Can anyone see that my passenger front door is a different color than my ranger ??

[Snoranger]

Maybe you guys are all looking at this wrong. Perhaps the door is the original color and all the other body panels have been repainted.

 

[Curious Hound]

Maybe you guys are all looking at this wrong. Perhaps the door is the original color and all the other body panels have been repainted.

How could we have been so stupid?

 

[97RangerXLT]

yeah it looks a shade darker, but not horribly so. I would imagine that the door got resprayed for minor damage (or replaced even) and as mentioned, silver is hard to match. still looks good for a 23 year old truck. if it really bugs you, have the entire side of the truck repained, it will then look the same, and the only change would be the fender to the hood or door to the roof which will not be that noticable.

Car Fax. as others have pointed out, not 100 percent accurate. as the car gets older and depreciates, parts are more plentiful in junkyards and more and more do it yourselfer's and mom and pop types of businesses will be repairing them, and not reporting to CarFax. where CarFax shines is in cars newer than 5 years old and especially if they are one owner and the owner takes the car to a dealer or a large service center. most of your repairs mechanically will be under warranty, so hey, why not take it to the dealer, and that new of a car, any body damage will likely be taken to a higer end shop. Not always, but you have a better chance of an accurate Car Fax in those cases. Still look the car over, don't rely soley on the Car Fax. Last week I bought me a 2020 Edge Titanium with 55k miles on it. Local trade, bought in Anderson, lived its 4 plus years in Fishers (20 miles away from Anderson). Car fax showed all the oil changes and maintenance. Dealer disclosed that they did some paintless dent repair on it, and even the dealer photo shows a nice pressure dent in the tailgate, but you can't see it now. the only damage I found on it is the passenger side mirror light bar has a chunk missing, probably someone opened their door into it and chipped it. no other damage, so I would say that the car fax is accurate.

If you buy a car after a major flood event, even if it is not near you, double check for water damage in the interior. most new cars will be totalled by insurance and will be branded flood damaged, but older cars will likely just be fixed to get them running and sold.

A car Fax on my Ranger would likely turn up no repair or oil changes since 2005... as I have done all the maintanence and repair work myself. Did not report the replaced front bumper that my now ex wife bent by running hte truck into a gaurd rail that was a $60 part at the Pull A Part and an hour or so of swapping out, or the steering rebuild, or the brake rebuild, or the new cooling system etc..

AJ

 

[Rick W]

Afterthought, but instead of doing all that repainting, why not just put some bold graphics on it? I’ve had cars with a little ding in the door that you can see from a mile away, until you put a bright pinstripe on the door. Folks’ eyes will go to the pinstripe, not the dent. And you can find all kinds of colors and stripes and graphics that will enhance the look of the truck, not to detract from it.

Heck, I know this one guy who put on reflective yellow and red stripes, and it hid the fact that the truck was painted with rust oleum…

 

[Lefty]

I have had really good luck with NAPA. One store in particular has a mix shop. Paint technology is much improved.

They will ask for the VIN number and the BATCH number (call your Ford dealer) which is even more precise. Then, in order to guarantee a perfect match, they do an actual swatch test and make final adjustments. They will also offer three different grades in three different price ranges.

They will even put the paint inside an aerosol can.

I painted this gold metallic bumper for a friend. No one has ever noticed.