PaintCode R81X

[MilanoRed]

I am new to the forum, but I have a 2009 Insight. I just recently scratched it, and bought some sand papers/a cleaner/primer/spay paints etc. Did a lot of research before starting to paint, and was confident that I could make the scratch barely noticeable.

But after spending almost a week to do everything, following the instructions from the net to the letter, it turned out that the paint does not match with the original colour.

The car says that the colour code is R81X. I asked my local Honda dealer, who told me that the suffix -X is the code for internal trim. So, my colour code is R81.

The new paint work looks lighter and orangish, compared to the original paint. It cannot be fading, since fading should make red lighter, not darker?

Does anyone here know anything about this? Does R81X is really R81X? If not, how can I get hold of the matching colour? Please help.

[Cobb]

Welcome aboard. Sorry to hear about those problems. Using the paint code is great for painting the whole car, but for spot or sections its best to scan the existing paint and match that as paint fades from our environment.

I am guessing this is the tango red pearl? Yeah, in America I see some cars like mines that are like a corvette red, then others like mines thats a deep black cheery to burgdnary red.

Typically clear coat darkens the paint a hue, so maybe a few layers of clear will "fix" it? Sometimes you do screw up when it comes to body work and you have to sand and repaint.

[MilanoRed]

Many thanks for responding. Here in UK, we have different colour range from US.

Honda Insight | Book Test Drive | Specification, Finance & Information

Mine is solid milano red.

The spray tin R81 from my local car part shop was much brighter than the actual colour, so fading cannot the problem. When the colour fades, I guess it wouldn't get darker.

I managed to find a paint shop, which did matching with tips. They ordered a spray tin R81-8, which still looks somewhat brighter. At the ship, I remember that they had another spray, R81 (without a suffix), which was a bit darker than R81-8, so I will order it.