My Interior Plastic Color Matching Experience (SEM / Colorbond Comparison Inside)

[Onizukachan]

I redid my entire intirior to SEM lt neutral, becaus3 it was 95 only beige color And it was about 3-4 different colors of tan as a result.

PO had sprayed the dash SEM med neutral which turned out to be a perfect match for the 99 escalade surround.

but I liked the lt neutral which is to my eyes akin to the crème vanilla color in newer Escalades And redid it all in that color instead.

 

[Hershel W Cecil]

My 1998 has the "medium neutral' leather interior color code (521/522) and I've been trying to find the appropriate paint color to help refinish some of the plastic pieces that are scuffed. My interior door bezels are mismatched so I decided to use them as my experimental pieces. A lot of discussion I've found regarding paint-matching the interior focused on greys so I thought I'd start a thread specifically on my experience trying to find a match for the medium neutral color and potentially hear new options from other members.

As part of the prep all pieces were 1) washed with soap and dried, 2) sprayed with SEM adhesion promoter, 3) hit with a 3-4 light coats of color, and 5) 2-3 coats of SEM Low Luster Clear

Since SEM has a very good reputation I started there. Lesson 1) DO NOT TRUST THE ONLINE PAINT CHIP PDF. When viewing on my computer, the SEM Lt. Neutral (15863) looks like the correct color. IT IS NOT. I don't have any pictures of this, but the paint color is more akin to what you'd see in a GMT800 or maybe an Escalade. I initially picked this color because of the 521 code and how it looked online, but definitely a mistake.

So next I went with the "medium neutral" (15883). When you look at the pictures below you'll probably think I grabbed the wrong color somehow. I know I did after comparing it with the dash fuse cover. At this point, I actually thought something was wrong with can I got from the store and bought A SECOND can on Amazon just to check. Same grayish color with very little brown.

Frustrated, I took a half-day off during the week to drive to the nearest SEM distributor and chat in-person. I brought him the painted sample and fuse cover for comparison, and explained the full process. He looked, did some test sprays and confirmed with a can they had in stock--all very gray and muted brown--and nothing like what I would expect. He then took his paint chip page and compared with one from an older binder. Unfortunately, when compared together it's very easy to see how poorly they match. The old paint chip is slightly glossier and has more brown tone in it than the current color. He explained that I'm not the first person to raise issue with color matching and that the quality has been an issue in the last couple years due to supplier challenges. He even just re-sprayed the interior in his 90s Ford in a black color and stated that 2 out of 6 bottles came out with a different sheen than the other 4. He said that making a custom pint is always an option at about $100 and would take about a week.

At that point I decided to go with the other brand I've commonly seen, Colorbond. There are two 3-digit codes I wanted to try: 158 (Medium Neutral II) and 650 (Neutral Tan) but as of this post have only been able to find/try 650. The color is definitely a lot closer than SEM but sprays on rougher. This is negated once the clear coat is sprayed but I could definitely see/feel a difference. Since I was much more satisfied, I sprayed the instrument cluster bezel and lower dash plate as well to get a bigger comparison. When next to other large, OEM-color pieces it is evident that they're not the same color, but it's not too terrible. I wish I could get my hands on an affordable can of 158 just to see what the difference is, though.

All pictures will be in the following post.

I used SEM 15883 Med. Neutral on my 98 Tahoe and it was a close match. This was from stock at the paint store about 5 or 6 years ago. One problem is everywhere I look inside there are plastic pieces that don't come close to matching the others. I redid my seats in Coffee leather from Katskin because none of the neutral colors matched close enough. good luck

 

[someotherguy]

I used SEM 15883 Med. Neutral on my 98 Tahoe and it was a close match. This was from stock at the paint store about 5 or 6 years ago. One problem is everywhere I look inside there are plastic pieces that don't come close to matching the others. I redid my seats in Coffee leather from Katskin because none of the neutral colors matched close enough. good luck

I noticed when building my 3500HD interior from multiple trucks that while some of the parts are painted at the factory (dash for example) many more are molded-in color (especially the crank window door panels), which leads to a lot of mismatches. I painted pretty much everything except the door panels and the A/C vents. Figured the vents were too hard to effectively clean and prep to do a good job of painting them.

Richard

 

[Laredo]

Of the photographs you posted, I actually prefer the SEM. It appears to more closely match the OEM color. Thank you for taking the time to conduct this comparison and document/report your findings.