My 56 beetle is nearly ready for painting and i really like the colour Polar Silver (L324).
Does anyone know where I can get this from? I dont want 4 litres of paint that looks sort of like it , but the exact match. Can any auto paint shop match up this by a code, or do I need to go to the original manufacturer? Any ideas?

thanks for the advice Warrenm, Ill try their websites

any paint system can make the colour by the code.

but if you took 10 original cars in that colour they all would look different.. there is always a slight variation as one particualr tin of paint might not have been stirred properly so a heavy pigment was stuck at the bottom of a tin.

thats the reason as spray painters we need to mach colours to late model cars, you mix the paint by the code, then see how it needs altering to match the paint on a car.

and that swithout 50 years of the colour fading in sunlight/rain etc.

you have the code, if a panel shop is painting the car, they can mix it up. if your doing it yourself, go to your local paint supply shop, they'll be able to help you out and if your real fussy, and you have an old panel with the colour the way u want it, get them to mix it up and match it to your panel.

try protec paints their head office is over in Adelaide

We use industrial 2pac at work Altex ..i post em a chip of paint they analyse it and computer works out formula ...works fine ..am sure most paint manufacturers will do same

are you painting the whole car and if so just get the colour made up to that code if not your local panel shop couldmake the colour up for you .Have a look at some of the italian silvers alfa have someof the nices silver out.

The only thing a paint systen cant reproduce is chalkiness. If the paint is faded to that point it cannot be matched. The colour will probably be correct, but the "balls" of the colour will be stronger.

Well I decided to change the color to Dove Blue after seeing a nice splitty in Australia vw mag, went down to paint supplier (Mipa)? that my spray painter uses and they dont have a record of Dove blue, the best they can do is match it up with a colour chip that matches the closest to dove blue, hope it turns out.

Might try Protec Paints and see what they got.

Hey have you seen the Volks Enthusiasts Klub Kombi, it was sprayed Dove Blue about a year ago so there would be people within the club that would be able to get the formula. Its been at the shows still just a rolling shell last time I saw it but it looks good. Come to think of it they probably used Paint Supplies at Hendon as they are a club sponsor, go round there or call em and see if you can talk to Gary, mention the Kombi and see how you go.

BTW a friend of mine has a 56 that still has original Polar Silver paint on the dash, it looks so much better for real than in photos I've seen in mags or on the net, I like that colour so much more having seen it in the metal.

You could go strato silver L227 thats somewhere in between your 2 choices

Hi Greg, that was the same kombi I saw in the mag , I might go down to Paint supplies and see if they can match it, but if I could get the proper polar silver i would use that,
I got a few examples of cars painted polar silver in various vw mags but they all look different.
Hey that engine lid is coming along nice, had the welds un picked and acid dipped, bit of bog there but at least no major rust.

your in Adelaide go down to Spray Cheifs they have some great colours or have a look at a straight tinter a silver they ue under candy apples

Yeah thats nice, I rekon the metallic looks very nice. Its difficult to decide on the colour, been really stressing over it.

PPG is the go

glasurit is the shit

Yeah I went to Glasurit and they had most VW colours from all years and they could mix up a sample and spray out a sample for 15 bux, very helpful , wish I went there first.