Corolla Paint Match

[MrGiggles]

I've been wanting to do some body work to my Corolla but I can't until I find a paint that matches what's on it. Are there any affordable company's that offer matched paint? I found a couple places online but they wanted upwards of 80.00 a quart. 20.00 for an aerosol can. Even if I did get these, would it even match my paint since it's aged and possible faded?

Would oil based exterior paint thinned out possibly work?

The car is a base 94 model, paint code is 6M8 which I believe is wintergreen. I've been pondering the 50.00 paint job, but rustoleum doesn't offer any colors close enough to mine so I would have to paint the door jambs and that which is a lot of work.

[clintj]

Go to a local body shop. They can pull up your paint code and should have a variant deck with chips of variants for your color. They should also be happy to mix you up some paint.

[MrGiggles]

Originally Posted by clintj

Go to a local body shop. They can pull up your paint code and should have a variant deck with chips of variants for your color. They should also be happy to mix you up some paint.

I'll have to make a stop the next time I go out that way.

Otherwise, here is the damage I want to try and repair. The worst of it is the drivers rear fender.

The side was obviously hit by another vehicle, or so I was told by the previous owner. They sprayed gray primer over it, I guess gray is better than it being cancerous. Both the door and fender are dented pretty well. There is also a small rust spot on the rear of the fender, that is the only bit of rust on the car.



Other than that there are a couple small dents in the hood. I do not know what caused them, there are the two dimples on the front, and a wrinkly spot in the side of the hood which was painted over in primer. There is some clear coat peeling on the hood and fender as well as some bumper issues.



Does a DIY repair on these sound feasible? I don't want to invest a lot of money, so I am doing the work myself. At the very least I want to remove the primer on the dent, and repair the clear coat peels.

[PhatRoyale]

That looks like it's going to be tedious. But if you have patience and a lot of time, it's doable.
You'll probably have to remove the door and the rear bumper to access the dents more easily.

Invest in an auto body hammer kit.

[clintj]

I would suggest searching some junk yards for a used door and hood. Maybe even a bumper.

Also do a lot of research on working that quarter panel. You are going to need to chase the rust all the way out also. A body shop is gonna have a lot more tools for working that quarter out. (IE Pin welder for welding on pins that you then use to pull the low spots back out) So that you have as minimum amount of bondo as possible.

Edit: I would suggest finding a body shop that is slow, and will do that kinda work "cheaply" (as in not oem standard since you are talking about a rustoleum paint job lol)

[cipher93]

In all honesty, that is probably going to be more trouble than it's worth. So long as that rust isn't spreading, you may be able to use a little sand paper to remove and then prime it/paint over it with some touch up paint. The new paint won't match anyway because the existing paint has probably faded a little bit over time.

[MrGiggles]

Originally Posted by CJRocker

In all honesty, that is probably going to be more trouble than it's worth. So long as that rust isn't spreading, you may be able to use a little sand paper to remove and then prime it/paint over it with some touch up paint. The new paint won't match anyway because the existing paint has probably faded a little bit over time.

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. I may just end up painting over the bad crunch, then try and fix the clear coat on the hood.

About the peeling clear coat, I am completely new to body work. Do I just sand then spray on new or what?