Perhaps An Experiment Is In Order

[CraigClickner]

So, while disassembling the 104 for restoration today, I took off the rear panel and saw that, right there where the panel had sat against the differential cover, the original paint was pristine in my unrestored cub. This gave me an idea.

There is a lot of back and forth on this site about paint color. I'd like to put it to the test. Y'all give me the brand and color of the paint you want to try, and I will paint a section of a panel in that color. once I get them all painted, I'll do a comparison by putting the tail panel over each pain to see which is the best match. Then we can settle it once and for all. Anybody want to start the recommendations?

Please DO note that I'm not going to go out and buy a 60 dollar gallon of paint to paint just one section and decide it doesn't match...so I'd like to limit it to pints and rattle cans.

 

[mgonitzke]

These are the correct paint colors. No contest there.

This horse has really been beaten pretty well to death over the years. To save you a bit of trouble- anything I have seen over the years marketed as "Cub Cadet Yellow" is for the 90's and up machines and is more orange than what was used on the IH machines and MTD built units prior to 1990. School bus yellow, CAT yellow, etc, also aren't particularly close.

The only non-factory or color matched shade of yellow I have seen that was very close was Rustoleum Marigold Yellow. A guy in another group had a before/after of a frame touchup, and the touched up spots could not be distinguished from the original paint in a picture.

 

[jdrong]

What I have come to realize is that paint matches can very greatly. Quality control, and paint companies varied from year to year, model to model, paint batch to paint batch, and from different attachments and their manufacturers. Also there may be difference from spray can to quart can from the same manufacturer. I found that one of the Valspar implement yellows matched my yellow almost perfectly. I posted that, and got a few replies, and even a picture showing how far off the Valspar Implement yellow was. The tone of the picture reply seemed a bit irritated with my suggestion, so I thought never again with the paint color advise. Further proof of my theory, is how many different opinions of perfect match paint there is. Good luck with your search for the "right" match, it may take a little research, and unlucky paint purchases.

 

[Stevenovick1]

Everyone forgets on the assembly (like any assembly line Ford GM) . Monday’s and Friday’s are different days . Friday’s Beer in lunch pale. These colors all varied. All the time. No SUCH thing as a (1) formula. I have to laugh. I paint cars every day. Some colors have 20-30 Variants. Further more. I use a 6 Laser camera. Every time i paint a car. I will not check the color chips. Choose the camera. Because “UV” light changes all colors all the time.

 

[Stevenovick1]

If a customer car is garage kept with low miles. That’s 4 years old. And another customer has the same pearl white or silver car that sits out in a “Hot “ Black top parking lot for (4) years. Park them beside each other. Day/ night.

 

[Stevenovick1]

(2) entirely diffenent colors

 

[digger]

We can end the debate real quick.
Here's a NOS 125 Cub that never saw sunlight one day in it's life, and I checked the paint with Iron Gard Federal Yellow and it was an exact match. I even took the 2 pieces to town to the computer matching machine and it came back with exact match.

 

[Stevenovick1]

But can you say that about every machine International did? (Cub Cadet )
There’s always discrepancies

 

[Stevenovick1]

But that’s not really the argument. Other Paint is also suitable.

 

[digger]

But that’s not really the argument. Other Paint is also suitable.

Suitable and correct are two different things!

 

[mgonitzke]

"Suitable" is an opinion and in the eye of the beholder. There are a lot of people that think 'appliance white' is "suitable" when it is so far from the original color and looks absolutely horrid, in my opinion. Usually found combined with yellow that is too orange, and applied over dirt and rust.

 

[digger]

"Suitable" is an opinion and in the eye of the beholder. There are a lot of people that think 'appliance white' is "suitable" when it is so far from the original color and looks absolutely horrid, in my opinion. Usually found combined with yellow that is too orange, and applied over dirt and rust.

Also depends if you use primer and what primer is used.

 

[CraigClickner]

My suggestion (and I could definitely have been clearer) was more about testing the store bought stuff i.e. rustoleum, valspar, etc. But I can defintely see that Im beating a dead horse.

 

[dschwandt]

AMEN!!!

 

[rkuik]

Digger, that is an all original 125? WOW, that IS cool. did you have from new?

 

[jdrong]

My suggestion (and I could definitely have been clearer) was more about testing the store bought stuff i.e. rustoleum, valspar, etc. But I can defintely see that Im beating a dead horse.

Beating a dead horse is the best, "correct", "suitable", answer. I too painted many cars, so I also have first hand knowledge of how much paint matching can very. I'll bet that even the "correct" paint suggested by the "correct police" has varied over the years.

 

[digger]

Digger, that is an all original 125? WOW, that IS cool. did you have from new?

Nope, it came and went to someone else.

 

[digger]

Beating a dead horse is the best, "correct", "suitable", answer. I too painted many cars, so I also have first hand knowledge of how much paint matching can very. I'll bet that even the "correct" paint suggested by the "correct police" has varied over the years.

I agree, and satin black is really tough to lay down ya know.

 

[kphill]

I too used to paint for a living.. And back in the late 70s early 80s where I worked we had a mixing bench outside the paintroom door.. And that mixing bench was not there to mix paint colors which we did on occasion but to tint paint colors.. Cars back then were painted in batches and rhey may have mixed 300 gallons of white and it was close but it did not matter as they were painting everything and the next batch they mixed was close but it did not matter as they were painting everything.. That is how it worked and keep in mind IH was building garden tractors to make money, not to put on a tractor show... As long as the qaulity met there guidelines thats all that mattered.. And if the color was not perfect who cared..

 

[kphill]

And this was back in the 70s-80s when there was 2 ways to mix paint.. By weight or volume, neither method was very accurate..not like today where you have computer aided mixing, optical scanning etc. Where you can easily get your color dead nuts on.. And I can only imagine what it was like in the 60s.. Probably if the color was in the ballpark they were happy campers..