Tricks to get to custom colors?
 

I'm looking for advice form any experienced painters out there that can help me with a couple questions about colors. I'm working with my local PPG store and either they don't know or i haven't asked the right questions about custom (or not) colors. I went in and looked at 8 shades of non-metallic green, none of which lit my fire. I naively designed a sweet paint scheme in illustrator and walked in with CMYK codes for each of the colors, and thought there would be some magic way for them to put that into a box and pop out a formula to mix the paint. Apparently not.

1. Is there any place online to see all the ppg auto paint chips so i can try to find close matches?
2. Is there any place to figure out a formula for PPG paint based on something like a CMYK color or if i could figure it out a Pantone color?
3. Anything else people could recommend to get to the color of my dreams for this bicycle?

Thanks,
~bob

I haven't bought paint since the '70s, so I have not personal experience to relate
I used to go look at my suppliers color book and choose.

PPG has an app and also has "paint it" page, but it looks like actually finding a color is a pain. Would be nice if they just had a digital pallet with controls, seems pretty useful

For the last few frames I've had painted in wet spray the painter told me to choose an auto color. It seems that the auto body shop needs pretty much dominates the wet paint scene in the local paint suppliers. Andy

How did you pick the color though? They used to have giant books of custom colors they could make, but it doesn't seem like PPG does that. Maybe all the custom cars are painted with HOK?

Okay, the fancy pearls and such can be found here: https://us.ppgrefinish.com/PPG-Refin...-Finishes.aspx

if you want a plain color I still haven't found a way to select them if you don't know a car color code

I've purchased a lot of paint and I can say I understand the frustration. My local paint shop seems better stocked in terms of chip books than others I've been to. I've been to some shops where they only have one sample book and if the color wasn't in the book you weren't going to get paint. The unfortunate part is that as good as my shop is about having paint chips to compare there is no secret formula such as bringing in different color codes they can input and out comes the right paint color. When I'm painting I do as Andrew has suggested and tell the client find a car color you really like, that is the best way I can ensure the color will meet the expectation. I have had a more than one occasion where I went in with a color on my phone and tried matching in to a book only to find later I was sanding and picking a new color. Best of luck!

LOTS of googling around and it seems the PPG auto color scene is really a black box. I went the route of finding swatches for wall paint and they are going to try to match them. So, we'll see. I'm mildly optimistic.

Good luck! I always find paint looks a bit different depending on what it's on whether that's a wall or a bike frame. Probably something to do with that gold dress illusion. So it's not worth agonizing over the exact shade too much.

This! The few frames I've built for others I have taken care to represent that the color that was the goal will not be the exact tint/tone/shade (very close but not exact) that the frame ends up with. Even with the most straight forward color matching system and choices some drift of the paint mix will be there. Then there's the issues of chip charts having other colors about near by and, usually, lots of white between the chips. Then there's the issue of what light is being used to view under, the sun on a bright day, cloudy day, indoor lighting of which bulb design. Then there's the issue of how the light reflects differently on a surface with multiple curves and edges VS a flat page or door panel. Andy

Some nice colour illusions here:

https://archive.nerdist.com/5-optica...ith-the-dress/

You brain makes all kinds of corrections to how you see a colour depending on context and what colour it thinks things should be. For thousands of years blue didn't even exist. Homer never uses the word and the Chinese thought peas and the sky were the same colour.
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Bob, when I started painting in the 70's, Dupont Imron was the logical choice because it was the name customers recognized from reading bicycle magazines. There was a paint store near me that carried Dupont products so Imron was easy for me to get. There wasn't a PPG supplier close by so I didn't then or now know much about them. Imron's paint chip catalog had lots of non metallic options (as well as metallics too). In the 80's I started using House of Kolor to get the glamor pearl and candy colors. They have continued to evolve over the years. They now have primers in the primary colors (as well as black and white) which are wonderful to use as a foundation so that if the paint chips, the base coats look similar in color to the top coat color. These primer colors can also be thinned to work as sealers (used to provide an even undercoat color over the sanded primers that also increases adhesion). In fact you can probably mix those primary colors to be close to the green you are looking for (and go straight to clears).

The other change recently (if a few years ago can be described as "recent") is that what H of K does (instead of supplying a quart of one color), is sell the tinting colors in much smaller amounts and you mix them together to get the effect you want. Now when I look at their color chart, I get a formula instead of a color #. I then buy little cans of concentrated colors required by the formula and mix it myself in the suggested ratio. Of course I can alter the ratio a bit to get the effect I want. Because of their primers and the mix it yourself colors, all my old colleagues like to use House of Kolor products (except all of us old timers like to use Dupont Imron for our final clears).

I realize that the convenience of your local supplier and what they carry is why you choose a paint brand. I have also found that my local suppliers are not helpful when it comes to asking for advice. The guys that work there don't necessarily have painting experience.. What I do is network with other experienced frame painters when I have questions.

Doug, Thanks for the run-down. Since I'm just starting out I've been working with the local guy. He's been great, but i am starting to need a little more bike specific knowledge, and what everyone here has mentioned helps a lot. I love the idea mixology of the tinting colors. I will look into the House of Kolor and see what i can find for the next go around.