REPAIR & PAINT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

We can forensically examine vehicles and can determine whether the safety, structural integrity of the repaired vehicle may have been comprimised. In addition, we can precisely verify the quality of any repairs, assess the quality of the re-spray and painstakenly check the paintwork to identify any paint defect.

There are dozens of paint defects which may be evident in re-sprayed panels ranging from minor to severe - and we know them all.

For example, metamerism is an effect where the re-sprayed colour may appear to be the same colour shade to a the original colour under certain conditions but may look totally different under different lighting conditions. The most common existence of this problem is where two colours match in daylight but appear different under artificial light (particularly sodium street lighting).

Causes

The reasons for metamerism inlcude:

The pigment and/or base-colour composition of the repair paint does not correspond to the pigment composition of the original paint.
Mixing of an unknown colour shade (where no mixing formula is available) without checking the shade under different lighting sources before use.
Tinting a colour without reference to the base colours used in the colour formulation, ie; tinting with a base colour which is not part of the original colour formulation.

How To Prevent

Where the existing colour shade is unknown, metamerism can only be avoided by using electronic colour measurement devices to precisely measure the colour shade and belending the colour properly into the surrounding panels. For knows shades (where a mixing formula is available), the tint needs to be made only with the base colours which form part of the mixing formula and/or as specified in the tinting table. Test pieces should be first sprayed and checked under various light sources, particularly with metallic paint and metallic pearl paint to ensure even colour match.

By knowing all the various types of paint defects and the likely causes we are able to guage the severity, consider the impact on condition, assess whether those paint defects can be cost effectively rectified and calculate the impact on value.