally Posted by jabberwocky

cheers guys, just ordered some paint from paints4u(they need to sort their website out, doesnt seem to come up on google )

ill let you know how it turns out.

What colour did you get? they didn't have mine on there...?

Originally Posted by mikealdren

I got mine from Halfords (yes really) and it's been remarkably effective with an excellent colour match for the dark blue metallic. They used no end of different colours to make it up. I also bought the laquer.

Mike

Ditto, which colour, and was it an Alfa colour of just a very similar one?

Halfords mixed mine to an Alfa paint code. It was a great match. However, I understand that some paintshops can match the actual paint on a particular car nowadays and mix up paint accordingly.

Mike

paints4u dont have my colour - silver!

I bought Silver grey (612) from a dealer....checked again that that was the code on the boot lid, and touched away....its darker than the rest of the car.....does this get lighter with the lacquer?

Originally Posted by mikealdren

Halfords mixed mine to an Alfa paint code. It was a great match. However, I understand that some paintshops can match the actual paint on a particular car nowadays and mix up paint accordingly.

Mike

Ramponi replaced my nearside foglight for me last week after me catching the bumper on a kerb that was one centimetre higher than I thought. Bumper squeezed in and bounced back out again as it's designed but not before it cracked the foglight. Ouch. The first damage I have done to any car in twenty years

Alex thought he would get a touch-up stick for the scrape from Alfa when he ordered the light but was told they are on several months delivery. Bugger.

Instead he has taken the paint ref number and kindly ordered a small pot from his friendly repair shop. I'll let you know how I get on when I collect it.

still confused as to why it looks a lot darker than the original colour....

Try a bit of lacquer on top, im in the print trade, and varnishes or lacquers often do strange things to the base colour.

Aerosol mettalics do tend to look a different colour to the original colour. The reason being that a spay gun arranges the metal particles in a more random pattern than an aerosol.
You can make it lighter by applying thinner coats, or by painting it on a warmer day.
If you do this then the metal particles will remain closer to the paints surface.

I am not an expert on this, I just read it in a magazine.

Originally Posted by drummerboy

Try a bit of lacquer on top, im in the print trade, and varnishes or lacquers often do strange things to the base colour.

That was what i was hoping to hear...will try it on one of the smaller area's i have done to see what happens.

Originally Posted by symonh2000

Aerosol mettalics do tend to look a different colour to the original colour. The reason being that a spay gun arranges the metal particles in a more random pattern than an aerosol.
You can make it lighter by applying thinner coats, or by painting it on a warmer day.
If you do this then the metal particles will remain closer to the paints surface.

I am not an expert on this, I just read it in a magazine.

Cheers, i mean it looks better than the black chip hole....Just...

Remember that your car has faded over the years due to sunlight also. My silver 166 was 3 years old and touch up paint was darker. I had some parts professionally sprayed and got the end of the can - much better match.

Also the trick to touch up is to really mix the paint - Very hard to mix as much as the factory does but keep shaking that touch up stick before applying, leave it ten minutes, then lacquer it.

I got a touch up for the Brera from halfords - fine metal nib applicator, very good. Easy match though as gloss black.

Originally Posted by Dougie166

Also the trick to touch up is to really mix the paint - Very hard to mix as much as the factory does but keep shaking that touch up stick before applying, leave it ten minutes, then lacquer it.

I got a touch up for the Brera from halfords - fine metal nib applicator, very good. Easy match though as gloss black.

Cheers for the trick, it doesn't look as bad now i has dried, might wait until i'm in france (when it'll be hotter) finish the job.

The Brera one you got from Halfords, was it just a match one? or an actual Brera one?

Originally Posted by Pigfarmer

The Brera one you got from Halfords, was it just a match one? or an actual Brera one?

Off the shelf - Gloss black, easy match!

Originally Posted by Dougie166