Question about touch-up paint

[xanis]

I drive a '00 Cavalier (in Ultra Silver Metallic) and the paint is starting to look pretty bad in places. There are paint chips missing from a little encounter I had with a cement divider a while back, not to mention a lot of little nicks and scratches. I really don't have the money to get the car repainted so I was thinking that I would go get a repair kit and some touch-up paint and just fix the noticeable problems.

I noticed that they sell touch-up paint in Wal-Mart and Pep Boys. How close would this be to my factory paint? I'm guessing not very close considering the application is very general and is for all GM cars around that year. There's a website I found, PaintScratch, that claims to custom mix colors to get them as close as possible to the original factory paint. The website has no ratings on ResellerRatings and I've never heard of it before so I'm not sure how reliable it is. They want my VIN number when placing the order. Why?

If anyone could help me out here and give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it. I'll try and post some pics later tonight when I'm done work if that would help.

 

[AdamK47]

When I cut the fenders on my GTO I used the Brazen Orange spray paint ordered from Paint Scratch to cover the exposed metal. It matched perfectly. It's a rare color so they don't sell touch up bottles at local brick and mortor stores.

 

[xanis]

Thanks. I guess they are safe to order from.

 

[alimoalem]

I would guess they'd want the VIN just to make sure they get the right color. Writing "Black" for color or "Orange" (in Adam K47's case) won't get them to match the color perfectly. If they pull up the color with the VIN and it says "Brazen Orange" instead of "Orange", it'll make sure they get the best match.

Of course, I'm just guessing.

 

[bruceb]

I looked at the Paintscratch site about a month ago, trying to find touchup paint
for my 1999 Grand Prix .. Duplicolor did not make my color and GM, of course,
has long since discontinued my color. However, I was able to locate 2 bottles
of OEM GM touchup at one of my dealers, who still had it in stock. Paintscratch
seems like an excellent site, as all body shops have to custom mix your color
anyway, especially to compensate for sun aging. The only issue I have with that
site, is it a bit on the pricey side. But if it matches the OE color, then it is worth it.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: bruceb
I looked at the Paintscratch site about a month ago, trying to find touchup paint
for my 1999 Grand Prix .. Duplicolor did not make my color and GM, of course,
has long since discontinued my color. However, I was able to locate 2 bottles
of OEM GM touchup at one of my dealers, who still had it in stock. Paintscratch
seems like an excellent site, as all body shops have to custom mix your color
anyway, especially to compensate for sun aging. The only issue I have with that
site, is it a bit on the pricey side. But if it matches the OE color, then it is worth it.

I didn't think it was too expensive. For 2oz of paint and 2oz of clearcoat, plus a small tube of spot putty, the total was about $38. Well worth it IMO.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: alimoalem
I would guess they'd want the VIN just to make sure they get the right color. Writing "Black" for color or "Orange" (in Adam K47's case) won't get them to match the color perfectly. If they pull up the color with the VIN and it says "Brazen Orange" instead of "Orange", it'll make sure they get the best match.

Of course, I'm just guessing.

On my car there's a sticker inside the driver's door that has some code for the paint color.

 

[alkemyst]

They want the vin to make sure the paint code is also correct for that year/color combo.

I bought up some touch up for my car and it's a great value compared to those crappy tubes in an autozone type place. Not that they carry 3 stage paint anyway.