Lhasa Green Paint???

I know its probably a silly question with an obvious answer (and I have had a little look in this forum for an answer) but I need to get a Lhasa Green touch up stick as I have a scratch on the bottom of the drivers side rear panel about 4 inches long (very thin) and have been meaning to get it sorted!

Any ideas people? I'm assuming Les Smiths do not stock Lhasa Green!  :wink:

Thanks.

May not be hard to find - I know halfords do Mars red so hopefully lhasa too?

Obsolete from VW as far as I am aware. Halfrauds may do one, but I recall a mate having trouble getting one. Also Halfords colour matching can be pretty suspect to say the least. Their Alpine white aerosol and pen didn't seem to match mine or a mates Alpine White Golfs. The bloke at Halfords admitted that there colour matching can be a bit of an approximation between the various releases of a paint colour (i.e a mix of alpine white 1978 and alpine white 1987) .

I would try a local paint factor, they should have a colour book with all manufacturers paint codes detailing any differntation over the years and the specific mixes required. Always found these a very good match. If they do not do it as a pen they will be able to mix you up a small tin to use with an artists brush.

Cheers

My Caddy is Alpine White and the bloke I got it off did some paintwork to it and said never again.  He claimed there are 18 shades of Alpine White. I have an aerosol from an autojumble that says Alpine White III, so there must have been atleast two others as well. :dontknow:

Tell me about it. Some of them are just slighty different shades and some are totally different mixes. If I remember rightly 1978 alpine white (think 78-83) has a small amount of yellow and black - an almost tobacco stained white. However, 1987 is white with a small amount of blue - therfore more an artic white  :? . Found that paint factors usually have enough info to find the right mix for the year of car, but Halfords just seem to mix them all together  :roll:

Sure i have some lhasa green spray cans and touch up pens mate, infact i have hundreds of the older vw paints, all new!

Thanks for your replies guys, much appreciated.

Storm, have you got any Lhasa green touch-up pens then mate? If so (new) then I will buy one off of you.

Let me know.

Thanks again

Just to resurrect this. I need to do some small patching on a few areas of my Lhasa Green Campaign.

Can anyone recommend suppliers that sell decent quality paint and laquer that they can mix fairly accurately (I'm in SE London, but anywhere within an hour or so's travelling distance would be of interest).

Also, I haven't bought paint for doing a car with a compressor / gun for about 15 years (cellulose last time I tried this on my Beetle!!). Obviously 2 pack is a no go for home spraying, but what are the other options and does anyone have any recommendations on type / brand. I know water based acrylics have moved on in recent years - are these any good for cars?

I am only spraying small areas using a cheapy Clarke gun and small tanked compressor, so not expecting perfection, just something that will look OK from a distance and is better than primer   . I am hoping I can compensate for my spray equipement limitations with a lot of careful prep work / finishing and elbow grease!

I know I can do a good job as I have done so with only rattle cans on an Atlas Grey metallic bootlid before - it just takes a lot of careful prep work before and afterwards.

Eventually the car will get a full stripdown and respray, but in the meantime I just want to be able to treat a few small rust spots and stop things getting any worse, while keeping the car looking fairly tidy.

Chris

Chris, most paint factors seem to do cellulose or two pack. As you say unless you have the proper equipment or don't mind dying from industrial style poisening, two pack is a no-no. I use Bilux Cellulose which I get from a small local paint factor in Colchester. Very good match and quality, obviously some of that's down to the paint factior but also the manufacturers formulas and mixs count. Bilux cellulos is made by Max Meyer .

Seem to recall my paint factor does a Lhasa either as a celluslose (presmuably Bilux?) or a matt base coat and top laquer. Friend found the match to be good. Obviously always possible that original piant may have faded a touch over the years which can effect the match.

Cheers

Thanks for the info Mark and the link. They list something called Aquamax which to me sounds like a water based acrylic with very low toxicity and thinned with water.

This sounds far less difficult to use in a home garage setup from a respirator / ventilation point of view, plus easier clean up for equipment after wards. Did you consider this at all, and if so why did you decide to go with the cellulose instead?

I am used to airbrushing with acrylics on RC cars and the finish seems pretty durable, but again its not the same as using it on a real car and the conditions it will encounter. I don't mind having to apply extra layers for the benefits of the reduced toxicity (sp?) and easier clean up.

On the subject of laquer and base coat, I was under the impression that all metallics were applied this way - several coats of the metallic that appears slightly matt which are then followed by several coats of laquer or clearcoat to give the "shine"?

As long as the paint match is fairly good I think I can probably make a reasonable job of blending it. I will not be blending mid panel, the repainted areas will cover complete panels so the match doesn't need to be perfect.

As I say this is an interim measure to cover some small repair areas until I am ready to go for a full stripdown and respray in a year or two.

I need more info on painting so I might start a new thread on this anyway  :wink:

Chris