Viper Red Paint

[GA- Viper]

Hello all,
I am trying to do some touch up of a few small chips on my 95.The original paint code was LRN. Which per the Mopar color charts is now PRN. I ordered factory Mopar PRN touch up paint but it is noticeably darker than the red on the car. The car is all original paint always garaged and covered so I don't think the paint color has changed. I read some old threads on other colors that apparently their were some slight variations in colors with blue cars but nothing mentioning the Viper red cars.

Any of you guys with Viper red cars have any thoughts or recommendations on where to get a correct color match for Viper Red ?
Thanks.

 

[DJ'sviper]

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I've worked a lot with touch up having two classic cars and the viper. I like the front view photo. It looks like its ready to give yo a viper bite. The top is when I first used the paint. After seeing your post I decided to fill in the cavity. Bottom photo. You can't even tell it was repaired. I used this pen. I have had the sills repainted and the different tops for the viper and the color had to be adjusted for the car. I went to PPG store when I did the interior of the car and they tried to match it but it was still off. They gave me a small jar with color to fine tune the half pint I was working with. I kept adding until I got it perfect. Complete restored the interior with air brush over original color. Used sand paper to bring back the suede look. So maybe that is an alternative route you can take. Mine is a '93 viper, color might be different but I don't think so.

 

[GA- Viper]

Hey DJ,
Thanks for the reply and your pics. I heard also that there were changes in "Viper Red" paint suppliers to Chrysler over the years. Not just with their touch-up paint , but also during the original production of the cars. So getting a correct match of the Mopar touch up paint

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is difficult. As you can see by the picture the Mopar touch up is quite a bit darker.
I have located an old school paint supplier who said he will start with a computer shot and than hand mix to correct.

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[DJ'sviper]

That's probably the best way to go. I had the back of the car painted and the top. and they had to huge with paint to get it to match. I think you are right in that the viper red changed over the years.

 

[Big E]

Did you get that paint matched yet? Reason why I asked, I bought a new 95 R/T 10 back in the day, and I also asked for a bottle of touch-up paint too. The car is long gone but I still have the paint. You can only see last five digits of the part number on the bottle: 00792. Yes, I cleaned the bottle and wiped off the first numbers. Oh, no letters after the part number. No AA, AB, AC or anything. Paint code is LRN. The paint is still good. It matched back in the day but we are talking about red and that color likes to fade.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Did you get that paint matched yet? Reason why I asked, I bought a new 95 R/T 10 back in the day, and I also asked for a bottle of touch-up paint too. The car is long gone but I still have the paint. You can only see last five digits of the part number on the bottle: 00792. Yes, I cleaned the bottle and wiped off the first numbers. Oh, no letters after the part number. No AA, AB, AC or anything. Paint code is LRN. The paint is still good. It matched back in the day but we are talking about red and that color likes to fade.

Just to chime in as I spent 16 years teaching OEM classes in automotive refinish for an automotive paint manufacturer and still heavily involved in that industry...
It's not uncommon at all for not only variations of colors from the factory with the same paint codes but also auto manufacturers to change paint suppliers on the OEM level even mid year,
paint is made in large batches but does work in tolerances and those tolerances move in many directions so if a color can move 5% darker and then 5% lighter and still be within spec you have a 10% difference in color.
Most colors out of the factory have multiple documented "variations" when the color is out of tolerance.
Also paint does something called floatation, as paint film sits wet the darker pigments float to the top because they are lighter in weight and the lighter in color pigments are heavier so they will sink within the film build (this is with all paint) s
the longer your touch-up takes to dry the darker it will continue to get... while the factory dispersed the paint with atomization and more than likely dried faster... which is why most touch-up comes out darker
even the same can of paint used to paint the car originally will look different after drying on a repair/touch-up depending on conditions and application which is why blending for a repair is a must for color match

 

[GA- Viper]

Just to chime in as I spent 16 years teaching OEM classes in automotive refinish for an automotive paint manufacturer and still heavily involved in that industry...
It's not uncommon at all for not only variations of colors from the factory with the same paint codes but also auto manufacturers to change paint suppliers on the OEM level even mid year,
paint is made in large batches but does work in tolerances and those tolerances move in many directions so if a color can move 5% darker and then 5% lighter and still be within spec you have a 10% difference in color.
Most colors out of the factory have multiple documented "variations" when the color is out of tolerance.
Also paint does something called floatation, as paint film sits wet the darker pigments float to the top because they are lighter in weight and the lighter in color pigments are heavier so they will sink within the film build (this is with all paint) s
the longer your touch-up takes to dry the darker it will continue to get... while the factory dispersed the paint with atomization and more than likely dried faster... which is why most touch-up comes out darker
even the same can of paint used to paint the car originally will look different after drying on a repair/touch-up depending on conditions and application which is why blending for a repair is a must for color match

Robert, Thank you for the great information. That helps me better understand why the color looked perfect on the touch up paint applicator but dried so much darker. The paint I had made is a perfect match. And was mixed as a base coat with a separate clear coat application.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Robert, Thank you for the great information. That helps me better understand why the color looked perfect on the touch up paint applicator but dried so much darker. The paint I had made is a perfect match. And was mixed as a base coat with a separate clear coat application.

Great... Base will always dry more accurate in color as it dries quicker than a single stage in most cases but will then need the clear over it... glad it worked out

 

[MoparMap]

Not sure if it would make a huge difference or not, but I can also say the paint on my mom's 94 is quite thin in some places. You can see the composite weave if you look close. I would imagine that could alter color some, but that's probably more noticeable from a distance and over a large area than a small touch up spot. That was some very interesting info from Robert, thanks!

 

[lane_viper]

I bought a kit from Dr. Colorchip the PBE was a spot on match for me and it blends smoothly.

https://drcolorchip.com/

I really like their system. I was able to fix a really big scratch to the bumper on the wife's car. Does a really good job with rock chips, which my cars have plenty of.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

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There seems to be quite a lot of knowledgeable people on this thread! I hope you folks can share some opinions with me!

My hood was keyed, about a foot long straight line. I tried a Quixx Kit with their 3000 grit sandpaper and compounds, but it says to only use about 15 strokes. It removed about half of the scratch (still barely visible, but I’m confident I can get the rest of it completely out). The other six inches are challenging me. The one Dodge body shop I visited wants to repaint the hood. But the black color and clearcoat are still present (the image looks white from reflection only), so I was wondering if the scratch could be successfully repaired? Anyone have any experience working on something like this?

Thank you in advance for any and all replies!

It will never be able to be fully repaired with touch up, the only correct fix would be to repair the scratch by thoroughly sanding and priming the open paint area, the entire hood would need to be prepped by sanding with a fine grit sand paper (1000 grit or finer) or scotchbrite... correct black base coat applied over the primer and blended out... then the entire hood re-cleared.
Touch up will only go so far, if the car was single stage and you touched up with the same single stage paint, allowed to dry/cure and wet-sanded and buffed it would be a little better but would absolutely still show, being base/clear the touch up fix will always still show and look like a touch up

 

[Banshee]

I've used ColorRite for my 2000 RT/10, was an exact match. It's listed as 'Chrysler PRN Viper Red'.

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