Here is my story and question. I am in the middle of a frame off resto on my 70 LS-5. Took the body off and mounted it on a 2X2 steel dolly that I made and sent to be media blasted and then to body shop to be painted. Shop prepped and painted the car. Brought car home, put back on frame and begun re-assembly. Nice paint..straight and shiny but NO attention to details. Lots of mistakes around the edges-no piant, paint bubbling up in the doors etc..Now two years later after a exhausting legal battle I am again working on my car.Body has been pulled back off the frame and will be refinished.I have made reapirs to the various F*&*ups on the doors and panel edges. I will need to re-color many areas on the car. I have the paint from the original paint job and the can is sealed well. I have sanded the entire car with 600 and then a gray scuff pad and will reclear the whole car when I fix the other areas.The car was originally shot with Spies Hecker paint and that is the base color I have. Can I now use Sherwin Willians products or do I need to use the same manufacturer? The shop that is providing the booth to shoot the car would like to use SHerwin Williams as that is his shops "brand". I have used Sherwin Williams products to repair the damaged areas already. If no, Am I in trouble now? graemlins/clonk.gif Thanks for any help...ALbert

No reason why S-W PPG or dupont cant be sprayed over top of your existing finish. The paint job is 2 years old no paint problems can occur the paint is fully cured. The only time you should not mix and match diff companies is during the painting process, when products are still curing.

Eventough you have the correct paint for the car I suggest you use what the current shop is spraying. Painters are very fussy to what they spray, products from diff companies can differ in spraying technique, eventhough its the same type of product(clear). Painters dont like to be told how to paint and what brand to paint...period. I learned how to paint with PPG, worked in shops that have sprayed both dupont and S-W products but always felt better spraying PPG cause I know how to use it, and what I could do with the products.

Put a unfamiliar product in a painter's hand and you might end up with results that you dont like :( Plus the current paint system you are using is S-W, stick with the S-W paint...Eric

So what your saying is to get the S-W base and use S-W clear and not to mix different manufacturres while the paints are curing .I am concerned about color matching. The paint I have leftover will match as I have had some repairs made and the match was very good. If I get S-W paint how can I be sure about matching the color and not having to paint the whole car (with color)?Thankss...ALbert

As long as you have a paint code you will be fine. Lets just say PPG has the paint contract with GM, Dupont and S-W and all the others just match their paint with PPG. They dont use the same formuals but the paint must match. No need to worry about the S-W paint mismatch as long as it wasnt a custom mix job, then you might be SOL. Eventho you have formual the tints from the different manufactors probably wont interchange.

The shop will find the right color then do spray outs to fine tune the paint to match YOUR car. A spray out is when they paint small itmes and compare the paint agaist each other. If the paint doesnt match to a T they will blend the new base on the car and you wont be able to see any color difference. Even if they have to spray a coat of base on the entire outside of car who cares it will all be same color. If you can see the color difference on the jams then you would have better eyes then most pros out there. I just finished painting my 02 chrylser concorde, had to replace the right rear door, the paint on the jams on that door is way off but I sure cant any color difference with the door hung and wide open.

I say stick with the S-W paint. Plus if any problems show up later down the road you can come back on the shop for repairs. But if you have them spray a paint they dont spray I would think you might get a hard time getting them to repair any paint problems. I know if someone came to me and insisted on using dupont when I use PPG and later on something went wrong, i would nicely say you should have used PPG- not my problem

sevt, met with the shop owner today and he does not mind spraying my paint S H instead of S W.He is concerned about the Spies H paint warranty in the future incase there are any problems with the paint itself. So, we reached a agreement that I will provide all the paint materials S H and he will spray it for me. I will prep and tape the car as well.I'm going shopping on Mon or Tues for my supplies. Thanks for your input...ALbert