Help! 2000 Navy Blue- difficult to match?

[Bluemill]

About 5 years ago, I had the nose of my 2000 coupe painted, after having a crack at the end of the turn signal/parking lights repaired. The crack was about an inch long, and not that noticeable. I had the work done any way because I had confidence in my body man, who had made several accidents on other cars completely go away. Also, at that time the car had only 25,000 miles on it.

Body Shop #1 tried to match it twice. The first time it was close, but there was a milky haze at the top of the bumper cover. I had paid $750 for the work and thought that it should be done again. The second time it came out too dark, discernible in any light, but easiest to see with overhead lights, as in my garage. Body shop #1 is thought to be the best in the area, and I had many mistakes repaired before. I was buffaloed as to why they couldn't match it, and just chalked it up to a fall off in their quality control.

This past winter I hit the same area again, trying to get out of my garage, hitting a huge bank of ice and snow at the entrance. I hadn't driven the car in 5 weeks, and I needed to give it a run.

This past week I brought it in to Body Shop 2, to fix the returned crack, and to re-shoot the bumper cover for a better match.

The price was much better, and I really liked the owner, who had a lot of high end work in his shop. Upon picking up the car today I was really disappointed again with the color match, which was virtually the same as the tone of the work as done by Body Shop #1, second attempt.

The car is 11 years old, perhaps the rest of the hood is faded? Or, maybe there is more than one formula for Navy Blue? Whatever the reason, I am 0 for 3 on this work- with first class shops, and I'm starting to think there is some trick to matching the color.

Does any body out there have any experience with matching this color?

Thanks,
Bluemill

 

[Toms007]

I'm no body or paint man, but as I understand, the DNB and the Mag Red like my car are very difficult to match.

 

[Bluemill]

2 color codes of Navy Blue in 2000.

So now I have confirmed with the power of the internet that there were 2 different Navy Blue Metallic paints for 2000 Corvettes. I think that both of my body shops used the darker of the two, while the rest of the car is just a bit brighter.

Does anybody out there have knowledge as to which code is the darker: WA352E or WA353E?

Best,

Bluemill

 

[navy2kcoupe]

So now I have confirmed with the power of the internet that there were 2 different Navy Blue Metallic paints for 2000 Corvettes. I think that both of my body shops used the darker of the two, while the rest of the car is just a bit brighter.

Does anybody out there have knowledge as to which code is the darker: WA352E or WA353E?

Best,

Bluemill

And a second question would be "How do I find out which one was used to paint my 2000",in case I wind up in the same predicament?
Andy

 

[gmjunkie]

And a second question would be "How do I find out which one was used to paint my 2000",in case I wind up in the same predicament?
Andy

Don't worry Dad,We in the know have ways of finding out!~!!
But then again,I tint my own paint!~!!
Gotta get the Air pressure right,or the side tone will suck!

"Cruzer99's" rear fascia spot repair below!~!!

 

[timfitz63]

So now I have confirmed with the power of the internet that there were 2 different Navy Blue Metallic paints for 2000 Corvettes. I think that both of my body shops used the darker of the two, while the rest of the car is just a bit brighter.

Does anybody out there have knowledge as to which code is the darker: WA352E or WA353E?

Don't know which is which, but isn't the factory paint code listed on the options sticker in the glove box...? Or did GM brilliantly assign the same paint code to the two different shades...?

Short of that telling the story, perhaps the paint shop can get samples of both shades, shoot a test object, and then you can compare them to the car's paint to see which is the better match?

One other thought I had is that, over time, darker colors can fade with exposure to sunlight. A decade or so of sun exposure, even in Massachusetts, and your paint could be a bit lighter than it was in 2000...