Thread: help me match the color of my trunk to the rest of the car

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ok, i started this project at the first of the week hoping to have it done by friday night. the trunk of my car's clear coat was beginning to seperate from the paint, so i decided to repaint the trunk thinking the color would match fairly easily because both rear quarter panels were repainted recently by one of the more reputable body shops in the area.

this is my first try at color matching and dont know what to do next. i have applied the final coat of color, Dupont Chroma base Active red (Nissan AJ4) and it is nowhere near as shiny as the rest of the car. what do i need to do now? clear coat, then cut and buff? or do i need to sand the color coat with 2000 grit then clear? the paint has no imperfections that i can see. iv been painting for about a year now but have never tried to match colors/finishes before, so if anyone could shine some light on the situation i would greatly appreciate it.

The base coat does not shine, all the shine comes from the clear coat

Dave is right. But humidity will change a color your quarters were probably sprayed in a controled enviroment heated dry booth. I would go ahead and clear it. It shouldn't be that far off if at all.

thanks you guys, i got home from work friday and cleared the trunk and it looks great, not quite the shine that the rear quarter panels have but pretty close for my first color match job. i dont post much on here but i read most all the posts in the paint section and you guys have helped me alot. Thanks

Clear is the gloss... Dave is right. Another thing, the color wont match the quarters because everything like temperature, mixing, coats, air pressure all effect the outcome. It should be pretty darn close though. May be a tad bit darker than the quarters if they have been outside in the sun for a while now but no big deal.