Warning: paint code mismatch on a 2021 Tacoma ruined my whole Friday

Matched the code perfectly on a 2021 Tacoma in Tulsa, but the pearl base laid down two shades darker after the third coat, so the door looked like a sticker against the fender. Turns out the VOC mix in my gun was off since the temp dropped, has anyone else had single-stage pearl shift that bad?

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young.kim14d ago

Yeah that temp swing will absolutely wreck a pearl. I mean, I've had single stage tints do wild stuff when the reducer starts acting up mid-spray, but two full shades on a Tacoma pearl is brutal. If the base laid down that dark after coat three, it might not even be the VOC mix, could be the activator flash times got thrown off by the cold and it kept sinking instead of setting. Maybe try warming the gun and your mix bucket next time before you even start, and do a test card on the fender edge with the same batch, that saves you the whole repaint headache.