If you’re planning to buy a used car, one of the things you might want to check is the vehicle’s paint. Inspecting the paint’s condition doesn’t only ensure you’re getting a vehicle that looks good, but it can also reveal so much about its history.
Signs of repainting can mean that the car was involved in a collision or major repairs were done in the past. While buying a properly repaired and repainted car isn’t an issue, transparency from the previous owner is important.
How to Tell If a Car Has Been Repainted
Here are some of the things you can do to check if the car you’re about to buy has been repainted:
Check the Paint Depth In Different Parts of Your Car
Manufacturers usually use a robotic arm to paint the exterior surface of a car’s body, doors, hood, and other external panels. Because the mechanism used to paint a car is controlled by a computer, the thickness of the paint coat is assumed to be the same throughout the vehicle.
If a car has been repainted, there will surely be a noticeable difference in paint thickness. To do that, you’ll need an aftermarket paint thickness gauge.
Simply press the device’s tip against a body panel. It will then give out a paint depth reading that’s usually in mils or microns, which are units of measurement used in the paint industry.
A difference of 40 mils or more between two panels can mean that one of the panels has been repainted. For example, if the paint depth of your driver-side door is around 150 mils, and the paint depth of the nearby front fender is around 200 mils, you can suspect that the driver-side door has been repainted. In general, factory paintwork tends to be thicker compared to repaints.
Look for Oversprays
One of the easiest ways to spot if a car has been repainted is to look for paint overspray. When a car is repainted, sections not meant to be repainted might not be covered properly. Places to check include under the hood, inside the door jambs, and in the trunk. Additionally, make sure to open the fuel door and inspect there as well.
Paint overspray often looks like a dull patch on top of the paint. The surface will also be rough compared to other parts of your car.
Watch for Visible Tape Lines
Body shops usually use masking tape to cover areas they don’t want to get paint on, such as windows, moldings, trims, and emblems.
If the auto body painter didn’t do this process correctly, there can be visible tape lines after the repainting is done. A tape line looks like a sharp cutoff between two depths of paint. You can look for a visible line or observe if there’s an area where paint depth transitions abruptly.
Excess compound or polish residue can also accumulate on the edges of the tape, creating a visible line. This is usually a sign of a careless paint job.
Texture Inconsistencies
The term “orange peel” refers to the slight dimpling and waviness in the paint of a vehicle. This slight imperfection is usually the effect of heat and other external factors like dust contamination during the paint curing process.
What you want to look for is excessive and inconsistent bumps and blemishes. This could mean that the vehicle was prepped and repainted hastily.
Variations In Color Tone
Matching a car’s color tone is no easy task. Auto body shops must find a color that matches the paint code of your vehicle. The automotive paint code is a number that corresponds to the specific color your auto manufacturer used on your vehicle’s body paint during production.
You’ll also have to consider that as a vehicle gets older, its paint inevitably fades. Therefore, a body shop might have to use a spectrophotometer to analyze the car’s current color and determine how to blend color shades to achieve it.
Since perfectly matching a car’s color is a complicated task, a repainted car might have noticeable variations in color tone—especially if the body shop didn’t do its work properly.
The paint might match perfectly under direct sunlight, but you might notice a slight difference in color tone during nighttime or under different light sources. In some cases, the opposite can happen: the paint may look good when parked in a shaded area, but the difference becomes obvious in the sunlight.
Take note, however, that some paint color variations happen naturally. For example, if the owner routinely parks the car in an area where the left side of the car is constantly exposed to the heat of the sun, there’s a chance that the paint on that side will fade more easily than the right side.
Paint can also age differently on a metal surface compared to plastic surfaces. For example, a car’s metal hood might develop a slightly different hue compared to plastic bumpers.
Ask an Expert to Inspect the Vehicle
If you’ve hired a mechanic to do a pre-purchase inspection, you can ask them to inspect the vehicle’s paint. Although they might not be a paint expert, they’ll be able to spot obvious signs of repainting.
If you paid for a pre-purchase inspection, you should specify that you want the frame inspected to ensure a frame stretcher hasn’t been used and to check for any damage to the front end components that might indicate the vehicle has been involved in an accident.
If you have the budget for it, you can also ask an experienced paint and body expert for advice. They’ll be able to determine whether a vehicle was repainted just for its looks or if it was done due to extensive repairs.
How to Get Quality Car Touch-Up Paint
If you need to repaint a small section of your car’s paint, you might want to consider buying a small touch-up paint pen. Repainting large sections of your vehicle when you’re trying to sell it on the secondhand market might make buyers think you have something to hide. You can check out the different touch-up paint pens for sale at CarParts.com.
CarParts.com makes ordering online a breeze. If you have questions about the different paints in our catalog, reach out to our friendly and helpful customer service team. They’ll be happy to help you find the paint that matches your vehicle’s current color. Our team can also tell you about some of the best deals on our site, and they’re available around the clock to assist in whatever way they can. You can reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Don’t waste money on a repaint if all your vehicle needs is a quick touch-up. Order some new touch-up paint at CarParts.com today.
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