Has anyone had experience with getting the Titanium Gray paint matched on the RX-8, either when adding accessories (spoilers, kits, etc.) or due to an accident?

My 8 was recently struck in the rear (I wasn't sure whether to kill the other driver or throw up first) with the rear bumper wrap being torn off (no metal damage thank God).

The body shop (not a Mazda dealership), who I have a lot of faith in, didn't match the paint exactly, but stood behind their work and repainted it. (it appears to match now, but I picked it up at night and have not been able to pull it out of the garage to look at it in a bright sunlight due to the snow). My concern is that if I add some of the prepainted kits (Mazdaspeed) that it will not match where they "blended" the paint. Or, is it typical that the Mazdaspeed prepainted items don't match exactly anyway??

How difficult is it to match the factory paints these days, would I have been better to take it to the Mazda dealership? This shop does a LOT of custom work and is a "high end" shop. Many of the cars they do end up in magazines and my previous dealings with them has been outstanding.

I would appreciate any feedback!

Thanks Glen

it is very difficult to match paint...especially if its a titanium gray or silver...silver being one of the hardest colors to match...darker colors tend to fade faster than light colors if proper care isn't taken...in that case, most likely it wil appear to match from up close but then step back and take a far view of it, you would be able to tell that there will be 2 different shades of paint... hope that helped...

i also got rear ended and the rear bumper piece flew right off, but my car is sunlight silver the paint matches pretty decent but you can tell somethings not right.

I returned my 8 to the body shop as I was heading out of town and told them to look at it in the bright sun (it had been crappy snowy weather for weeks) and see if they saw what I did, that it appeared darker.

The owner of the shop promptly looked at it and said "Yes", they thought it match after they painted it, but in the bright sunlight it was obviously not a match. No, excuses or arguing they repainted it and had it back to me in 3 days. It appears they have matched it perfectly at this point (unless of course time changes it.)

Now the question is still, does a Mazdaspeed body kit that comes prepainted match the original color (I mean on any RX-8 not just on one that has been repainted) or will it show a difference?

Come on, I know someone out there has put a kit on, let me know how it matched!

Take care,
Glen

:mad: My front bumper was scraped buy a guy who ran a stop sign. I had the shop redo it three times and I can see clearly it doesn't match. The color is right but there is not the depth or sparkle of the factory paint. I paid them up front (never do that) and they won't do it again. Titanium Gray is hard to match, only take it to a high end shop if you want it to look right. I'm hoping to order a Mazdaspeed bumper cover to replace it that was prepainted in Japan. Never blend if you can help it, a pro can spot it from across the lot and I've been told it devalues the car, makes the repair look more extensive. Two Mazda dealers told me the shop's work was acceptable, but would devalue it as a trade by thousands. I'm like wtf, shoulda used a better shop or left it with just a scrape on the bumper.

Just as a follow-up, the body shop, Performance Autobody in Manassas, Virginia, did an outstanding job of matching the paint the second time. I could not tell at all, and believe me I looked!

Of all things I hit a deer several months later and back to the body shop! Same shop, they repaired the damage and matched the paint perfectly the first time. A good (make that great) body shop is worth it's weight in gold!

Glen

The Titanium Gray Mazdaspeed kit at my dealership looks off in the sunlight. You have to get up close to notice, but it does not match perfectly. I have some pics somewhere. I'll see if I can dig them up.

Here they are, but it was in a showroom. Oh well, at least I found them :)

http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=469169&postcount=71
http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=469175&postcount=72