Spent basically every waking hour I haven't been in work over the last 3 days prepping some patches on my car ready to touch-up spray them. Pop down to Halfords to buy one of their ready-mixed cans for my Fjord Blue (LR5V) Polo and it's in their books as they have the top-up pens, but no spray paint ready mixed.

After alot of pondering, as I've heard horror stories of their reputation, I decide to have them mix a can for me according to my colour code for nearly three times the price. When the guy types it into the computer, it turns out there were loads of options, so I just go for the most literal version of the LR5V code.

Here is the result:

I was just wondering if anyone has bought Fjord blue from Halfords before and whether theirs turned out like this on first application? I'm about to go down there and kick off, but I'm not sure if it will somehow lighten as it dries, or whether the finishing lacquer will somehow improve it and make it look somewhat like my colour?

I'm so pissed off. Worst thing is, I *knew* this shit would happen

I'm no expert at spraying, only thing I've done is two alloys and my boot lid, but it seems to me like maybe the can was held too close to the body panel,

thus causing the paint to be a lot thicker and darker than wanted, from my limited experience I've found that the can has to be some distance away from the car and build it up slowly over a few coats, also as the paint on your car will have faded with sun ect it will be lighter than the new paint.

Maybe you did this and its just another example of shitty Halfords though! hope this maybe helps :)

I'm no expert at spraying, only thing I've done is two alloys and my boot lid, but it seems to me like maybe the can was held too close to the body panel,

thus causing the paint to be a lot thicker and darker than wanted, from my limited experience I've found that the can has to be some distance away from the car and build it up slowly over a few coats, also as the paint on your car will have faded with sun ect it will be lighter than the new paint.

Maybe you did this and its just another example of shitty Halfords though! hope this maybe helps :)

This was from a "Holts" can that halfords mixes their paints in. For some reason the spray nozzle made the paint come out ALOT thicker than with halfords own primer that I used (it surprised me aswell). It's a bit thicker than I would have liked aswell, but that shouldn't affect the colour of it should it. Also, this was only sprayed from around 25cm away as recommended, any furthur back and I think the paint would have dried before making contact and not stuck properly..

sounds like Halfords fault then! just crap really, unless its wheel paint or plastic paint i think its just better to pay the extra (not much) and go to a car paint shop and get a proper can of it :) i think shouting at them is the best bet for today though!! :)

Sounds like he mixed it wrong, or got the wrong paint code.

I bought a can of Tornado Red from there the other day and the match was pretty good. I've just got one quarter of the car alot shinier than the other as it's fresh paint and laquer! Which I'm hoping a good polish will sort out.

i also made the classic error of getting shitty halfords to mix me up some sigma blue for the 306. was a completely different colour, and this is how it turned out:

I tried halfords for my car (LD5D Chagral blue) the colour they mixed was so wrong I stopped them before they put into a can, their mix was almost black!! I then went to Nu-Againe in Bedford they mixed it too the original spec, but when I sprayed it, it was a few shades too dark, took the car back to them and they re-mixed it and it's a perfect match and they did'nt charge me for the replacement cans

AND isnt it like £14 a tin? major rip off.

They are such goons. I might have to try somewhere like that in Cardiff nige, they sound alot better. Yeah it's £15 for a mixed 300ml spray can.

They say you can't return anything once it's used if it's the wrong code of paint for your car, but they surely can't say that if I know the code I gave them is right and they mixed it wrong? I'm going to kick off and see if I can hopefully get at least half of my money back. Then I'll be able to get some decent stuff and not have to spend too long rubbing down the crap that's on my car at the moment.

Gaz, yeah I've used their paint before that was pre-mixed in a can off the shelf and that was a good mix and pretty close to the right colour, which just enforces the fact that their in-house staff are just incompetent and they probably mixed it wrong. I remember when collecting the paint off the kid who said he mixed it before using it, I asked him a few questions about how to apply it and he couldn't tell me. He had to go and ask his 'manager' who seemed to ramble through his answer hoping I would get bored or annoyed and leave him to it.

I might have to try somewhere like that in Cardiff nige, they sound alot better. Yeah it's £15 for a mixed 300ml spray can.

I can't praise Nu-Againe enough when I first went in all I had was the lid from a genuine VW spray (bought off this site) and they mixed the paint to match that and it was spot on, just not to my car, as in the 15 years since VW painted it, it has faded quite a bit!! but when I took the car there they matched it spot on! and their cans are either 300ml or 500ml I went for the 500 @ £17.99 buy two get a third free!

Nu-Againe also sell on ebay and you can send them a small panel (fuel flap) and they will do their best to match it.

Trust me! Iv used paint on my 6n2 from tgere and they missed it wrong now my door is in paint thats the wrong colour :@

All i can say is clowns at that place