Custom spray paint?

[Optimzer]

Hey hey all - anyone know where to get custom orders of spray paint in Canada? I tried to order custom codes from towerpaint.com and paintscratch.com but neither one can ship spray cans across the border from the states! :-(

[ravin13]

check out cawthra automotive, http://www.cawthraautomotive.com/ I have gotten a can of spray paint in my car colour from them, dunno if they will make custom blends, but it doesn't hurt to call!

[Optimzer]

Did you get a custom colour? Their site says they do custom colours while you wait. Price range reasonable? :-)

[S.F.W.]

CarQuest, they have locations all over the place, just go on their site, and find the location near you that all does pain. As I recall, it cost me about $20 for a can of body match paint.

[kaval]

Cawthra Automotive does this and does it very well!
I've had a few cans mixed and have never been disappointed.

[Optimzer]

Thanks guys, any feedback on the quality of products from CarQuest? I found a location specific to automotive finishing.

The price point at both is around $20 per can but I'd be curious to know the quality of paint, fineness (is that a word??) of the spray, shine, etc...

[S.F.W.]

Thanks guys, any feedback on the quality of products from CarQuest? I found a location specific to automotive finishing.

The price point at both is around $20 per can but I'd be curious to know the quality of paint, fineness (is that a word??) of the spray, shine, etc...
I've been very pleased with car quest..I know a lot of auto body shops get there paint there as well..

[ravin13]

I have nothing bad to say about cawthra automotive, of course I've only got one can of paint from them, but it took less than ten minutes.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

+1 For cawthra, used them many times.

[Optimzer]

Just curious... did you all use the enamel based spray and if so... did you apply a clearcoat on top (I hear clearcoat is not req'd over enamel based)?

And, was the finish smooth out of the can or did you find you needed to go over with a rubbing compound and polish for the extra smooth and shine?

[ravin13]

did about three coats of what they gave me, two coats of clearcoat, and still looking good

[Dave_The_BMXER]

They mixed the clear into the base for mine so it was just one can.. looks good so far, the texture is different than the factory paint, which I have been meaning to fix via wet sanding but winter came quick..

[Optimzer]

They mixed the clear into the base for mine so it was just one can.. looks good so far, the texture is different than the factory paint, which I have been meaning to fix via wet sanding but winter came quick..

hmmm... wondering why you want to avoid wet sanding now? is the cold bad for wet sanding or just makes you freeze your *** off?

[Dave_The_BMXER]

I hate working in cold garages :P

[Optimzer]

just wanted to give everyone an update, i ended up getting a can of custom spray paint from both cawthra automotive and carquest and BOTH were not quite an exact match to my actual paint code (dark dark grey). One had a slight purplish hue and the other was too dark of a grey (my paint is still pretty good / not faded). But, the carquest spray can that they gave was in my opinion better quality since it seemed to output a finer spray. If anyone is interested I can do some more test trials since I still have paint in both cans. However, the carquest can was 50% more expensive ($30 vs. $20).

In any case, the job came out ok but I'm glad it's not an entirely visible / obvious spot I had to fix up. I'm planning to send my car in for a facelift type restoration in a few years so my job should hold through until then. At that time most of the body panels will probably get a wetsanding job done and this one panel might get a respray depending on how close they think they can come to matching the original paint.