My son took his daily driver to Maaco back in December to be painted. He had them do the cheap paint, which was a single stage paint. He wrecked the truck in January, and had to put new fenders on it. He had Maaco paint the fenders to match and they are slightly too light (the truck is at Maaco right now). The guy at Maaco said they will darken as the paint cures. Of course I don't believe him, so I had to come on Moparts to get my answer. Will the paint darken as it cures?? or is the guy feeding me a load of crap?? Thanks.

Sounds like a load of crap to me. different paint batches, different conditions when sprayed, and it sounds like they didn't fade the paint well enough into the adjacent "good" panel.


if the paint is close, but only off a little bit, you wouldn't be able to tell if they had faded the paint properly.

How hard is it to blend a single stage paint??

The paint needs to be a close match and blended into the adjacent panels. Usually this is done with base coat and then cleared over both panels. When you are panel painting and using two batches of paint, often they will not match. The panel lines make it easier for your eyes to spot. When it is blended into the next panel, it is harder to see the small difference in the color. The darkening comment sounds like BS to me. You typically do not blend single stage paint, at least not anymore.

Yeah, he told me that they don't blend single stage paint. The paint is close, just not perfect.

single stage paint doesn't darken as it cures. it should be "cured" a short time after it leaves the paint booth. some colors will darken as they dry, especially reds and yellows, and if you clear them too soon they car look lighter than they should.
any paint will FADE as it is exposed to sunlight. especially a cheap paint job from maaco. they only apply the absolute minimum amount to get coverage and drive the job out the door.
in your case the paint is probably somewhat faded and the person who mixed the paint didn't mix it properly when he made it. on some colors 1/10 of a GRAM of paint can change the color. the painter might not have put enough coats of paint on the car, now the color is light because the sealer under the paint is not fully covered. or he could have used a lighter color sealer than the first job now the color is light.
asking for a perfect color match on a cheap paint job from maaco is like asking for the government to stop wasting money.

He just wanted the truck to be one color, that is why he went with the cheap Maaco paint. He would never have had to worry about it if he didn't wreck it less than a month after it was painted. Thanks for all the info. I figured he was giving me a load of crap, just had to ask.

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Single stage paint get darker as it dries??

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Cough Cough..Bull Sh*t!...Cough Cough!