Original paint engine bay color and body color

[dev89]

Hi All,

I just need to clarify following fact.

According to some guys, engine bay color and body color is different in original factory paint. I have personally seen this difference. I have also seen some cars with same color in engine bay and body, but owners strongly claim that the paint is factory original.

Can someone please explain me what is this color difference in engine bay and body ? Is this something depend on manufacturer and model or body color in engine bay cars are re-painted ?

One of my friend told me not to buy a car with engine bay painted in body color. Is this a myth or true. Any advice would be helpful as i'm planning to buy a used car.

Thanks a lot.

[tiv]

17 minutes ago, dev89 said:

Hi All,

I just need to clarify following fact.

According to some guys, engine bay color and body color is different in original factory paint. I have personally seen this difference. I have also seen some cars with same color in engine bay and body, but owners strongly claim that the paint is factory original.

Can someone please explain me what is this color difference in engine bay and body ? Is this something depend on manufacturer and model or body color in engine bay cars are re-painted ?

One of my friend told me not to buy a car with engine bay painted in body color. Is this a myth or true. Any advice would be helpful as i'm planning to buy a used car.

Thanks a lot.

It's not the most reliable way as it may vary from year of manufacture, model, make, country of manufacture so on and even the type of paint.

Example Pearl colours - the same base coat is applied all over but the pearl layer is not added in door Jambs and engine bay. Not a very reliable method I should say.

Older cars had black 

Restmods will be a different story 

[iRage]

Like tiv stated its absolutely not the most reliable way of checking on the paint's "original"-ness. In fact it is an outdated practice/myth from the 80s when people used to use the engine bay paint to sample the paint for the body. The belief was that the engine color would be the true and original color as people would not paint it and it would not fade to sunlight. Well...pain tenchnology ahs cme a long long way since then along with protectant technologies which has changed manufacturers' strategies to protect the engine bay and body paints; not to mention the way we actually maintain our cars.

Forgetting about the above, the body of the car and the engine are subject to different environmental conditions which would contribute to how the paint fades over a period of time. Body gets subject to high temp, rain, strong sunlight, etc...whilst the engine would be subject to engine grime, higher temperatures, low light, etc....so it would be natural for the paint in the two different compartments to have slightly different tones over time.