Our bench
How we mix your paint
Every color we sell is mixed to order at our bench in South San Francisco, from the paint maker's formula for your code. Here's how your code becomes paint, and what we check before it ships.
From your code to a formula
The paint finder searches the color books of the paint systems our bench mixes: 265,000+ OEM colors and 750,000+ color formulas between them.
One code is often made in several versions, because a carmaker's color can differ by plant, paint supplier and year. When your code has variants, the finder lists them and the bench mixes the one you pick.
If a code isn't in the finder's own list, it asks the bench's books directly while you wait. RAL, fleet and equipment colors, or a formula from another shop, go to the bench through the finder's Custom color / RAL tab.
The sticker camera
Take a photo of the paint label in your door jamb and the finder reads the code from it. Two different readers have to agree before it names a code, and one of them was trained on 3,045 photos of real door-jamb stickers sent to our shop.
We tested the two together on 304 sticker photos they had never seen, each checked by hand. They were right on 78.6% of them and named a wrong code on none. On the rest it asked: it shows what it read and you pick or type the code.
Mixed to order, tested before it ships
Nothing sits on a shelf: your color is mixed when you order it, in a 6.7 oz aerosol or a quart, half gallon or gallon for a spray gun. Every batch is sprayed out on a test card before it ships.
A code gets you the factory formula. A car's paint can still differ from it, because paint fades in the sun and panels get resprayed. That's why we ask you to spray a test card too, and hold it against the car in daylight before you paint.
Where we are
AutofxMart, 175 South Spruce Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Call (415) 798-6167 or email support@autofxmart.com. Questions about a color before you order: ask us in Chat.
Questions
Do you mix the paint yourselves?
Yes. Every color is mixed to order at our bench in South San Francisco, from the paint maker's formula for your code, and every batch is sprayed out on a test card before it ships.
How accurate is the sticker camera?
Tested on 304 sticker photos it had never seen, each checked by hand, it was right on 78.6% and named a wrong code on none. When its two readers don't agree, it doesn't guess: it shows what it read and you pick or type the code.
What if the color doesn't match my car?
Paint mixed from a code follows the factory formula, but paint that has faded or been resprayed can differ from it, so spray a test card first. For a guaranteed match, mail us a painted part: if the sprayed card doesn't match, tell us within 30 days of delivery and we re-mix it and ship it free.
