Help Needed With Paint Codes Please

[weseeyou]

can anyone help please with paint codes.

We have a dark red Ford Focus 2001 model which needs a replacement front wing.

I ordered what I thought was the correct 2xpack paint on amazon Pepper Red Metallic but it turned out to be much too dark

I contacted Ford who tell me that there is 2x Red pepper paints for that year

They tell me my paint code (P8) is for the darker Red Pepper paint ( code 1778326 )

Problem is the Hycote Red Pepper paint sent by amazon is too dark and its a Pearl paint not metallic amazon seller swears that there is only one Red pepper paint anyway.

Ford won't post the paint and I'm 110 mile round trip away from nearest parts stockist. If I order from a local Ford dealership its going to cost me £30 for a 150ml can with laquer and it might be the wrong colour paint again

Beginning to lose the will to live and wish I'd never started the job to be honest.

[dezwez]

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/colour_codes_ford_europe_M-Z.htm

[weseeyou]

Hi thank you for your post however I cannot see how this will help me ?

The link you supplied goes to Ford Europe and I have looked through all the paints listed and there are three Red Pepper paints

None of them have the same code as our Focus and 2x paints are for a 1998 car and the third paint is for a 2003 car ?

Ok I think I worked it out from another website. The second part of the paint code is for the year..... but not the vehicle year.... it signifies the year that that partiular paint colour was introduced. ie 1998

Therefore there are 2x possible paint colours for a 2001 Ford Focus and I'm still nowhere nearer knowing which is the correct one for my car !

[dezwez]

have you looked at the vin plate there a letter and number for the paint code on the left two up from the bottom

for focus

[dezwez]

http://www.cartouchuppaints.co.uk/brands/

frist posted by artscot79 many thanks

[weseeyou]

yes the paint code is shown in my first post 5th line down (P8)

It looks like there are 2x different Red Pepper paints with a P code and manufactured in 1998 used on Focus up to 2001. I don't know which it is .nor do Fords at Bristol

[dezwez]

ok then ford should have the right colour for your year

with that code

[dezwez]

http://fordpaintcodes.wikidot.com/ford-focus-98-2005

[Lester1102]

Hi I'm new to this forum but I do this as part of my job even of you respray the desired parts with cans of touch up u will still not get a perfect match because your car colour will fade over the years the only way you will get it to match is if u take it to a wet spraye who specialises in auto repair

[weseeyou]

thank you lester . i know that you are right about matching paints I have had to do quite a lot of accident repairs to my cars over the years. Bodyshops do some amazing work especially matching cellulose paint with water based paints.

the problem that I have here is that there are 3x different coloured paints all with the same 'P' code ,all with the same name Red Pepper and two with the same year of manufacture.1998

Only one of these paints is the correct one for my car.

Its going to cost me £30.00 to order the paint and if its the wrong one I'll have to spend a further £30.00 for the other one.This is in addition to the Red pepper paint I bought this week which is the 2003 paint which is completely the wrong colour.

I'm not talking about a different shade. This is a Plum colour and the car is more like a dark pepper colour .

God this is difficult to get across in a few lines of text

[Lester1102]

As I said your best bet would be to go to somewhere who can have a look at it and get them to order the paint that way if the wrong paint is ordered you have a leg to stand on and there probably going to know the exact colour that way you won't have to worry about anything hope this helps

[weseeyou]

thanks for your advice lester.

i am aware of course of the option to put the car into a body shop but as I'm sure you'll realise to replace a front wing and spray it would likely cost in excess of £750 ! which is probably more than the value of a 2001 Focus in poor condition. It cost £1250 last year to replace and spray my rear bumper on another car! fortunately the insurance paid for it .

This is why I have chosen to do the job myself and it should cost less than £75 including the new wing

Its a very simple job which I have done dozens of times over the past 48 years of driving , I just need to be able to order the right paint