I got my new tank from Honda today and, just as I feared, it's not a perfect match. Can't really see it in the pic, but the fairings are more orange. I don't know why the Chinese ebayers can't use Honda paint codes.

 

Such is life with ordering painted parts from separate places; hard to get a great match often. It probably isn't too terrible when put together and outside, though. My white is a bit mismatched when comparing the front and side fairings, but you don't notice it much in person.

 

your side fairings look painted in the picture - but the red part would only be decal from the factory. is that some aftermarket work?

 

I bought them on ebay from china. The black is a sticker and the red (or orange) is paint.

 

Maybe yours are different, but is it the other way around? The tank is red paint with black stickers. The fairing is black paint with red stickers. At least, that's how my red on white is: red fairing paint, white sticker makes it look the other way around.

 

What did you think was going to happen when getting colors from two different places? The best you can hope for is bringing the fairing into your paint guy and try to have him match it as best he can.

 

or go to a paint shop that has the laser matching equipment...

 

My bad. Actually, the whole thing is paint - no stickers.

 

this isn't really an issue with "honda paint codes" as much as it is you bought 2 painted parts that came from different sources.

The best bodyshop around could mix up a batch of a color today, then next month mix up the same formula and it's not going to be exactly the same. Same goes for stuff that's been in the sun - it fades a little, so the paint code that originally painted it isn't going to be an exact match.

That's why all body shops factor in "blending" when repainting a body panel - they know they will usually have to tweak the new paint into the surrounding old paint to avoid a drastic difference in colors.

 

Hmmm. Well, on the bright side I guess I'm learning a little about paint.