Auto body repair & detailing: paint not matching, solvent selection, color blending

Question
i have a 2007 miata color true red and i have a big problem. i have had the front fender painted 6 times;2xs each by three different body shops. the fender was a new one from mazda and came pre primed. after the first time the color was a dead on match in bright light. but once you looked at it on a angle or in normal light you could see the depth and richness of the color was not the same as the adjacent panel.so he repainted it but same result.so i went to another body shop same result twice.so now i went to a third body shop but this time i had a scratch on the quarter and he primed it with some yellow primer and than painted it and wala! exact match to the rest of the car in any kind of lighting. so now i figure if he got the quarter right the front fender would be a no brainer right? wrong same result. so he primed the fender with some gray primer and did it again no match again. so how can he paint two different panels with the same paint and get two different results.btw the i do not want to do any blending in as much as my doors are original paint and do not whant them touched. how could he have got the quarter panel exact without blending but not the fender. why cant anybody seem to get this fender correct. this car is my baby and i will do anything to keep it in the mint condition it is in. HOPE YOU CAN HELP THANKS RON

Answer
Hi Ron,

Lots of things can change paint color. For example, painting techniques, solvent selection, various guns, brands of paint, air pressure, and even temperature and humidity. Certain colors may vary more than others. PPG as well as most other major paint manufacturers will state in their training manuals, "Obtaining a "butt" match (panel to panel) is extremely difficult and is almost exclusively due to luck. Color blending is a necessity." I understand that you want your car to look right but my advice is, Let the shop do there job uninhibited and blend into the adjacent panels.