With the recent switch over to more environmentally friendly paints how does one get the correct colour when painting their car?

I have the paint chips from back in the year of the car so have the old mix formula for the correct colour. But any paint stores I've talk to say they can't relate the old formulas to the new paints. Also do not have a section of the car, gas door etc, to take the shade from.

How does one ensure their new paint job comes out the correct colour?

I realize that the shine may be a bit better with the modern paints but I'm more concerned with getting the shade correct.

Is there anywhere that still sells the older paints that can be mixed from the old formulas?

All help appreciated.

PPG has a wicked good database for older colors.   Just find a good code off this site.  paint shops should be able to talk to the PPG hotline in atlanta to find a formula for the new waterbone paints.

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=GM&year=1965&rows=50

I just resently did my 67 deepwater blue, a 62 laurel green and a 57 colonial cream.  All the formulas came up in waterborn or a compliant solvent based.  No problem at all.  Some are tricky, but all in all,  it really is no problem to convert any formula to a current paint line.

This site is great,  look for hte PPG/Ditzler code and also hte WA #,  either of those will work for a paint shop.

By the way,  those 3 colors i mentioned above are a perfect match even in water.  PPG envirobase is awesome for waterbone paint.  PPG omni 2.8 is not bad for a compliant solvent, but if you can find a paint supplier that mixs PPG delfleet, it is a great enamel that can still be bought for comercial painting such as Airplanes,   Comercial painting has not gone to compliant Low VOC yet.  so its all still avail.   Dupont makes Imron,  but its super expencive.  PPG Delfleet is the equvalent and way cheaper.

That's a tough one these days. Most of the new water born paint lines do not have formulas for older paint codes. Best bet would be to bring the car, or part of it to scan it with a color gun. Unfortunatly if you dont hace a part with the color your gonna have a tough time.

I'm a car painter by trade...PM me your paint code and i'll see if I can come up with anything. Might get lucky...

You can still get low voc base coats that arnt water born. You must be refering to OMNI PPG's lower line. Premium paints used in any half decent body shop are water bassed.  

Yes you can probably get older colors in OMNI but not sure how good the color match will be. 

im not knocking water based i actally prefer it for coverage in some translucent paints but its not always appropriate and omni is one of the lines the quality is as good as always from ppg

Suntan copper is WA2656  that should work for a PPG rep.

Also the PPG/ditzler code is 21841.  Factory gm code is 920

Give all 3 of those to a PPG paint supplier,  they will work with that no problem

The fwn beige has no WA #,  but the PPG/ditzler # is 21873 and GM code is 938,  they should be able to come up with someting.

If the paint supplier is not willing to search it out,  try another supplier of PPG,  there should be more than one PPG distributor in your area.

Tell them to phone the Tech line in Atlanta to get you the right formula.