I finally learned the hard way about mixing paint brands on a repair

I was at a shop in Salem doing a quick blend on a 2015 Honda Civic and ran out of my usual PPG basecoat. Decided to grab a can of Sherwin-Williams from the shelf to finish the panel since it was the same color code. Yeah, turned out the metallic flake sat totally different and I had to sand the whole quarter panel and start over. Has anyone else had a bad experience mixing brands like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewperry22d ago

Did you try bumping the metallic pressure or reducing the reducer ratio to match the flake orientation? I had a similar issue once and found that adjusting the gun settings a little helped the Sherwin-Williams align better with the PPG finish. It didn't match perfect but saved me from having to sand the whole panel down.

wyatt_green22d ago

Man that metallic flake orientation is a beast. Matts idea about adjusting the gun settings sounds good in theory but sometimes it just doesnt matter when the paint chemistries are that different. I tried mixing a gallon of Omni with some leftover House of Kolor once for a touch up on my own truck. Figured it would save money and time. Ended up with this weird tiger striping effect that looked like a bad fake wood paneling job from the 70s. Had to sand that whole fender down twice because the first time I tried to blend over it just made it worse. Always end up learning the same lesson twice I guess.