melinamotor

Hopefully someone can answer this question:

My misus has a focus 1.8 in Amparo blue, two months ago she accidently smashed her mirror and contacted a company called wingmirror man on the the internet. She ordered a new wing mirror and gave out her registration, the company claimed they only needed the registration to match the paint on the mirror.
When it arrived it was a very dark state blue and obviously the wrong colour. She sent the unit back with the name of the colour e.g. Amparo blue. She then recieved a unit with a light sky blue colour which was wrong again! This has started a crazy chain of events where we have even had a green one sent through and its getting silly.

After contacting Ford who state there has only ever been one shade of Amparo blue and provided the correct paint code we have sent this information to wing mirror man who is still adamant there are over 14 shades of amparo to choose from! I think this is utter tosh and Im now taking this matter up with them myself.

I have even been to Halfords and found the exact match called Amparo blue so why cant this outfit do it!

My question is " How many shades of one colour amparo blue are there?"

Thanks

Ginge !

dont forget ford just type in the year of the car for the colour of that year

colour codes change each year of manufacter and then the last digit is the colour

my question is though,,,, when ford supply the correct mirror cover already painted for less than 40 quid,,,,,,, what advantage is this " wing mirror man" who is prob just buying pattern ones and painting them

Ginge !

ps: there is just one shade of the colour BUT the code is different for each car based on how many years the car has been out if that makes it easier to understand

only 1 shape sierra but lots of years they made them will make them have 12 colour codes,,,,, but its the same colour for that car

Ginge !

pps: ford also sell the paint as a kit with laquer for 13 quid aswell rather than halfords 10 quid a tin PLUS laquer crap they do

melinamotor

Thanks, I only brought a tester from halfords to prove the point that even halfords can do it so why cant wingmirrorman!
The customer feedback from wingmirror man appears to be positive if you read the reviews. The total cost of replacing the the "whole" wing mirror unit painted was £43.
So what everyone is saying is the colour doesnt really change but the year code on the paint number does, shouldnt a proffessional sprayer know this!

melinamotor

The issue of paint codes would tally with thier response of 14 different types, Amparo blue it seems is a 14 year old colour and was also used on Escorts towards the end of production. But as stated the sprayer should know its just the code that has changed and not the colour surely?

Ginge !

mate sprayers wont know this, i know this as i work at ford and have this argument every day with back street garages

though as said they can have more than 1 shade of a colour with the same name, polar white is a Vauxhall colour and i think also a BMW colour so thats why codes are important

the diamond white for a sierra cosworth is a different colour code to a 06 plate transit aswell for some reason,,,,, now that could be nothing OR is could be something

also sometimes people guess colour names rather than check, machine silver instead of satin silver type thing but they do look the same on the lid pmsl

xr_craig

iTrader: (2)

Codes might be different but amparo blue is amparo blue. Simple as that. Fair enough there will be a couple of shades but they will effectively be the same colour

xr_craig

iTrader: (2)

Ginge its the other way around mate. The first digit relates to the colour. The second determines the year

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Tbh mate,ford and Citroën are by far the worst dealers for giving you the correct colour code.I've lost count how many times they got it wrong from the registration number I gave them.I also found they liked to just give you the name of the colour rather than the code itself.

Good example of doubled up colours in ford is Aquarius,it's a green on older cars but now it's a metallic blue,believe me,I've been to the paintshop,asked for Aquarius and been given the green instead of the blue....handy that when the cars about to go out!!!

Always,always always use the colour code supplied on the car vin plate,3rd from bottom from memory.for a wing mirror cover you'll be fine but anything that requires paint on adjacent panels ideally should be colour matched or blended.

In fact another ford mess up was on my old Ka where they told me it was amparo blue(oddly!!) yet when I sprayed in a panel to match it was totally different as the car wasn't amparo but metropolis blue,cocks!!

Metropolis blue definitely has different shades as I always had to colour match it as even in the colour swabs theres about 5 different shades.

Ginge !

sorry,,,,,, thats what i ment its cause i ALWAYS give the colours code and tell them to find that on the chassis plate for the year part, usually on the left hand side small colum of boxes 2nd from the bottom when ever i look

then they ask me to fucking tell them where the chassis plate is but i hang up by then pmsl

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Your right there.you'd be amazed how many people used to come into the workshop and ask if we've got any "rover blue" for their 200 series or similar.I would ask what the name of the colour was and they'd say something like "dark" or " metallic". No shit Sherlock!!!!!

Ginge !

reason for giving the name is ford work on paint names and vehicle, we dont sell paint APART FROM OUR OWN which we find on OUR catalogue and use a FINIS number to order it

would you like us to pop round and prep the panels too for you

reality is the parts guys ARE NOT MECHANICS OR PAINTERS,,,, we are just people sitting at a desk in a airconditioned office taking phone calls from mechanics who are too lazy to look at the car and so want to call up and have us do the work for them,,, which is why we get mechanics asking us " i have focus with a miss fire,,, what parts you think i should order for when the car comes in"

aquarius and aqua and not the same colour my friend and as for the colour shades,,,, frozen white on a transit is the same finis code as frozen white on a focus RS BUT diamond white is a different colour,,,, the complaints ive had about diamond white transit fuel caps to find the transit is frozen white THEN WANT US TO PAY FOR IT cause they ordered the wrong paint ,,,,,,,,, more anoying is we usually just send out a tin to shut them up !

xr_craig

iTrader: (2)

I agree with working on colour names at Ford as the colour codes are a nightmare. If it's something unusual or a couple of options then a quick phonecall to the ford lads and they tell you the name. Job sorted.

Ginge !

what about " its not like a normal ford colour, mines a blue that you see on BMW's ect"

" so its be repainted then"
" no it left the factory with this colour"
"as i said dick head,,,,, please can you walk you lazy fat arse out of this dealership and read that white fucking plate screwed the the bumper OR open you glove box and give me one of you unpaied parking tickets AS I NEED YOUR FUCKING REGISTRATION TO GET THE NAME OF THE COLOUR AS WHEN I TYPE IT " BMW SHADE OF BLUE TYPE COLOUR" THE COMPUTER HAS A WINDOW POPING UP THAT READS

*****TELL YOUR CUSTOMER SHE IS A MORON AS FORD PAINT CARS WITH FORD COLOURS FROM THE FACTORY AND WE DONT NAME THEM NISSAN MICRA BLUE,,,,,, but i can see who was the cause of this accident,,,,, reversed into her OWN garden post did she*****

well ok we aint had that update to Ecat just yet,,,,,,, but if ever i was incharge of IT,,,,,, much better than

****no search results***

i fucking HATE retail people,,,,, im suprised they managed to start the fucking car as some of them are just sooo fucking stupid

Ginge !

btw,,,,, we LOVE them phone calls from garages who use us every leap year,,,, nothing better than have a phone call just to ask us a colour code then complain when all we do is give them a colour name,,,,,,,, if you do it too many times ive heard of people mistaking performance blue for imperial blue before or machine silver for stardust silver ect ect ect

dam computer sometimes gives the wrong infomation to certain customers

usually the same customers who also call up to see if the car THEY ARE WORKING ON has vented or solid discs,,,,,,,,,,,, HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU TELL IF THEY ARE WORN IF YOU CANT TELL IF THEY ARE VENTED OF SOLID !!!

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Hmm,so how come when you ring up MOST times they say things like it's k8,ebony or something like that?strange as you claim it only gives you the finis code,as I suspected,to tired too simply give the code as well.

Yes,there is an element of incompetence on the garages behalf for not writing the colourcode down first but it doesnt help when ford put them in different places on the same model of vehicle,but slightly different years so you have to rip off masking/sheeting etc just to retrieve the colourcode!!!

Yes,I'm well aware aqua and Aquarius are different colours but ford do two colours called Aquarius which are totally different,one is blue,one is green hence why as a garage we always asked for the colour and COLOURCODE so we didn't get the wrong paint.

I'd be pretty certain that your paintshop boys don't come into the stores to get a litre tin of panther black,they either phone their local paint suppliers or put the COLOURCODE into their own mixing machine to get the colour.90% of main dealers do anyway!!!
Rant over!!!!

Ginge !

there is ways to get it OBV as we are ford but the PARTS DEPARTMENT dont have easy access to colour codes for a reason,,,, to stop the timewasting phone calls from people who just wanna use us as a technical help line,,, we also dont have torque settings and breakdown of what parts are needed to change a headgasket ect or what other panels are needed when taking things apart ect as we are ment to get a call, tell us what you want and we supply the part

for customers we " go the extra mile"( pmsl, have to work at ford to understand) but honestly its not as easy as the mazda/vw/porsche/merc system to get the colour code

oh and citroen and peugeot also aint easy to get the colour code,,,,, ive worked with all of them in the past so i know what im talking about

vaughant

iTrader: (1)

Tbh I did usually phone the service department as you rightly stated it's not really the parts boys problem.as for people asking for torque figures etc that's just taking the piss!!!

Citroën are by far the worst.the attitude when you phone up asking for a colourcode is shocking."why,what do you want it for?" "are you buying the paint from us?" " what's your interest in the car etc?" totally unhelpful IMO.

I phoned once to ask if they knew if C2 GT and standard wings were the same?"vin number?" gave him it,"I can get one for tomorrow",price?are they the same etc?"under £100,don't know"

They were the same,I bought a pattern one for £30!!!

Ginge !

tbh i deal alot with trade customers and ive working in the aftermarket AND main dealer so i know alot of customers and most of my old customers dont really use me now being im just ford main dealer if that makes sence but the car trade is a small small world so tbh most of them know me,, some dont like me ive been told but alot of garages look after me such as storing my impreza in the winter or letting me just turn up and use there ramps,,,, when i smashed up my impreza one garage stored it and repaired it if i supplied the parts and said " give the lad a drink for it"

the damage was






and he repaired it to this





all for "a drink" as i gave him the parts and i had bodyshop mix and give me the paint FOC with activator aswelll and ANOTHER place paint the bumpers

oh and he MOT'd the car for me FOC too

now these customers i am in debt with for the rest of my life,,,,,,, sold my sole you could say pmsl

as said some garages are cool and worth the extra time,,, some though make me wanna just hang up the phone when there names comes up on the caller ID