Different shade of paint on both bumpers?

[Mustang6924]

So I have a vapor blue GT and I've noticed that when the car is in the sun, both the front and rear bumpers look slightly darker? I understand that the bumpers are a different material but should it be that noticeable? Don't have a picture right now but I'll post one soon. So I'm coming down to three conclusions, that everyone has this, or this is only on vapor blue, or that they just did a bad job painting my car.

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[Crew4991]

2 out of the 3 are correct.
Everyone has it and Vapor Blue is a color that makes it slightly more obvious.

 

[LETHAL]

Plastics are painted separate of the body I believe. That would explain it.

 

[Vapor Blue GT]

Yep, we have it and also the dents on both doors right by the handles. Looked at 4 other mustangs on two lots and they all had them as well. Paint many times will look different on plastic than metal. Our Pontiac was like this in silver

 

[Dena]

They need to use different paints depending on if they are painting metal or plastic. Because it's not the same paint, they may not be able to exactly match the colors as the pigments that make up the paint aren't the same.
Color matching is done by computer. If you want to see it in action, bring a paint chip to home depot and ask them to match the color. They will read the chip then dial the numbers into a machine that dispenses the pigments. As long as they are using the same type of paint, the matches can be nearly perfect but remember, paint ages and as it does, the color shifts.
I have had a fair amount of experience with colors as I spent time making color photograph prints however there is a small portion of the population that can detect very small differences in color that most people wouldn't see. Talents like that come in handy for things like matching the color of pearls when making the perfect neckless. It might not be appreciated by a body shop when doing repairs to a car.

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