Repairing damage on brown truck

My what looks to be indian bronze metallic truck was backed into today, got a dent and scratches on the tailgate side panel.

Shop number 1 said looked like had been repainted, and was unsure of an exact match. It sounded like he wanted to take her down to bare metal and do whole panel, feather in to door and cab (scratch to there). Quoted me 15k to match it to tail gate and other side panel! (Insurance will only pay for accident panel, obviously I have to pay for additional)

Shop number 2 said he could *patch* paint after repairing damage, seemed more confident in matching. He also said clear coating over existing paint would brighten it back to new. But I see another thread here where there are horror stories from re-clear coating. Quoted me 2k to repair and patch paint the tail gate and other panel.

Opinions? Experience? This is a bigger nightmare than I'd anticipated. I thought they could just match old paint codes and go from there Which method is less risky? Patch painting or whole panel?

Normally that could easily be repaired and blended lots of area to feather the color. Many new mix colors make matching difficult, and it could be an issue if this was painted with an old formula. Stripped, color needs to be blended into adjacent panel. Clear does not peel if the area is prepared correctly. I would recommend keeping the repair area as small as possible.

GM was still using Lacquer paint on some models into the mid 80s IF it is O.E paint and Lacquer this is easy. Coarse compound the entire panel,shoot the repaired area,now thin the paint with clear and blow it further down the panel in both directions but pull your gun so you basically are getting less and less paint on the panel ,the further you get from the repaired area. The 2 colors will blend and your eye will not be able to see the difference.

Ricko1966 said:

GM was still using Lacquer paint on some models into the mid 80s IF it is O.E paint and Lacquer this is easy. Coarse compound the entire panel,shoot the repaired area,now thin the paint with clear and blow it further down the panel in both directions but pull your gun so you basically are getting less and less paint on the panel ,the further you get from the repaired area. The 2 colors will blend and your eye will not be able to see the difference.

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This will be going to a shop, collision coverage is giving me a $0 deductable but the shops are offering wildly different approaches. It's sounding like patch paint is better than stripping the whole panel?

fast 99 said:

Normally that could easily be repaired and blended lots of area to feather the color. Many new mix colors make matching difficult, and it could be an issue if this was painted with an old formula. Stripped, color needs to be blended into adjacent panel. Clear does not peel if the area is prepared correctly. I would recommend keeping the repair area as small as possible.

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The guy offering this style was also talking about using clear over whole panel, including parts not patched. To spruce up and bring color back to newer look. Would that still be good? Can clear go over old enamel? Idk if this paint is og, both shops said there's been work done so might already be a newer style paint. Won't know till they get into it.

Yes, it's called blending. Color is applied and feathered out. Then clear coated over the entire area. There will not be a visible blend line where color and clear coat ends.

Don't understand why one of the shops would want to strip entire panel unless they are afraid of lifting. Surprised an insurance co would pay for it.

Do local research on which shop has the best recommendations and warranty. Sounds like it really doesn't matter money wise, just want it done right.

Well that stinks. Someone smacked you.
But pump the brakes here a bit. There’s a lot going on in your posts.
First, what about the other party’s insurance? 2 body shop quotes the day of the accident? Slow down and process this the right way.
Other commerical aspects, tell shop number one to go fck their hat. $15k is a complete quality re-paint of the whole truck and some body work included.
Shop #2 is in the ballpark.

Now on to the truck. Unless you know you’re sitting on an original garage queen truck, there is a very slim chance that that paint (and the shiny trim) are original. That’s the good news, because unlike what was said above, if it’s lacquer or acrylic enamel from the 80s, that paint will be about impossible to blend repair. Not from a color standpoint. But from a finishing standpoint. The original paint will be far softer than any modern paint or clear and you’ll sand and buff thru the original paint before you can get the new harder paint or clear buffed out.

Now assuming it’s been repainted at some point. Because if it’s original, imo best bet is to match the color which a good shop can do, very close at least and then just spray the whole panel. Because wha I said above.
If it’s been repainted, Figure out if it’s single stage or 2stage. Any shop who couldn’t tell if it’s original and/or single or 2 stage refinish in about 3 minutes is either jerking you around or not knowledgeable.

If it has been repainted with a urethane or even a good acrylic enamel, single or 2 stage, something hard enough to cut and polish the blend line, then it’s an easy job. But you need a shop that can match based on what’s on the truck and not the factory paint code. (Or maybe factory code is real close. Depends on who what how it was repainted in the past).

Hope this helps.

I guess I wasn't clear enough on post 3 if it is Lacquer, shoot and blend it with Lacquer,just like O.E. it will match and it will blend. Last I knew Lacquer was still available,just more expensive. Enamel even when shot with Lacquer(yes you can in some instances) never blended as well,we usually shot the whole panel and prayed for a good match. I say that but the blended enamel repairs would have been visually acceptable to 90 percent of people,but not body guys,and the blend would be obvious in a few years as the paint aged.

Ricko1966 said:

I guess I wasn't clear enough on post 3 if it is Lacquer, shoot and blend it with Lacquer,just like O.E. it will match and it will blend. Last I knew Lacquer was still available,just more expensive. Enamel even when shot with Lacquer(yes you can in some instances) never blended as well,we usually shot the whole panel and prayed for a good match. I say that but the blended enamel repairs would have been visually acceptable to 90 percent of people,but not body guys,and the blend would be obvious in a few years as the paint aged.

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Ya sorry Rick, my bad. Yes lacquer over lacquer is easy peasy.
I’m not in the business, never considered lacquer being available at a run of the mill collision shop.
Of course I live in a nanny state where it may be tough to buy solvent based paints soon…. Boo
My guess is it’s not original paint. Which the Op alluded to as well.
Plastichrome trim looks likely newer, bed has been DIY bed lined. Rear bumper been painted black.

Grit dog said:

Ya sorry Rick, my bad. Yes lacquer over lacquer is easy peasy.
I’m not in the business, never considered lacquer being available at a run of the mill collision shop.
Of course I live in a nanny state where it may be tough to buy solvent based paints soon…. Boo
My guess is it’s not original paint. Which the Op alluded to as well.
Plastichrome trim looks likely newer, bed has been DIY bed lined. Rear bumper been painted black.

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I hope I didn't come off sounding like a di#k didn't mean to. If it is a respray,(unless it's lacquer), yea the game just changed,shoot the whole panel and cross your fingers.

Ricko1966 said:

I hope I didn't come off sounding like a di#k didn't mean to. If it is a respray,(unless it's lacquer), yea the game just changed,shoot the whole panel and cross your fingers.

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No not at all. I just know old paint is aboot impossible to blend w newer. Not sure you could even dust on a solvent based urethane light enough to not melt the old stuff. Much less finish the blend.

Although I’ve never used the newer tree hugger friendly water borne paints. You? Is that an option at least for getting it down without melting the old paint?

Grit dog said:

No not at all. I just know old paint is aboot impossible to blend w newer. Not sure you could even dust on a solvent based urethane light enough to not melt the old stuff. Much less finish the blend.

Although I’ve never used the newer tree hugger friendly water borne paints. You? Is that an option at least for getting it down without melting the old paint?

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I worked at and shot paint at an automotive restoration shop,all our stuff was pre water-based paint. Getting that job was just dumb luck, going to college,needed a job,started applying at any place that had anything to do with Automotive,and had the expierience from high school auto body votech and the Caddy's we did in dad's driveway and garage. Dropped out of college and made automotive my career. Wow found a couple pics of my beater Porsche build., you can kind see where I welded a panel to eliminate the sunroof.

Grit dog said:

Well that stinks. Someone smacked you.
But pump the brakes here a bit. There’s a lot going on in your posts.
First, what about the other party’s insurance? 2 body shop quotes the day of the accident? Slow down and process this the right way.
Other commerical aspects, tell shop number one to go fck their hat. $15k is a complete quality re-paint of the whole truck and some body work included.
Shop #2 is in the ballpark.

Now on to the truck. Unless you know you’re sitting on an original garage queen truck, there is a very slim chance that that paint (and the shiny trim) are original. That’s the good news, because unlike what was said above, if it’s lacquer or acrylic enamel from the 80s, that paint will be about impossible to blend repair. Not from a color standpoint. But from a finishing standpoint. The original paint will be far softer than any modern paint or clear and you’ll sand and buff thru the original paint before you can get the new harder paint or clear buffed out.

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One word: Michigan. We are a no fault state, so I provided her insurance information but ithe way our state works it's up to my insurance to cover me. Probably good since idk if she had collision and wasn't well off. I bought the most insurance I could, have unlimited plus collision. I am freaking out yes. This is my Baby, named it George and have sunk thousands into it, thousands to go cause first shop jacked up all the seals they replaced. There is a few spray paint spots, tiny bit of rust on one wheel well so I knew I'd need a body shop at some point but really wasn't planning on this year. I have an appointment week of the 8th to do transmission since seals spewing now so nothing can be done instantly anyway. This is my daily driver; plan was to drive it until got bugs worked out then find something for winter driving. These extra curve balls are killing my budget.

As to paint, yes they said it looked as though it had work done, someone did it at home probably. Is a bit of orange skin if you look hard enough. My thoughts is they probably used one of the online vendors for the dark brown metallic. Inside door jams it is flat, not metallic. It is an out of state truck so no way to find guy who did original to ask about what paint. Shops seem to want to blend their own to match???

Ok that is alot to think about from you guys. I'll go check out a restoration shop next, quiz them on what type of paint I even have on it! Neither of the first two even mentioned type or whether theirs was compatable so there is my answer to that. Have to keep looking. Thank you guys so much for all the info!